**1:20 a.m. (EST) DETROIT, Mich. -** In case you haven’t heard yet, KU will play the late game Sunday on CBS, tipping off at approximately 4:05 p.m. (CDT).As for tonight, this is about as anti-climactic of an NCAA Tournament run as I can remember in recent years, but the Jayhawks continued to do what they’ve done so well in the postseason – start off hot on both ends, build a nice lead early and make an overmatched opponent play catch-up against a much better, deeper team.With KU’s size advantage it’ll have Sunday on Davidson, the potential to do the same is there. Stephen Curry or not, it’s there. Davidson was certainly not great to start the game tonight, but Wisconsin was equally rough, and it allowed the Wildcats to stay around until their hustle and hot shooting in the second half really factored in.If KU starts off Sunday like it did tonight, last Saturday and last Thursday, pack the bags for the Alamo. No question.In my mind, heading into this Elite Eight game almost feels like the Regional final in 2002 against Oregon, where there was a bit of star power (Luke Jackson, Fred Jones, Luke Ridnour), but you knew that if the Jayhawks showed up and did what they did best, Atlanta was all but a certainty.I hate to call San Antonio a lock, but if you’re a KU fan, you’re feeling good right now, I bet. Then again, this team has won 25 in a row, including its last three against Georgetown, Wisconsin and Gonzaga – all Top-25 teams to finish the year. Who knows?**Here are some final numbers of note from tonight…**-Russell Robinson had 15 points, with 13 coming in the first half. He hit three deep balls early which truly set the tone, but his defense was the shining factor, as he locked down Scottie Reynolds, holding ‘Nova’s leading scorer to just six points on 2-of-9 shooting in the first half. Reynolds finished with a hard-earned 11.-Brandon Rush was aggressive and all over the place offensively, scoring 16 points on diverse 6-of-12 shooting.-Mario Chalmers was the only other Jayhawk in double figures, scoring 14. He went on a personal 8-0 run late in the first half when ‘Nova closed in to within single digits which officially shut the door on a Wildcat comeback.-Villanova needed to shoot well to stick around. It was 21-of-59 on the night. Do the math from there.-Inside that poor shooting, the Wildcats were just 3-of-17 from deep. KU was 8-of-19.-Jeremy Case played nine huge minutes with Sherron Collins not really playing like himself due to a bit of illness. Case hit a three in the corner to close out the first half, which Bill Self labeled as a possession the fifth-year senior had waited five years for.-KU had 18 turnovers, but in the end it wasn’t much of a big deal, as the first half was solid enough to cover the second half sloppiness up.That’s it for tonight. Talk to you tomorrow starting in the early afternoon. KU speaks at about 1:30. Davidson an hour later. Peace.**11:32 p.m. (EST) DETROIT, Mich. -** Well, this one’s all but a laugher now with 7:36 to play and KU ahead by 17 points, apparently in full-on cruise control towards the finish.Kind of a dud night of games compared to last night, with Davidson and Texas having already won by blowouts, and both Kansas and Memphis in the process of having the same resultOn name brand alone, I’d say most Kansas fans won’t want to give Davidson the full-on respect it deserves. Think about it, the road to the Final Four includes a 16-seed, 8-seed, 12-seed and 10-seed for the Jayhawks. Davidson will be the best team KU’s faced of yet, though, given the star power (Stephen Curry has 133 points now in four career NCAA Tournament games) and confidence (Davidson has the nation’s longest winning streak at 25 games). No one thought Curry could do much on G’Town. He dumped in 30. no one thought he’d do squat against Wiscy. He threw home 33 in cool, collected fashion.He could be a Mike Beasley type against KU, in that he’ll get his numbers, plain and simple. There will be three keys to the game for KU, in my opinion as of right now.-Russell Robinson, so effective tonight against Scottie Reynolds on the defensive end (eight points at the moment) will have to _really_ make Curry earn it. Knock him on the ground and try your best to get in his head.-Jason Richards had 13 points and no turnovers tonight against Wiscy. Mario Chalmers getting in the passing lanes will be huge.-Despite a massive size advantage, Wiscy only outrebounded Davidson by three, 31-28. Davidson got 11 offensive boards, most of which came on hustle alone. That said, the simple rule is? Hustle underneath. Everyone has to.Be back after postgame interviews with numbers and nuggets.**10:55 p.m. (EST) DETROIT, Mich. -** Boy, talk about a beaten looking bunch. The Villanova players just emerged back onto the floor after halftime and slowly trudged up the steps onto the floor and sauntered casually into warmups. KU jogged out, as you’re supposed to, right?Well, the numbers explain the ‘Nova malaise…-KU was 16-of-27 from the floor, Villanova just 8-of-30. In there, ‘Nova was just 2-of-9 from three-point range.-Scottie Reynolds was 2-of-9 from the floor, both of which came from three-point range. Inside, he was able to get to the iron but was completely obstructed almost every time.-KU was 7-of-14 from deep, with Russell Robinson going 3-of-4, Mario Chalmers 2-of-4 and Brandon Rush 1-of-4.-Darrell Arthur played just nine minutes and had two points, those limited minutes a result of two fouls. If ‘Nova had more size, that might be a concern. Sasha Kaun was big in 13 minutes off the bench with five rebounds.-Villanova’s three forwards – Peña, Anderson and Cunningham – were a combined 4-of-13 from the floor.-Sherron Collins played nine minutes, had three assists, two turnovers and no points. Don’t expect to see him much in the second half, given the scene on the scoreboard.**10:33 p.m. (EST) DETROIT, Mich. -** Enter Mario Chlamers. He’s on a personal 8-0 run at the moment which has inflated the Jayhawks’ lead back up to 17 points. That’s pretty par for the course for him, as sometimes it takes him getting a little contact while scoring to get going. On his first three, he asked the refs why a foul call didn’t come with it, and they gave him some leeway moments later on his floater in traffic, not calling a charge despite Jay Wright’s pleas. KU’s also taken back control of the paint.**10:21 p.m. (EST) DETROIT, Mich. -** Call it nit-picking considering KU is still up by 10, but Villanova is starting to wake up in large part because of the offensive rebounding on their end. Still, it’s going to take a rash of three-pointers for the Wildcats to complete close in.KU’s gotten a little loose on the offensive end, and it’s turned into several turnovers in a row. The Jayhawks’ interior defense is also surprisingly biting on a ton of headfakes from the undersized Wildcat forwards.This one isn’t secure by a long shot.By the way, Davidson just exited to a hero’s ovation in front of its student section atop the lower level at Ford Field.**10:08 p.m. (EST) DETROIT, Mich. -** OK, so maybe the TVs were on?At least it looks like the one in front of Russell Robinson’s stall was, as he’s smoking the nets so far here in Ford Field. Depth perception hasn’t played much of a factor so far for KU, who has hit four threes in a little over eight minutes. RussRob has three of them and 13 points all together as KU leads 24-10.’Nova players in front of us are shaking their heads after some of KU’s open shots fall in. That’s probably not only KU’s hot offensive start, but also ‘Nova’s difficulty getting open looks outside. Scottie Reynolds looks completely uncomfortable. Robinson’s hounded him so far.**As for Sherron**, he looks all right so far, and if he is in fact pretty sick, he might not have to play too many minutes tonight.**9:23 p.m. (EST) DETROIT, Mich. -** Sherron Collins is on the floor and warming up. Looks to be OK on the surface.Official start time was just announced as 9:51 p.m. (EST).**9:14 p.m. (EST) DETROIT, Mich. -** One would think that if any of the 4,762 40-inch plasmas in the KU locker room are tuned to CBS right now, this would serve as quite the final eye-opener before taking the floor here at Ford Field, right?The thing is, Villanova is capable of doing just what Davidson did to Wisconsin – overcame a notable size advantage by hitting a slew of threes and running the big men out of the game (though KU’s bigs are a bit more athletic than Wiscy’s). Anything could happen here tonight.**8:49 p.m. (EST) DETROIT, Mich. -** Someone tell me right now why Davidson _can’t_ win the national title? As I’m typing, there’s a little over nine minutes left to play, Stephen Curry just followed up two stealth-like threes with an up-and-under layup while drawing a foul. The sophomore has 29 points, which means he’s on the cusp of scoring at least 30 points in his first four career Tournament games.Whoops, Andrew Lovedale just stuffed one home and-one style heading into a timeout, putting Davidson up by 17 at the under-eight timeout.Incredible. It’s almost hard to remember that KU still has to get past Villanova to face these guys (of course, that’s barring a Davidson collapse). If this score holds up, Davidson has wins over Gonzaga, Georgetown and Wisconsin in a little over a week. Let that sink in.I’ve got some egg on my face at the moment for pumping up Wisconsin guard Trevon Hughes so much before this one. He was outstanding in thumping Kansas State last Saturday. He played eight minutes in the first half, went 0-for-3 from the floor and is scoreless. He has yet to see the second half floor. While exiting the ‘stage’ at halftime, he was limping pretty visibly.All of Ford Field at the moment is behind Davidson it seems. Not only has their large student contingent located ahead of us been the loudest section of fans tonight (including the current booming rendition of ‘Sweet Caroline,’ but the KU fans seem to be in Davidson’s corner. Bad karma, if you ask me, because these guys are much tougher than they look.The only guy getting booed tonight (other than the obligatory referee boos, of course) is LeBron James. He’s in town to try and slay the Pistons tomorrow night in Auburn Hills, and he’s obviously not a very well-liked man in these parts. At least he left the Yankees lid at home.**8:19 p.m. (EST) DETROIT, Mich. -** Just past halftime here at Ford Field, and I was too busy futzing around with my computer to notice LeBron James walk literally two feet in front of me. So sad.As for this game, Davidson is essentially doing just what Kansas State couldn’t do against Wisconsin last Saturday – hitting threes. The ‘Cats went 0-for-13 from three-land for the game, they got blown out. Davidson hit eight in the first half, they’re tied. Simple as that, kids.This place has definitely filled in, and really the only grossly open parts are the top 10 rows or so around the upper, upper deck. It’s impressive how many people are here right now. It’s still not entirely loud, but it’s neat. That’s for sure.I really like Davidson’s chances. Never thought I’d be saying that tonight.**7:09 p.m. (EST) DETROIT, Mich. -** There are now rampant rumors saying Sherron Collins is sick today. **A source with the KU team told us that while Collins “has been a little under the weather,” he will play tonight.** Just an update.**7:01 p.m. (EST): DETROIT, Mich. -** We are about five minutes from tip-off for Wiscy and Davidson, and normally I’d say it feels like the crowd is slowly filing in, but shoot, there’s probably already 30,000 people here. It’s just not loud. Not sure what it’ll be like during the game. Should be interesting.Stephen Curry, by the way, just exited the floor in front of us. Kid looks like he’s 13. He could easily steal the nickname ‘Baby-faced assassin’ from Lon Kruger.**I know you guys always love anti-Roy words**, so here are some. Not mine. They’re Rick Pitino’s from today’s press session in Charlotte.**Q.** _Coach, obviously you’ve coached for some time in a state where basketball passions run very high. Coach Williams was telling us the other day very firmly he doesn’t feel that this represents any home-court advantage for the Tar Heels. And I would love to know your thoughts on that._**COACH RICK PITINO:** _Tell Roy to get on a plane for the first time and let’s play the game at Freedom Hall if he feels that way. (Chuckles.)__I won’t disagree with him, let’s go to Freedom Hall and I’ll admit to a home-court advantage. Go to Lexington for that matter. Let’s go to Lexington and play at the Rupp. No, I think those are mostly mannequins dressed in powder blue. I don’t believe there is a home-court advantage. (Laughter.) __There is a very strong home-court advantage but they deserve it. That’s the bottom line. They’re the No. 1 seed, but to say there is not a home-court advantage, that doesn’t mean we don’t have the ability to win, but they deserve the home-court advantage. They deserve the people because they were the No. 1 ranked team in the country._**3:49 p.m. (EST): DETROIT, Mich. -** I still find the most intriguing part of the setup at Ford Field to be how freakishly close the drop-off from the elevated floor is to the benches on one side and press row on the other. To give you a closer look, [here’s a shot][1].I think the only people more worried than the players (who obviously won’t let it show, but subconsciously _have_ to have that limited amount of out of bounds space on their minds) are the media.CBS’ Gus Johnson, doing a 360 tour of the playing surface before being kind enough to join us for [yesterday’s edition of The Spodcasters,][2] at one point in slow motion simulated a player chasing a ball out of bounds. He calculated that they’ll have roughly three steps before either smashing someone’s laptop, someone’s blue NCAA/Dasani cup (EEEEK!) or possibly slipping on a pen. All sorts of things could happen. In fact, here is [our view from press row][3] – eye level with the floor. All I can say is thank goodness for being in the second row.**Before getting to tonight’s games, a couple of multimedia leftovers from my camera yesterday…**-Thought it was neat to see [Jay Wright stretching][4] with his team.-Here’s a shot I took from the [top of the lower level at Ford Field][5], which seemed about a mile away. I was telling co-workers, my uncle’s Detroit Lions season seats, which are about midway up on the second level are great for football, but for basketball would require binoculars, preceded by smoke signals from center floor so you could find it.-Gus Johnson = [A great man.][6]-A [short video tour][7] of the locker rooms and practices at Ford Field Thursday.**And now some quickest of quick thoughts on tonight’s games…**-Wisconsin will win by 15. Davidson looked so in awe of everything around them at practice yesterday in the few minutes I was watching and, well, they’re just not that big. I know, I know, they held Roy Hibbert to six points last Sunday, but Wiscy has more than one post presence, and they, like KU, have several fouls to give. Plus, Wisconsin’s backcourt is much more active defensively. I say Trevon Hughes has another huge game, as he adds some style and finesse to a banging Badger offensive attack. **Wisconsin 79, Davidson 64**-KU rolls into the Elite Eight. I’m still somewhat surprised by what I saw last Sunday when comparing the Wildcats’ [season statistics][8] to their [box score against Siena.][9] Granted, Scottie Reynolds is a much more efficient offensive player now than he was a year ago when we watched him get ousted by Kentucky in the opening round of the NCAA Tourney in Chicago. But, for example, Corey Stokes scored a career-high 20 points on 8-of-12 shooting last Sunday, yet shoots just 36.5 percent from the floor this year and averages 6.4 ppg. Overall, the key for Villanova was dictating the pace of the game, as that was one of the tournament’s more fun games to watch since the guard-heavy ‘Cats were able to run non-stop. It’ll take a wild shooting show early on for Villanova to dictate things again tonight. I say Darnell Jackson has a big offensive night. He’s due. **Kansas 86, Villanova 68****What’s everyone’s predictions out there? Whoever is the closest on each game wins a KUSports.com T-Shirt,** though I must warn you, despite popular demand, Kevin Romary cannot autograph them for you…he charges too much for his Herbie Hancock.Post predictions below……talk to you from the yard.[The Greene Room: Jayhawk Ink][10] [TheGreene Room Live: Day One in Detroit][11] [NCAA Home Page][12] [1]:
[2]: http://www2.kusports.com/podcasts/spodcasters/2008/mar/27/welcoming_gus_johnson/ [3]:
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[7]: http://www2.kusports.com/videos/2008/mar/27/17836/ [8]: http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaab/teams/vae/stats [9]: http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaab/recap?gid=200803230617 [10]: http://www2.kusports.com/blogs/greene_room/2008/mar/27/greeneroom_032708/ [11]: http://www2.kusports.com/blogs/greene_room/2008/mar/27/live_detroit1/ [12]: http://www.ncaasports.com
'Nova coach Jay Wright stretching the glutes and other lower body muscles.
A view from the top of the lower level at Ford Field
(L to R) Ryan Wood, Gus Johnson, Ryan Greene
