March 24, 2007

By PA SportsTicker
A pair of No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchups and the nation's two longest
winning streaks highlight a day of action in the NCAA Tournament
when the first two Final Four berths will be settled.
Top-seeded Ohio State (33-3), coming off a pair of miraculous
escapes, takes on second-seeded Memphis (33-4) in the South
Region final in San Antonio.
In the West Region final, top seed Kansas (33-4) faces second
seed UCLA (29-6), which is seeking its second straight trip to
the national title game.
Ohio State rallied from 20 points down to edge fifth-seeded
Tennessee, 85-84, in the regional semifinal Thursday night,
running their winning streak to 20 games, second-longest in the
nation.
That's because Memphis won its 25th consecutive game, edging
third-seeded Texas A&M, 65-64, on a pair of free throws by
Antonio Anderson with 3.1 seconds left.
As a No. 1 seed in 2006, the Tigers were knocked off by UCLA,
50-45, in a regional final.  But they are back in the same
position despite losing a pair of NBA first-round draft
picks - forwards Rodney Carney and Shawne Williams.
Memphis has not made many believers until the win over A&M due
to the weak competition in Conference USA.
"We want to be the underdog all the time," leading scorer Chris
Douglas-Roberts said.  "We hate when we hear someone say,
'Memphis has a chance to win this game.'  We don't want that.
We have been expected to lose all year and everyone thinks we
are overrated.
"That is our good luck charm.  We don't want to hear anything
about us.  We just want to go out there and play."
Ohio State has no such issues.  The hype hasn't stopped since
the arrival of 7-foot freshman phenom Greg Oden, considered by
many to be the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft if he chooses to
enter it.
But while Oden came up with a huge block to preserve the win
over the Vols, senior Ron Lewis has kept the Buckeyes alive with
back-to-back brilliant performances.
Lewis scored 25 points in the comeback win over Tennessee and
had 27 in the second round against Xavier, including a dramatic
tying 3-pointer with two seconds left in regulation.
"You just live for the moment and my whole thing is I don't want
my college career to end on a loss," Lewis said.  "If I can
help us keep winning that is what I am going to do.  I have all
the confidence in the world and my teammates have all the
confidence in the world in me."
Kansas, winners of 14 straight games, also survived a stern test
against upstart Southern Illinois, 61-58, in Thursday's
regional semifinal.
The Jayhawks had been one of the most impressive teams in the
tournament, winning their first two games by an average of 26
points before running into the tenacious defense of the Salukis.
With four players averaging in double figures, led by Mario
Chalmers and Brandon Rush, Kansas poses a tough matchup for
UCLA, which beat Pittsburgh, 64-55, behind 88 percent (23-of-26)
free-throw shooting.
Bruins guard Aaron Afflalo has struggled in his past two games,
shooting 5-of-22 from the field, including 1-of-8 from the arc,
but has made up for it by hitting 16-of-17 at the stripe.
"We really work on our free throws," point guard Darren Collison
said.  "When we come in and do our walk-through on our free
time, all Coach wants us to do is work on our free throws.  And
these guys do a good routine and they helped us in the long
run."
UCLA lost to Florida in last April's national championship
game.
Florida (32-5), the top seed in the Midwest, will meet
third-seeded Oregon (29-7) in the regional final Sunday at
St. Louis.
The Gators are trying to become the first repeat champion
since Duke in 1992.
In another matchup of No. 1 against No. 2, North Carolina
(31-6) faces Georgetown (29-6) in the East Region final at
East Rutherford, New Jersey on Sunday.