East Region, Prudential Center, Newark, NJ
(1) North Carolina Tar Heels vs. Marquette Golden Eagles (7:15 p.m. on CBS): Usually, when a fan s favorite team gets knocked out of the NCAA Tournament that fan either wants the opposing team to fail miserably in the next round or win the whole thing.
Being a Syracuse basketball fan, I am rooting for No. 11 Marquette (22-14), which downed the No. 3 Orange, 66-62, in the third round. There are a couple reasons for this: 1) The Golden Eagles are a Big East Conference team; 2) I have no beef with Marquette (besides them beating us twice this season); and 3) Golden Eagles head coach Buzz Williams is a hard guy to root against (this video makes my point).
Buzz's Karaoke Session (via muathletics)
So, does this video:
Buzz Williams Walks It Out (via sonickemetwo)
For the second straight contest against Syracuse, Williams put together a solid game plan that his players executed to perfection -- Marquette penetrated SU's 2-3 zone with guard play, which led to a lot of Golden Eagle free throws; and pressed the Orange's guards, forcing a bunch of turnovers.
Williams also has three solid players in senior guard Jimmy Butler (15.8 points per game), junior guard Darius Johnson-Odom (16.0 ppg) and sixth-man junior Jae Crowder (11.8 ppg and 6.8 rebounds per game).
However, the No. 2 Tar Heels (28-7) have a very good coach, Roy Williams, and a nine-game regional semifinal winning streak going back nearly 20 years -- the last time UNC lost a regional semi was in 1992 to Ohio State. Also, freshman forward Harrison Barnes, who scored a rookie-record 46-combined points in UNC's two NCAA Tournament victories, has been playing outstanding basketball.
Sophomore forward John Henson is averaging a double-double per game (11.9 ppg and 10.1 rpg), while junior foward Tyler Zeller is the team's second-best scorer (15.2 ppg) and rebounder (7.1 rpg).
Prediction: Do you remember 1977? No? Well, neither do I. However, I don't need to because Al Gore invented the internet in 1996, then Steve Chen, Chad Hurley and Jawed Karim invented YouTube, which allows videos like this to be posted (P.S. Marquette wins, 67-59, and keep their run to the Final Four alive):
1977 Final Four Highlight Film (part 3 of 3) (via 1BigBucks1)
-- Visit SB Nation's Anonymous Eagle for more Marquette basketball information. Carolina March for everything UNC basketball.