Posted on 03/23/2018 5:37:48 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
ATLANTA — The South Regional was supposed to be the Kentucky Invitational, a warm up tournament for the vaunted Wildcats before the team took its rightful place in the Final Four next week in San Antonio. The regional semifinals, after all, were lacking star power and quality. Loyola-Chicago and Nevada were mere upstarts.
And Kansas State? It might be a pretty good football school, but it was widely considered the weakest team of the 16 remaining in the N.C.A.A. tournament — so said various pundits and analysts who re-ranked the tournament’s survivors. They brought to Thursday’s matchup a 24-11 record, a mid-pack finish in Big 12 Conference play and a seeding of No. 9.
Star power? Few outside Manhattan, Kan., had heard of Xavier Sneed. They know him now. Behind Sneed’s 22 points and gritty all-around play, Kansas State defeated Kentucky, 61-58, and will face No. 11 seed Loyola here in an improbable South Regional final — the first game between a No. 11 seed and a No. 9 in tournament history.
“We’ve been picked eighth in the Big 12, finished fourth, and we saw the new seedings come out, 16th in the Sweet 16,” Sneed said. “So we felt disrespected all year, and we just came out here and proved people wrong, and we’re going to do that game by game.”
What went wrong for the Kentucky Wildcats? About everything.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
That’s the way the ball bounces...
Looking at the brackets, an epic KU/K-State final is a remote possibility.
Kentucky was overrated - bunch of undisciplined freshmen. Or should I say fresh people.
EMAW
In an overly officiated game (51 fouls called) UK missed 14 FTs shooting 62.2% from the charity stripe. Combine that with KSt hitting 40.9% from the three and it’s a recipe for a loss.
I saw a woman at Walmart with March Madness teeth.. She was down to the final four.
The Big 12 is really a tough conference. This Cyclone Fan wishes the best of luck to K State.
I’m a Jayhawks but alway cheer for KSU when they’re not playing KU.
How sweet it is to see the two remaining SEC teams knocked out in one night!
That’s excellent!
Cost of coming to this site . . . I’m still paying for all the keyboards that I have drowned!
while the left side of the bracket is now 3, 9, 9, and 11.
A 9-seed (or worse) is now guaranteed to be in the Final Four.
Let’s hope KU joins them in the Elite Eight. Rock chalk, Jayhawk. K-State has to be the favorite to win their region and go to the Final Four. Three Big 12 teams in action tonight. WV can take out Villanova and TT can eliminate Purdue. Go KU over Clemson for a third straight Elite Eight.
KU vs KSU for the title is still a possibility at the moment.
Congrats to K-State!
EMAW. My boyfriend’s alma mater for undergrad. He’s going to be insufferable if they make it to the Final Four.
Of the current 12 teams remaining:
4 Big 12 (KU, KSU, TT, WVU)
3 ACC (Duke, FL ST, SYR)
2 Big Ten (PUR, MICH)
1 Big East (VILL)
1 SEC (CLEM)
1 Missouri Valley (LOY-ILL)
0 SEC... out of 6 invites.
The Big Six Conferences so far:
7-2 - Big Ten (4 teams invited)
9-3 - Big 12 (7 teams invited)
11-6 - ACC (9 teams invited)
5-5 - Big East (6 teams invited)
5-7 - SEC (8 teams invited)
0-3 - Pac 12 (3 teams invited)
5 of the 8 teams playing tonight are in the Big 12 or the ACC. The 2 ACC teams play each other, and the Big 12 takes on everyone else.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
