SAN FRANCISCO/CERRITOS, CA (smt)- #1W-UConn denied #3W-Missouri its first Final Four appearance by holding off the Tigers, 82-75.  For the third time, the Huskies took its high seed in the West to the Final Four (they also won the championship the other 2 times) despite shooting poorly in the second half.  Free throws won it as UConn hit 26 of 32 while Mizzou only hit 50% (6/12).

In one of the best games of the tourney (was in parking garage at SFO at the time, missing the last 2 minutes on radio), #3E-Villanova nipped fellow Big East rival #1E-Pitt, 78-76.  The Wildcats had two consecutive poor inbound plays in the final 10 seconds, the first being a long bomb which was turned over to Pitt (the Panthers hit both free throws to tie) while the last nearly didn't make the 5-second count but somehow did a "hook-and-ladder" type play which Scottie Reynolds took from the halfcourt and ran down through the defense for a short jumper with 0.5 seconds left for the final score of the game.  As in the earlier game, free throws were the difference as Villanova hit an incredible 22 of 23 (96%) while Pitt hit 21 of 29 (72%).

Just 13 picked Villanova and the result was Bizarro Larzby (130 pts) took over first by 4 points over SilverSurfer and The Rat Pack, the latter who can't finish 1st.  Five (5) went 2-0 for the day while 64 went 0-2.  To see how well everyone has been picking the teams, of the 58 games played, only that game, Arizona's 2nd round win (6 picked), and Cleveland St.'s win (2) were picked by less than 20 entries.  Brett Picks (Tied-6th, 123) and SlackJaw (T-18th, 116) joined Bizarro Larzby in still having their Final Four teams intact.  Buckeye Mike's (122) incredible run hit a major snag today, going 0-2 and falling from 1st to a tie for 9th while can't finishing higher than 4th. 

SilverSurfer has the best chance for first (28.1%) but is far from a sure thing.  He also has the highest chance for money (53.1%) and only The Rat Pack (50.0%) and Bizarro Larzby (40.6%) have a better than 35% chance to win money.  Thirty-six (36) still have a chance for money and 15 still have a chance for 1st.

    Tids & Bits:  After beating a top 5 seed for the first time ever on Thursday, Pitt fell to #3 Villanova... In the NCAA Division II's game, it was a great finish, but unfortunate for one of my ala maters, Cal Poly Pomona :-(... Villanova made its 4th Final Four... UConn's win eliminated 6 and 'Nova's win eliminated 10... G's Up Ho's Down (T95th, 96) and Soccerbix (T-63rd, 105) will also go 0-for-the-Final-Four...