2014 Men's NCAA Final Four: Arizona, Wisconsin, Creighton, & OSU Look to Make a Run at the Title
While top-seeded University of Arizona (30-4) is the favorite to win the West Region, the path to the Final Four will not be easy for the Wildcats, especially coming off a loss 75-71 in the Pacific-12 (Pac-12) title game against the UCLA Bruins on Saturday.
Arizona struggled from the free throw line against the Bruins, missing 10 free throws, with the Wildcat defense getting battered early in the game putting them in a hole early on. Arizona G Nick Johnson attempted to bring the Wildcats back, scoring 22 points in the game while C Kaleb Tarczewski dropped 11 points, eight boards and eight assists but still fell to the Bruins.
Arizona features a potent defense that is ranked in the top 20 in three-pointers attempts per field goal attempts, sixth in the nation in defensive rebounds and hopes the game against UCLA was an abberation.
"We lost a game we could have won," said Arizona head coach Sean Miller after the Pac-12 title game. "Jordan Adams hit a great shot and I believe some of the things we learned in today's game will better serve us for the biggest prize, why we all do this, and that's to hopefully advance next week in the NCAA tournament."
The University of Wisconsin (26-7), ranked second in the West brackets, is also coming off a conference tournmanet loss, going to down in the Big 12 semifinals to eventual conference champion Michigan State University 83-75.
The Wisconsin Badgers opened a few eyes early in the season beating the top-ranked University of Florida Gators and the eventual Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) champions, the University of Virginia Cavaliers, early in the season but struggled late season going 9-6 in Big 10 conference play.
Creighton University, no longer playing as a mid-major darling, had a successful Big East run that led them to the third seed in the West, despite losing in the Big East tournament championship 65-58 to the Providence College Friars. Senior F Doug McDermott led the Big East in scoring, helping guide the team to second place in their inaugural season with conference. Creighton's Achilles' heel is their defense, losing twice to sub-par offenses like Providence and San Diego State University during the season, failing to create turnovers in key points in games.
"Our psyche makes us a confident team," said Creighton G Grant Gibbs. "At the same time, we know there isn't a large margin for error when you're not as athletically gifted as some of the teams were playing. But that Marquette win showed us that if we worked hard to break even on the glass and played some defense, that with our offense, we could win a lot of games."
Oklahoma State University rounds out the top four in the West, with the team featuring possibly the best player in the country in Marcus Smart. Smart has stepped up his game since an altercation with a fan on Feb. 8, playing on the road against Texas Tech University. That earned him a three-game suspension, before the team was eliminated from the Big 12 quarterfinals by the University of Kansas Jayhawks, losing 77-70 in overtime. Smart averaged 18.7 points a game, 6.0 assists, 5.7 rebounds, and 4.3 steals a game with a 3-1 assist-to-turnover ratio since returning to the line up, playing some of his best basketball going into the tournament.
"I think he's just trying to be that leader that he was at the beginning of the year," said OSU teammate Phil Forte. "He's just trying to enjoy the process. It's coming for an end here shortly, and I think he's just trying to enjoy it all, soak it all in. He's not going to know when his last game is, so I think he's trying to just go out there, have fun and enjoy being a college basketball player for a little longer."
Thursday West Region TV Schedule
No. 5 Oklahoma vs. No. 12 North Dakota State at 7:27 p.m. on truTV
No. 4 San Diego State vs. No. 13 New Mexico State at approx. 9:57 p.m. on truTV
No. 7 Oregon vs. No. 10 BYU at approx. 3:10 p.m. on truTV
No. 2 Wisconsin vs. No. 15 American at 12:40 p.m. on truTV
Friday West Region TV Schedule
No. 1 Arizona vs. No. 16 Weber State at 2:10 p.m. on TNT
No. 8 Gonzaga vs. No. 9 Oklahoma State at approx. 4:40 p.m. on TNT
No. 6 Baylor vs. No. 11 Nebraska at 12:40 p.m. on truTV
No. 3 Creighton vs. No. 14 Louisiana-Lafayette at approx. 3:10 p.m.
All games can be seen online via the NCAA.com Web site.