Ncaa, March Madness | featured news

The selection committee made its choices. Now, it's America's turn. The country's biggest office pool, otherwise known as March Madness, serves up the usual smorgasbord of choices, starting with Kansas, the overall top seed in the 65-team NCAA tournament bracket released Sunday.

North Carolina teammates Tyler Hansbrough and Ty Lawson, along with Connecticut's Hasheem Thabeet, are among 11 players named to the John R. Wooden Award All American team. Hansbrough and Lawson will lead the Tar Heels against Villanova in Saturday's national championship semifinals. Thabeet and the Huskies play Michigan State in the other semifinal in Detroit.

Ty Lawson scored 19 points and Danny Green added 18 to lead the Tar Heels to a win over Blake Griffin and Oklahoma on Sunday in the South Regional final.

Michigan State turned a nail biter into a runaway victory, 64-52, denying the Big East a third Final Four team.

Connecticut, the No. 1 seed in the West Regional, beat Missouri 82-75 on Saturday for the first team to qualify of the Big East's four that reached the regional finals.

The second berth was assured as soon as the East Regional semifinals were over on Thursday. Villanova earned the trip to Detroit with a 78-76 victory over top-seeded Pittsburgh in the final.

Cardinals play like the top seed in tournament, topping 100 points for first time this season.

J.T. Tiller scored a career-high 23 points — 15 more than his season average — and Missouri held off Memphis’ frantic rally for a 102-91 win Thursday night in the semifinals of the West Regional.

Dante Cunningham scored 14 points with 11 rebounds and third-seeded Villanova beat Duke for the first time in more than 50 years, taking advantage of the Blue Devils’ poor shooting to win 77-54 Thursday night and advance to the NCAA regional final.

Hasheem Thabeet scored 15 points and had 15 rebounds, and Connecticut overcame a sluggish first half to defeat Purdue 72-60 in the NCAA West Regional semifinals on Thursday.

Levance Fields took the big shots himself, hitting a 3-pointer with 50.9 seconds left, then scoring off his steal as the top-seeded Panthers reached the regional finals for the first time in 35 years with a 60-55 win over Xavier on Thursday night.