The James Logan Courier

By Kevin Armonio, staff writer

The weekend's Elite Eight action was all excitement with all four games being upsets.

The first game of the weekend matched up #4 LSU and #2 Texas. The game was close the whole time with the score being 26-26 going into halftime and 52-52 going into overtime. The LSU
tiger were led by sophomore forward Glen "Big Baby" Davis who scored 26 points, and freshman forward Tyrus Thomas who had 21 points.

The Texas Longhorns were led by sophomore guard Daniel Gibson who had 15 points, senior forward Brad Buckman who had 13 points and junior forward P.J. Tucker and senior guard Kenton
Paulino both had 10 points. The favored Longhorns had a tough game against a team that was able to shutdown Duke, a team many people had favored to win the whole tournament. The
game was as a shootout until overtime when LSU was able to edge out Texas by outscoring them 18-8, with Glen "Big Baby" Davis scoring the decisive basket. The final score was 70-60 F/OT

The second game of the weekend matched up #2 UCLA and #1 Memphis. UCLA who shocked much of college basketball by beating the heavily favored Gonzaga Bulldogs. The Bruins were led
by sophomore guard Arron Affalo who had 15 points and senior center Ryan Hollins who had 14 points. The two were the only players on UCLA's roster that scored in double-digits.

The Memphis Tigers were led by sophomore guard Darius Washington Jr. who had 13 points and was the only player on Memphis' roster that scored in double-digits. The Tiger's had a productive
bench that scored 15 points. The game was also a close one with Memphis down by 7 going into halftime. The Tigers battled back but were not able to overcome the hole they were in thanks to
UCLA's great defense, something UCLA has done the whole tournament. The final score 50-45.

The third game of the weekend was the #11 George Mason Patriots playing the heavily favored #1 Connecticut Huskies. George Mason has been the giant-killer of the tournament handing
losses to Michigan State and North Carolina. All of the Patriots starts scored double-digit points. The scoring leaders were senior forward/center Jai Lewis who had 20 points, sophomore forward
Will Thomas and senior guard Lamar Butler both of whom had 19 points each.

The UConn Huskies, who were favored to win the whole tournament with Duke and Gonazga eliminated, were lead by sophomore guard Rudy Gay who had 20 points, and freshman forward Jeff
Adrien who came off the bench and had 17 points. The game seemed to be in the hands of the Huskies who were leading 43-34 going into halftime. But George Mason was able to battle back
and had a 8-0 point run to start the second half and were able to tie things up just as regulation ended. Overtime was also close but George Mason was able to prevail, with the final score 86-84
F/OT. George Mason has been a giant-killer defeating the last two national champions, North Carolina and Connecticut.

The final game of the weekend saw #3 Florida playing #1 Villanova. The Florida Gator were led by sophomore forward/center Joakaim Noah who had 21 points, and sophomore guard Taurean
Green who had 19 points. Florida's youthful sophomore guards were instrumental in the Gator's win.

The Villanova Wildcats were led by senior guards Randy Foye, who had a game high 25 points and Allan Ray who had 11 points. The Gators were able to take the lead early and never let go.
The Gator were able to spread the ball around on offense with 4 of their starters scoring in double-digits, compard with Villanova's one starter. Despite a sloppy first half, that was plagued with
turnovers, and given-up rebounds the Gators lead due to the fact they played good defense of the 3-point line. The game was one of the four upsets of the weekend, the final score 75-62.

And with that the Final Four is set, with LSU playing UCLA, and George Mason playing Florida. The Final Four will be played in Indianapolis this weekend. If the games are half as exciting as the
Sweet 16 and Elite Eight were it will be a great weekend to watch college hoops.