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HoopsHD continues its simulation of what would have happened in TTTW (The Tournament That Wasn’t).  Up next it is time to move to the Final Four in Atlanta with the national semifinal games.  The first game matches the #1 overall team, and favorite to win it all, Kansas Jayhawks against the Tournament’s Cinderella story, the 12-seed Ivy League champion Yale Bulldogs.  After that, 1-seed Baylor will be taking on 4-seed Oregon in a battle between two schools that seem to believe that neon is an appropriate color for a uniform.  The two winners will meet in our national championship game, coming Monday evening.

NATIONAL SEMIFINALS – FINAL FOUR – ATLANTA, GEORGIA

(1) Kansas vs (12) Yale

History is being written in the Final Four this year as, for the first time ever, a 12-seed has moved to within two wins of the National Championship.  The Yale Bulldogs made a run through the East Region that will likely be discussed for decades to come, upsetting Butler, Maryland, Dayton and Seton Hall on the way.  It was a run that pretty much no one had expected, even though the Bulldogs had played well in their biggest non-conference challenges this season, such as a 2-point loss at Penn State back in November.  But to have made it this far, and won three of their four games by double-figures, has simply been amazing to watch.  The national semifinal, however, would give the Bulldogs a lot tougher test than any they had faced yet this year.

The Kansas Jayhawks entered the Final Four with 34 wins already under their belts.  Since the start of the 2020 calendar year, the only team that had found a way to defeat Rock Chalk was Baylor, doing so once in Lawrence, Kansas and again in the Big 12 championship game.  Other than those games, this team had been simply dominant.  Of course, the pundits were quick to point out that Kansas was facing the easiest route (in terms of seeding at least) to the national title game that any team had ever faced.  Kansas had defeated a 16-seed, an 8-seed, a 12-seed and an 11-seed so far, and now only had another 12-seed to get past to play for the title.  At the end of the day, however, the Jayhawks could only play and beat those teams that were in front of them, and their national semifinal game against Yale still had to be played and won if they wanted a chance to cut down the nets.

The Yale Bulldogs could have been happy – thrilled even – to simply be playing in the Final Four in Atlanta.  Yet, that did not seem to be the case during the first half.  The Bulldogs struck early, and when Azar Swain knocked down a 3 just over 5 minutes into the game, Yale had a shocking 9-2 lead.  Kansas tried to fight back, but another Yale run, highlighted by long-balls from Eric Monroe and Matthue Cotton, suddenly had the Ivy League champions up 20-10 on the #1 team in the nation.  KU was certainly not going to go away, however, and by scoring the last five points of the first half, the Jayhawks were able to trim the Yale lead down to a single possession, 30-27.

The Yale lead was gone completely 17 seconds into the second half when Devon Dotson knocked a shot down from beyond the arc to tie the game at 30.  Added to their 5-0 run to end the first half, the Jayhawks were able to eventually make the run 15-0 and build a 37-30 lead just 5 minutes into the second period.  Yale would not go away, however, and a jump hook by Paul Atkinson followed by another 3-ball from Cotton gave the Bulldogs a 4-point edge with 11:22 left to play.  The game remained close, with the lead being exchanged back and forth, until a Dotson jumper put Kansas up, and an Ochai Agbaji layup extended the lead to 3 with 5 minutes left to play.  After Yale’s Jordan Bruner made a pair of free throws to cut the lead back to 1, Bill Self called his final timeout, with 4:48 still left to play, and did all he could to rally the Jayhawks.  It worked.  Kansas promptly went on a huge 14-0 run, thanks in part to a pair of huge shots by Dotson, and the game was suddenly blown open, 68-53, with only 2 minutes left to play.  The run was the huge knockout punch the Jayhawks desperately needed, as they advanced to Monday night’s National Championship game by a final score of 70-58.  Devon Dotson scored 23 points and Udoka Azubuike had yet another double-double.  The Yale Bulldogs had given all they had and more, but one of the most amazing NCAA Tournament stories in recent memory ended in the semifinal.  Rock Chalk moved on and would have a shot to win it all against either their conference rival Baylor or Oregon.

Final Score: (1) Kansas 70, (12) Yale 58

(1) Baylor vs (4) Oregon

The second National Semifinal featured the team that had beaten Kansas twice this season, the Baylor Bears, taking on the Pac-12’s Oregon Ducks.  Baylor had an amazing season in 2019-20, being one of the top teams in the nation all season long, including going to Lawrence, Kansas and defeating the Jayhawks back on January 11 by a score of 67-55.  The Bears’ NCAA Tournament run had started with a blowout of Texas Southern followed by a hard-fought 9-point win over Houston.  Things got really interesting as they snuck past Louisville by only a single point and defeated Creighton in the regional final by only 2.  In order to win their first ever national championship, Baylor would have to defeat Kansas for a third time (despite losing at home to KU back in February, they did defeat the Jayhawks for a second time in the Big 12 Tournament title game).  Before they reached that game, however, the Bears would have to first get past Oregon.

The Oregon Ducks had won the Pac-12 regular season title but fell in the conference tournament championship game to UCLA.  Their path through the NCAA Tournament had not been easy by any means.  After taking care of Bradley in the first round, Oregon fought off BYU to win by 3, upset Gonzaga by 6 and then defeated San Diego State by 7 points.  Just as their opponent, Baylor, had experienced, a few balls bouncing in other directions could have easily sent the Ducks home from the Big Dance a lot earlier.  However, Oregon had found a way to win four games already, and that put this team only two wins away from being able to hoist the trophy and cut down the nets.

The lights were bright and the stadium was packed in Atlanta for the second national semifinal game, and it was head coach Dana Altman’s Oregon Ducks that came out on fire, building a quick 8-0 lead over Baylor.  The Bears, after a well-timed timeout, got themselves under control and were able to tie the game at 19 at the exact midway point of the first half.  With the game tied at 21 a few minutes later, it was Oregon that got hot again.  A 9-0 run, highlighted by three-pointers from both Payton Pritchard and Chris Duarte, put the Ducks up 30-21 with just under 5 minutes left.  Oregon kept their foot on the gas pedal the rest of the first half, and by the time the break came about, the Ducks had extended their advantage to 13 points, 45-32.

This was the national semifinal, and a game between two of the top teams in the nation.  The underdog Ducks were up by double-digits at the half, but this was a script that plenty of people had seen before.  Baylor would surely come out of the locker room on fire and the game would end up being decided in its final minutes.  Well, that is how games like this typically go, but that was not the case tonight.  The Oregon Ducks simply refused to allow Baylor back in the game at all in the second half.  When the final horn sounded, Oregon has won by a comfortable 82-59 score and was moving on to the championship game against Kansas.  Payton Pritchard was once again the star of the game, scoring 21 points to lead his team to Monday night’s finals.  For the Baylor Bears, the season had been amazing, but it was now over.

Final Score: (4) Oregon 82, (1) Baylor 59

HoopsHD continues its simulation of what would have happened in TTTW (The Tournament That Wasn’t).  Up next it is time to award the fourth and final spot in the Final Four with the East Regional Semifinals and Finals.  The 1-seed Dayton Flyers were trying to become the third top-seed to advance to the Final Four.  However, they first had to get past the Cinderella Yale Bulldogs.  Another Cinderella team was trying to make a run in the bottom half of the bracket, as Mick Cronin’s UCLA Bruins were looking to knock Seton Hall out of the Tournament.  It is time to find out what happened and who joins Kansas, Baylor and Oregon in the Final Four!

REGIONAL SEMIFINALS – EAST REGION – NEW YORK CITY

(1) Dayton vs (12) Yale

Madison Square Garden in New York City was the site for the East Regional in this year’s NCAA Tournament, and it gave us a pair of matchups between teams that had been strong Final Four contenders all season and teams that were clearly Cinderellas.  In the first game of the evening, the top-seeded Dayton Flyers were in action.  Dayton had gotten past a tough Siena team in the first round and then had taken care of USC fairly easily to punch their ticket to the Sweet 16.  The Flyers now had their eyes set on the Final Four in Atlanta, but first had to get past a Cinderella Yale team.  Yale had been a huge surprise in the first two rounds, upending both Butler and Maryland by double-digits.  The Bulldogs had only one NCAA Tournament win all-time prior to this season, so they were already in unchartered territory heading into this game.

The first half was back-and-forth early, with the gritty Bulldogs refusing to allow Dayton to pull away from them.  The Flyers did maintain a small edge the entire way, and a Rodney Chatman 3-pointer with only 1 second left to play suddenly pulled Dayton in front by its biggest margin so far, 42-33.  With the lead up at 9 at the half, it looked like Dayton was ready to take control of the game and run away in the second.  However, with Dayton up by 10 early in the second, Yale put together a very fast 8-0 run, highlighted by 3-pointers from Paul Atkinson and Jalen Gabbidon, to cut the lead down to two points just 6 minutes in.  Yale responded to every Dayton push the rest of the way, as the Flyers kept trying to build a lead and the Bulldogs kept answering back and staying tight.  August Mahoney’s 3-pointer with 1:39 left to play cut the lead to one and, after Chatman was called for an offensive foul, the Bulldogs got the ball back.  Atkinson promptly took the ball and slammed it home on a great pass from Eric Monroe with 56 seconds left to give Yale its first lead since early in the game.  The Flyers would get several chances in the final minute to tie or take the lead, but a short miss by Obi Toppin had them still down a point with 3 seconds left, and Yale heading to the line for a one-and-one.  Azar Swain missed the front end and the Flyers quickly moved the ball to half-court and called timeout, setting up one final play with 2 seconds on the clock to try to win.  The ball was inbounded to Crutcher who got a good look – but the ball bounced off the rim, fell to the floor, and another major upset was in the books.  The Yale Bulldogs, behind 19 points from Paul Atkinson, had slain another giant and were moving on to the Elite Eight!

Final Score: (12) Yale 70, (1) Dayton 69

(3) Seton Hall vs (10) UCLA

Another Cinderella, albeit one from a power conference, was playing in the second regional semifinal of the night.  The UCLA Bruins, a team that had been pretty much given up for dead in December and January, had put together an amazing second half to their season, finding a way to finish in second place in the Pac-12 and win the Pac-12 Tournament.  Head coach Mick Cronin, who had often been criticized for his inability to get his Cincinnati teams past the first weekend of March Madness, suddenly had his new team playing in the Sweet 16 after upending Florida and squeezing past a tough Winthrop team that had knocked out Florida State in the first round.  UCLA would certainly have their hands full in New York City, however, as their opponent was the Seton Hall Pirates.  Seton Hall, although landing on the 3-seed line while conference-mates Villanova and Creighton had both been 2-seeds, had certainly looked like the best team in the Big East for a good portion of the season.  The Pirates could prove that in the East Regional if they could become the Big East’s representative in the Final Four in Atlanta by defeating a pair of Cinderellas – first UCLA and then Yale.

The UCLA Bruins had missed the NCAA Tournament each of the last two seasons before this one, but they seemed determined to make up for that, especially when they jumped out to an early 12-4 lead that they held and extended throughout the first half.  Seton Hall seemed unable to stop the Bruins, and by the break the lead was up to 15 at 41-26.  UCLA may have won the first half easily, but Myles Powell and company were far from done.  The Hall came out looking like a completely different team in the second, and by the under-12 media timeout the game was tied at 49.  The Pirates did not stop there either.  They continued to dominate the balance of the game, leaving Mick Cronin’s team looking like they had no idea what hit them.  Seton Hall cruised home for an 84-74 win led by 27 point from Powell.  With one double-digit seed defeated in the East Regional, Seton Hall now had to get ready for another – a battle against the Yale Bulldogs for a spot in the Final Four.

Final Score: (3) Seton Hall 84, (10) UCLA 74

REGIONAL FINAL – EAST REGION – NEW YORK CITY

(3) Seton Hall vs (12) Yale

Seton Hall had been a popular pick to win the East Region and advance to the Final Four, so seeing them in the Regional Final was certainly no surprise to most.  The same could certainly not be said of their opponent.  The Yale Bulldogs, a team that had a solid season in the Ivy League, had already pulled off three major upsets, eliminating Butler, Maryland and top-seed Dayton.  Head coach James Jones’ squad was clearly playing over their heads, evoking memories of recent mid-major runs to the Final Four like the one we had seen just two years ago from Loyola-Chicago.  Five double-digit seeds had advanced to the Final Four in NCAA Tournament history, though four of them (including Loyola) had been 11-seeds and the fifth had been a 10.  The 12-seed Bulldogs were therefore on the verge of truly making history.  However, one of the top teams in the nation, the Seton Hall Pirates, clearly stood in their way.

The easy pick in this game would be to predict a Seton Hall blowout victory.  Yale had made an amazing run, but this was surely where it would end.   However, the Bulldogs hung tight throughout the first half.  When an Azar Swain 3-pointer tied it up with just under 3 to go until the break, Pirates’ fans began to sweat.  When three more points, these from Paul Atkinson, put Yale up 46-43 at the break, alarm bells were going off throughout the State of New Jersey.  However Seton Hall had been down big at halftime against UCLA and dominated the second half to win.  A performance anything like that one would certainly end the Cinderella run and send Seton hall to Atlanta.

The second half, in a manner similar to the second half of UCLA vs Seton Hall, was not nearly as close as the first had been.  Although the teams played tight for the first five minutes, a 14-1 run midway through the period turned a 1-point Seton Hall edge into . . . a 71-59 Yale lead!  The Bulldogs were simply unstoppable in the second half, led by 24 points from Swain and 15 from Atkinson.  Never before had a 12-seed made the Final Four.  Never before . . . until now.  History was made in the 2019-20 season, and the Ivy League champion Yale Bulldogs could now add an NCAA East Regional title to their list of accomplishments.  It was time for the 2018 Loyola-Chicago Ramblers to step aside.  Something even more remarkable had just happened.  Yale was headed to the Final Four!

Final Score: (12) Yale 85, (3) Seton Hall 75

HoopsHD continues its simulation of what would have happened in TTTW (The Tournament That Wasn’t).  Up next it is time to award the third spot in the Final Four with the West Regional Semifinals and Finals.  Top-seed Gonzaga enters play in Los Angeles looking to make #1 seeds 3-for-3 in the Regions, but first they must get past Oregon in the semifinal before having a shot in the final.  The other semifinal features 11-seed East Tennessee State, the team that eliminated both Virginia and Duke, going up against a San Diego State team that could have been a 1-seed had a few balls bounced in other directions this season.  Its is time to find out who is headed to Atlanta!

REGIONAL SEMIFINALS – WEST REGION – LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA

(1) Gonzaga vs (4) Oregon

Despite more than a handful of early round upsets, the South and Midwest Regions had both seen their 1-seeds advance to the Final Four already.  The West Region is up next, and the Gonzaga Bulldogs were looking to make top-seeds three-for-three.  Before the Zags could get a shot at the Final Four in the Regional Final, they had to first get past the top team this season in the Pac-12, the Oregon Ducks.  Oregon had taken care of Bradley easily in the first round before surviving a tough test from BYU in the second.  The Zags, on the other hand, had not struggled too much in eliminating both Boston University and LSU.  This matchup, between two of the best programs in the Pacific Northwest, had a chance to be one of the best games of the Tournament so far.  This was, after all, a rematch of a great regular season game played in the Battle for Atlantis back in November, won by Gonzaga 73-72 in overtime.

The Zags knew that Oregon was going to be one of the toughest foes they had faced all season, and that proved to be true when a late first half 13-4 run by the Ducks allowed them to pull out to a 48-39 halftime advantage.  The Zags were far from done, however, and stormed back early in the second half to eventually tie the game at 60 with just under 11 minutes left to play.  Neither team was able to make any serious push from there on out, and the game was still tied, now at 82 apiece, following a Chandler Lawson free throw from the Ducks with just 56 seconds left to play.  After Oregon held defensively, Payton Pritchard came through for Dana Altman’s team on a short jumper to put the Ducks up by 2 with only 20 seconds left.  Filip Petrusev had a chance for the Bulldogs but his fadeaway jumper missed with 12 seconds on the cock and the Zags had to foul.  Oregon was able to go 4-for-4 on free throws in the final seconds and with that, the first 1-seed had fallen, and the Oregon Ducks, thanks to 22 points from Pritchard and a double-double from Shakur Juiston, were moving on to the Elite Eight.

Final Score: (4) Oregon 88, (1) Gonzaga 82

(2) San Diego State vs (11) East Tennessee State

The San Diego State Aztecs entered the West Regional semifinal with an overall record of 32-2 and eyeing a chance to go to the Elite Eight (and beyond that the Final Four) for the first time in school history.  After surviving a tough battle from Providence in the second round, the Aztecs now had to match up against an 11-seed – but an 11-seed that had already knocked off two perennial powerhouses.  East Tennessee State had started its shocking tournament run by ending defending-national champion Virginia’s season, and then promptly followed that up by knocking out the mighty Duke Blue Devils.  Despite this being a 2 vs 11 matchup, it was by no means a given that SDSU would be able to easily advance.

The Buccaneers of ETSU had already proven they had the talent to win in the Big Dance, so it was no surprise at all that they hung tough with the Aztecs throughout the first half.  In fact, neither team was able to open a lead of more than 4 points and the Aztecs went to the beak with a narrow 25-23 edge.  The second half was just as tight, and with 5 minutes left to play it was still just a 2-point game, with San Diego State up 52-50.  Tray Boyd came off the bench to nail a 3-pointer for the Bucs, who then watched Malachi Flynn go down the court and hit one of his own to keep SDSU up 55-53.  Boyd promptly struck again from long range just 7 seconds later, only to see Flynn respond with a shot from just inside the arc to give the Aztecs a 57-56 edge.  A pair of defensive stops helped San Diego State extend to lead to 5, but Boyd promptly came down and hit his third late clutch 3 to cut the lead back to 64-62 with 21 seconds left to play.  After Kesha Johnson made only one of two free throws for the Aztecs, the Bucs had a chance to tie, and of course fed the ball to the red-hot Boyd.  This time he missed, San Diego State secured the rebound, made one more free throw, and escaped with a thrilling 66-62 win.  Malachi Flynn led his team in scoring with 20 points, and the Aztecs were on to the Elite Eight and a date with the Oregon Ducks.

Final Score: (2) San Diego State 66, (11) East Tennessee State 62

REGIONAL FINAL – WEST REGION – LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA

(2) San Diego State vs (4) Oregon

The stage was set in Los Angeles for the West Regional Final between the 2-seed San Diego State Aztecs and the 4-seed Oregon Ducks.  Both teams had fought hard to reach this point, pulling out tough nail-biters in their second round and regional semifinal games.  For one of these two teams, a trip to the Final Four and a national semifinal game against the Baylor Bears was waiting.  For the other, nothing would be left except for a trip back home and an offseason to ponder what could have been.

San Diego State was playing in its first-ever Elite Eight game with a shot at a first-ever trip to the Final Four.  The Aztecs came out showing that they wanted to make that trip to Atlanta, fighting off the Ducks throughout the first half and eventually building a 56-48 halftime lead.  Despite extending the lead to as many as 10 early in the second, Oregon had a ton of fight left in them.  The Ducks were able to tie the game at 73 with just over 9 minutes left to play and took an 84-82 advantage into the final minute.  That was when Oregon really clamped down defensively, and after each strong stop made their free throws.  When the dust settled, Oregon had won 91-84 and punched their ticket to the Final Four in Atlanta.  Payton Pritchard had another dominant game for his team, scoring 28 points in the victory.

Final Score: (4) Oregon 91, (2) San Diego State 84

HoopsHD continues its simulation of what would have happened in TTTW (The Tournament That Wasn’t).  Up next it is time to award the second spot in the Final Four with the Midwest Regional Semifinals and Finals.  The Midwest was the only region to see each of the top four teams advance to the Sweet 16, giving us a pair of very intriguing regional semifinal matchups.  First up, top-seed Baylor battles the only remaining ACC team, Louisville.  After that, Creighton takes on Michigan State.  The winners will meet for a chance to join Kansas in the Final Four in Atlanta.  Which of these four teams will survive?  It is time to find out!

REGIONAL SEMIFINALS – MIDWEST REGION – INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA

(1) Baylor vs (4) Louisville

Despite quite a few upsets in the other regions, the Midwest Region had seen form hold after the first two rounds and the top four teams had advanced to the Sweet 16.  The Regional semifinals in Indianapolis would begin with a matchup between top-seed Baylor and the lone ACC team to make it past the first weekend, the Louisville Cardinals.  Despite being a 4-seed, Louisville had been one of the hot preseason picks to win the national championship, so the Bears certainly knew they would have their work cut out for them in this round.

Baylor knew this game would be a tough one, and a tough thriller is exactly what the fans in Indy got.  The first half saw several swings back and forth, and each team building a lead of 6 points during it only to see their opponent fight right back in.  The shot of the half came at the buzzer when Louisville’s Jordan Nwora just barely got the ball away from beyond the arc as time expired to make the score 38-35 Baylor at the break.  Baylor came out strong early in the second and built a lead of as much as 13 points, 53-40, only to see the Cardinals fight back again.  A pair of Samuell Williamson free throws with three minutes left to play put the Cardinals back in front by a score of 79-78.  Both teams spent the last three minutes exchanging punches back and forth, with the lead changing multiple times.  Darius Perry sunk a jumped for Louisville with 1:15 left to play to give the Cards an 85-82 edge.   MaCio Teague promptly answered with a shot from long distance to tie the game with 53 seconds left.  Lamarr Kimble was fouled on the next Louisville possession but only made 1 of 2 free throws to put his team up by a single point.  It was now Baylor’s turn, and Teague got himself open from just outside the paint with 22 seconds left to give Baylor an 87-86 advantage.  The Cardinals were able to get Jordan Nwora open from 3 with 8 seconds left, but his shot missed – and the offensive rebound landed in the hands of teammate Dwayne Sutton.  Sutton got the final shot of the game off at the buzzer, but it clanked off the rim as well and the Baylor Bears had survived and advanced to the Elite Eight behind 22 points from MaCio Teague and a double-double from Freddie Gillespie.

Final Score: (1) Baylor 87, (4) Louisville 86

(2) Creighton vs (3) Michigan State

The Big Ten had an amazing season in 2019-20, with ten teams having qualified for the Big Dance and as many as 12 teams having been in the hunt for a bid up until the last few weeks of the season.  Therefore, when only two Big Ten teams made the Sweet 16, and Illinois having already fallen in their Regional Semifinal, it was a shock to see only one team from the conference left in action.  That one team, however, was the preseason #1 team in the nation Michigan State Spartans, a team that had been playing as well as almost anyone in the nation in the final weeks leading up to Selection Sunday.  Michigan State was technically the lower-seeded team, however, in their matchup with Big East co-regular season and tournament champion Creighton.  The Bluejays were in their first ever Sweet 16 since the field expanded to at least 64 teams, but head coach Greg McDermott’s squad was not satisfied with just making it this far.

After the first game in Indianapolis having been such a thriller, it would be more likely that the second game of the evening would be a lot less exciting.  That simply, much to the thrill of the fans in attendance, was not the case.  The two teams played tight the entire first half with Creighton owning the largest lead at 7 before the Spartans came back to take the lead at 41-38.  The Bluejays owned the final minute of the half, however, scoring 7 answered points to take a 45-41 halftime lead.  Michigan State came back out strong in the second period and neither team was able to build a lead of more than 5 the rest of the way.  With Creighton up 4 following a pair of Mitch Ballock free throws, Cassius Winston came down the court and nailed a jumper with 22 seconds to play to cut the lead to 97-95 in favor of the Bluejays.  The Spartans quickly fouled Ty-Shon Alexander who made both free throws to extend the lead to 4, but Marcus Bingham found the bottom of the net from beyond the arc with 12 seconds left to make it a one point game, 99-98.  Marcus Zegrowski was then sent to the free throw line where he only made one of two, giving the Spartans one final chance, with 8 seconds left, to tie or win.  Xavier Tillman tried to play hero, putting up the shot to tie from the left wing as the horn sounded.  When the ball bounced off the rim, the game was over, the last Big Ten team had fallen, and the Bluejays deepest Tournament run ever would continue into the Elite Eight where Baylor was waiting.  Marcus Zergowski led the way in the win with 33 points and teammate Ty-Shon Alexander scored 27 for the victors.

Final Score: (2) Creighton 100, (3) Michigan State 98

REGIONAL FINAL – MIDWEST REGION – INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA

(1) Baylor vs (2) Creighton

The Creighton Bluejays had never made a Final Four, yet alone advanced to the Elite Eight, prior to this season.  The Baylor Bears last played in the Final Four back in 1950, well before the tournament had expanded to its current format, though they had a pair of chances in the Elite Eight in both 2010 (losing to 1-seed Duke) and 2012 (losing to 1-seed Kentucky).  This time around, it was Baylor that was the 1-seed, taking on 2-seed Creighton with a spot in Atlanta on the line.  Baylor had advanced this far by taking care of Texas Southern, squeezing past Houston and then winning a thriller over Louisville.  Creighton had escaped 15-seed Northern Kentucky by only a single point in the first round, then took care of Arizona State before winning their own regional semifinal thriller by 2 points over Michigan State.  All signs pointed to another great game for the fans in Indianapolis and those watching around the country and around the world.

The fans wanted a great game, and for the third straight time in Indianapolis, that is exactly what they got.  The Bears and Bluejays fought back-and-forth the entire first half with neither team being able to build a lead of greater than 5 points.  A jumper from Creighton’s Mitch Ballock right before the end of the first half sent the teams to the break tied at 49 apiece.  Baylor seemed ready to take control of the game 6 minutes into the second half when a 15-0 run turned a 57-54 deficit into a 69-57 lead.  However, the Bluejays were not done yet, as they fought all the way back and saw a Damien Jefferson shot from just inside the 3-point line tie the game at 78 with just over 3 minutes left to play.  Creighton then took a 3-point lead on a Ty-Shon Alexander shot from beyond the arc a minute later, only to see Matthew Mayer connect from long range on the feed from MaCio Teague to tie the game up again.  Jared Butler got open from long-range on the next Baylor possession to put the Bears up by 3, and Creighton’s shots began to miss.  Davion Mitchell sunk four free throws in the final minute to extend the Baylor lead to 5, and even though Jefferson sunk a 3-ball at the buzzer, Baylor had enough points to win, and advanced to the Final Four by a final score of 92-90.  Six different Bears scored in double-figures in the game led by 18 points from Jared Butler.  The Bears had won the Midwest Regional by a combined total of only 3 points in their two games, but no matter what the scores were, the title in Indianapolis belonged to the Bears as they joined conference-mate Kansas as the first two teams into the Final Four.

Final Score: (1) Baylor 92, (2) Creighton 90