March Madness Reaches Madison
March 18, 2002 | Men's Basketball
The Kohl Center is the site of this weekend's NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Midwest Regional. After the first weekend of tournament games, the Sweet Sixteen teams that will play in Madison are No. 1 seed Kansas, No. 2 seed Oregon, No. 4 seed Illinois and No. 6 seed Texas. The action begins Friday with the semifinals and the Midwest Regional Final will be played Sunday with one team advancing to the Final Four the following week in Atlanta.
The first game of the Sweet Sixteen will be between Texas and Oregon at 6:55 p.m. CST on Friday. Illinois and Kansas will tip-off 25 minutes after the first game is finished. The winners of each game will meet on Sunday and one team will advance to the Final Four in Atlanta March 30 and April 1. The time of Sunday's game will be announced Friday evening. The games will be televised by CBS.
The Kansas Jayhawks (31-3) hold the number-one seed in the region and have won 18 of their last 19 games. They had won 16 straight before falling to Oklahoma, 55-64, in the championship game of the Big 12 Tournament. The Jayhawks were undefeated in regular season conference play, becoming the first Kansas team to accomplish this feat since the 1970-71 season.
Junior Drew Gooden leads Kansas in scoring, averaging 20.2 points per game. His 19 points, 13 rebounds and five assists led the Jayhawks to their first win of the NCAA tournament against Holy Cross, 70-59. Besides Gooden three other KU players average double-figure scoring, including juniors Nick Collison (15.3 ppg) and Kirk Hinrich (15.2 ppg), and senior Jeff Boschee (13.6 ppg).
The Jayhawks are led by the Big 12's Coach of the Year Roy Williams. Williams is in his 14th season with Kansas and owns a 382-91 career record.
The second-seeded Oregon Ducks boast a 25-8 record and won the Pac-10 title. All of the Ducks' seven regular-season losses were by an average of four points. In the 25 games they won, they outscored their opponents by an average of 15.1 points.
Ducks' senior Frederick Jones leads the team in scoring, earning an average of 18.6 points per game. Luke Jackson was key in Oregon's 92-87 win over Wake Forest in the second round of the tournament. The sophomore contributed 29 points in the effort.
Head Coach Ernie Kent is one of the 20 finalists for the 2002 Naismith College Basketball Coach of the Year, and already was named the Pac-10 recipient. He is in his fifth year leading the Ducks.
The fourth-seeded Illinois Fighting Illini will represent the Big Ten Conference at the Midwest Regional. The Illini earned a share of the conference regular-season title and lost to Ohio State, 81-64, in the semifinals of the Big Ten Tournament. The Illini are 26-8 and have won 11 of their last 12 games.
The team is led by Frank Williams who averages 16.2 points per game. His 20-point effort Sunday against Creighton helped seal the 72-60 victory, advancing his team to the Sweet Sixteen. Brian Cook (13.5), Cory Bradford (11.7) and Robert Archibald (10.5) also contribute scoring averages in double-digits.
The Illini are coached by Bill Self who is in his second season with Illinois. He has a career record of 156-89.
The No. 6-seeded Texas Longhorns are 22-11 on the season and finished in a three-way tie for third in the Big 12 conference. Texas lost 51-67 in the semifinals of the Big 12 Tournament to eventual champion Oklahoma. The Longhorns have won five of their last six games.
Coached by Rick Barnes, the Longhorns have four players who average double-figure scoring. Brandon Mouton averages 14.2 points while Royal Ivey averages 11.0 and T.J. Ford contributes 10.9. Rounding out the top scorers is James Thomas whose .544 shooting percentage averages him 10.6 points per game. Ford, the USBWA Freshman of the Year, leads the nation in assists with 8.5 per game, the first freshman to ever accomplish that feat.
