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Louisville 72, Wichita State 68

Why Louisville won: The Cardinals struggled to turn the Shockers over for most of the game and got a combined shooting effort of 7 of 26 from Russ Smith and Peyton Siva but still pulled it out via the clutch shooting of reserves Luke Hancock and walk-on Tim Henderson.
The Turning Point: Louisville went from its zone to a man to man in the second half and it took away the WSU rhythm it had played with vs. the zone — then went back to the zone in time to force a key 24-second violation.

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No. 4 seed (Midwest) Michigan (30-7) vs. No.4 (East) Syracuse (30-9), 8:49 p.m. ET, CBS

Records vs. NCAA tournament field: Michigan 12-6, Syracuse 11-8.

Records vs. common opponents: Michigan beat Pittsburgh (67-62) and lost twice to Indiana (81-73 and 72-71); Syracuse beat split with Pittsburgh (losing 65-55 and winning 62-59) and beat Indiana (61-50).

Best individual matchups: Trey Burke (6-0, So., Michigan) vs. Syracuse zone; Michael Carter-Williams (6-7, So., Syracuse) vs. Burke’s defense.

Team strengths: Michigan – 1. The Wolverines have the best collection of perimeter scorers in the Final Four field; 2.

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No. 9 seed (West) Wichita State (30-8) vs. No.1 (Midwest) Louisville (33-5), 6:09 p.m. ET, CBS

Records vs. NCAA tournament field: Wichita State 6-2, Louisville 15-5.

Records vs. common opponents: Wichita State beat DePaul (75-62) and Pittsburgh (73-55); Louisville beat DePaul (79-58) and Pittsburgh (64-61).

Best individual matchups: Malcolm Armstead (6-0, Sr., WSU) vs. Peyton Siva (6-0, Sr., Louisville); Carl Hall (6-8, Sr., WSU) vs. Gorgui Dieng (6-11, Jr., Louisville).

Team strengths: Wichita State – 1. The Spartans’ half-court defense is as good any played by any team in this season’s tourney field of 68; 2.

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LAGUNA NIGUEL, CA – And then there was one . . . and eight.

Another No. 1 seed was sent packing Friday night, just minutes after it appeared as if it was comfortably scooting along to the South Regional Sunday in North Texas in the very big house that Jerry (Jones) built.

In the process, a sophomore guard from the University of Michigan pretty much closed any debate about the identity of the consensus National Player of the Year.

The “coolest” story of the tournament came to a close, too, Friday night as those quick-shooting and high-flying cats from Ft.

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LOS ANGELES – Maybe all of the folks who piled on the Gonzaga’s Bulldogs and their No. 1 seed in the West Regional after they were upset by Wichita State Saturday night in Salt Lake City should consider this:

In hindsight, the fact that the WSU Shockers needed a stunning shooting performance from long range – they dropped them in at a nifty .500 clip (14 of 28) from behind the arc – to record the upset is just another example of why the 32-3 Bulldogs are such a terrific club.

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