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LAGUNA NIGUEL, Ca. – Some randomness, re: Thursday night’s NCAA Tournament semifinals in Atlanta and Los Angeles:

*Twelve programs remain in the NCAA Tournament and none of them are even remotely considered to be based in the “West”.

With Nevada getting bounced by Loyola of Chicago in Atlanta and Gonzaga toppled by Florida State in Los Angeles Thursday, the best from the Mountain West (the Wolf Pack won the regular season) and West Coast Conference have now taken their last NCAA-funded charter flights for the season.

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LAGUNA NIGUEL, Ca. – I’ve followed NCAA tournaments very closely since, say, 1971 or so – yes, I’m old as, well . . . I’m old.

But without doing a whole lot of time-consuming season-by-season research, I can’t recall a first week to an NCAA Basketball Tournament that was as mind-whopping as this one was.

Let me count the ways, in reasonably pecking order:

1. The first No. 1 seed – regionally, much less nationally – fell to a No. 16 as the Virginia Cavaliers were blitzed by Maryland-Baltimore County.

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LONG BEACH – The Sierra Canyon High basketball team held its collective breath as a potential score-tying jumper by Etiwanda’s Krystian Wilson was just off the front of the rim as the buzzer sounded in Long Beach State’s Pyramid.

With the miss came a 58-55 victory for the Trailblazers over the Eagles in the Southern Regional Open Division final and earned them a spot in the state championship game next Saturday night in Sacramento.

Sierra Canyon’s “NBA bloodlines” came through at critical moments for Coach Andre Chevalier’s team as Kenyon Martin Jr.,

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LONG BEACH – The St. John Bosco High basketball team dominated, more or less, the first three quarters of its Southern Regional Division I championship game with Chino Hills Saturday afternoon in the Pyramid on the Long Beach State campus.

But the fourth quarter, well, not so much.

Sparked by the both-ends-of-the-floor dominance of 6-foot-9 junior Onyeka Okongwu, the Chino Hills Huskies outscored the Braves over the final eight minutes 27-2 to prevail, 67-51, and earn a spot in the State championship game, against Las Lomas of Walnut Creek, next Friday night in Sacramento’s Golden 1 Arena.

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LAGUNA NIGUEL, Ca. – Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, family dogs . . .

Here are my game-by-game selections for the NCAA Tournament, culminating with the Final Four in San Antonio:

 

SOUTH

First Round: No. 1 Virginia-UMBC; Creighton-Kansas State; Kentucky-Davidson; Arizona-Buffalo; Miami-Loyola/Chi.; Tennessee-Wright State; Nevada-Texas; Cincinnati-Georgia State.

Second Round: Virginia-Creighton; Arizona-Kentucky; Tennessee-Miami; Cincinnati-Texas.

Regional Semifinals (Atlanta): Virginia-Arizona and Cincinnati-Miami.

Final: Cincinnati-Arizona

 

WEST

First Round: No. 1 Xavier-Texas Southern; Missouri-Florida State; Gonzaga-UNC/Greensboro; Ohio State-South Dakota State; Houston-San Diego State; Michigan-Montana; Texas A&M-Providence; North Carolina-Lipscomb.

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