The NCAA Tournament is here and there’s more news, commentary and analysis than any of us can possibly keep up with. To make things a little easier, we’ll bring you a list of daily links gathered about teams in each of the four regions all the way through the Final Four.

Midwest Region

• Louisville senior associate athletic director for media relations Kenny Klein tweeted a photo of Cardinals guard Kevin Ware moving around on crutches Monday morning, less than 24 hours after suffering a gruesome broken leg in the first half of Sunday’s victory over Duke.
• An outstanding column from Pat Forde of Yahoo! Sports discussing how the courage and strength shown by Louisville guard Kevin Ware after his horrific leg injury served to inspire the Cardinals to get past Duke and reach the Final Four.
• Has Louisville forward Gorgui Dieng improved his NBA Draft stock during the team’s NCAA Tournament run?
• Louisville guard Russ Smith was named Most Outstanding Player of the Midwest Regional. The dynamic junior has dominated the tournament thus far, as he is averaging 26 points per contest.
• Duke freshman swingman Rasheed Sulaimon was quite emotional after his subpar performance in Sunday’s loss to Louisville and in the process, he left no doubt that he truly cares about success and his teammates.
• Andrew Jones of FoxSportsCarolinas.com writes that Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski got just about everything he could out of this year’s Blue Devils.

West Region

• Wichita State is confident that it belongs in the Final Four. The ninth-seeded Shockers are in the Final Four for the first time since 1965.
• Wichita State coach Gregg Marshall reminded his team to “play angry” at halftime of the Shockers’ Elite Eight victory over Ohio State and after notching the Elite Eight victory, they are playing angry into the Final Four.
• Wichita State coach Gregg Marshall took Sunday to re-charge after Saturday’s thrilling Elite Eight victory over Ohio State, but he is back at work Monday preparing for Saturday’s Final Four match-up with top-seeded Louisville.
• Here is an interesting story about a man from Long Beach, California, who put a $10 bet on Wichita State to win the national title. The Shockers had 750-1 odds to cut down the nets at the beginning of the NCAA Tournament, so he would win $7,500 off that bet if they do end up winning the title.

South Region

• Michigan sophomore standout point guard Trey Burke is the engine that has Michigan rolling to its first Final Four appearance in 20 years.
• Michigan freshman big man Mitch McGary has transformed from a project to a standout performer during his first season in Ann Arbor, and that transformation makes the Wolverines a dangerous team as they enter the Final Four.
• Michigan reserve freshman point guard Spike Albrecht’s play is often ignored due to the star power of the team’s starting guards, but the heady and high-energy play of Albrecht has him quickly becoming a locker-room favorite.
• Michigan coach John Beilein saw his team advance to the Final Four on Sunday for the first time in his often nomadic 35-year coaching career, but the Wolverines’ run still has not hit him.
• Florida coach Billy Donovan was highly complimentary of Michigan point guard Trey Burke for setting the pace for the Wolverines in their blowout victory of the Gators in the Elite Eight on Sunday.
• Florida senior forward Erik Murphy had a tough ending to his Gators career in Sunday’s loss to Michigan, as he went scoreless and missed all 11 of his field goal attempts.

East Region

• Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim has been the school’s head coach since 1976 and his passion remains as intense as his squad’s 2-3 zone defense.
• Syracuse assistant coach Gerry McNamara has Final Four experience as he was on the Orange’s 2003 National Championship squad. McNamara is sharing his Final Four memories and feelings with this year’s Syracuse squad, as it prepares for its trip to the Final Four.
• Syracuse point guard Michael Carter-Williams has developed from a lightly-used reserve in his freshman season to a player who does it all for the Orange in his sophomore campaign.
• Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim expressed some concern about how his team can defend Michigan after seeing how the Wolverines dominated Florida in Sunday’s South Regional final.

WCarey (318 Posts)

This entry was posted on Monday, April 1st, 2013 at 2:01 pm by WCarey and is filed under 2013 ncaa tournament, tidbits. Tagged: billy donovan, erik murphy, feature, florida, gerry mcnamara, gorgui dieng, gregg marshall, jim boeheim, john beilein, kevin ware, louisville, Michael Carter-Williams, michigan, mitch mcgary, russ smith, spike albrecht, syracuse, trey burke, wichita state. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.