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March Madness 2022 live updates: Cinderella Saint Peter's trails Purdue; women's Sweet 16 starts
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OLD HED: Cinderella Saint Peter’s in action; women’s Sweet 16 starts
The Sweet 16 rolls on with double the action on Friday.
It’s the first day of the women’s Sweet 16, and two No. 1 seeds are in action. Top overall seed South Carolina faces North Carolina (7 p.m. ET, ESPN) and No. 1 Stanford takes on Maryland to end the night, with No. 2 Texas vs. No. 6 Ohio State and 10th-seeded Creighton against No. 3 Iowa State in between.
On the men’s side, the 15th-seeded Cinderella Saint Peter’s Peacocks begin the slate against third-seeded Purdue. The lone remaining No. 1 seed, Kansas, faces Providence as the other game in the early slate.
Follow along for live updates and analysis from the USA TODAY Sports staff.
Sweet 16 winners, losers: Razorbacks save SEC’s bacon, Coach K survives, Gonzaga falls apart
FEAR THE ‘STACHE:Saint Peter’s March Madness run has made guard Doug Edert ‘folk hero with a mustache’
HULL TWINS:Lexie and Lacy’s hustle plays, floor burns lead defending national champ Stanford
Purdue basketball leads Saint Peter’s at halftime in the Sweet 16
Third-seeded Purdue leads 15th-seeded Saint Peter’s 33-29 at halftime.
Sasha Stefanovic leads Purdue with 11 points and Zach Edey has seven for the Boilermakers, shooting 50% from the field despite nine turnovers. Clarence Rupert scored 11 for the Peacocks, who are shooting 36.7%. Jaylen Murray led Saint Peter’s into the half with a buzzer-beating layup.
– Cydney Henderson
Duke’s Paolo Banchero: ‘It would be wild’ to meet UNC in Final Four
Duke freshman Paolo Banchero isn’t looking past Saturday’s Elite Eight matchup against fourth-seeded Arkansas. But he’s also aware of who could be waiting for the Blue Devils in next week’s Final Four.
Second-seeded Duke (31-6) is one win away from a trip to New Orleans and a possible grudge match with arch-rival North Carolina, which faces fourth-seeded UCLA in Friday’s East Regional semifinal.
The Blue Devils defeated the Tar Heels 87-67 on Feb. 5 at the Dean Smith Center in Chapel Hill before UNC (27-9) spoiled Mike Krzyzewski’s home finale in a 94-81 win at Cameron Indoor Stadium on March 5.
“If we were to see each other that deep in the tournament, I’m sure it would be wild,” Banchero said.
Only once, during the 1991 NCAA Tournament, has Duke and UNC both been in the Final Four. Duke and UNC have never played each other in the NCAA Tournament.
– David Thompson
Get to know Saint Peter’s ‘folk hero with a mustache’ Doug Edert
The entire college basketball universe has its eyes trained on Saint Peter’s and its “folk hero” Doug Edert, the mustachioed clutch shooter who has helped propel the No. 15 seed Peacocks on a Cinderella run to the men’s Sweet 16 against Purdue on Friday.
The ‘stache, Edert’s father Bill says, will stick around as long as Saint Peter’s is winning.
“They call James Harden ‘The Beard,’ ” Bill Edert told USA TODAY Sports. “Right now, Doug is ‘The Mustache.’
– Chris Bumbaca
Saint Peter’s bringing its New Jersey swagger to Sweet 16
PHILADELPHIA – The Peacocks (21-11) have shown a certain swagger in the tournament. That attitude, along with unexpectedly strong play, create a compelling combination.
“Just being on this coast, being in New York and New Jersey, you have a different type of toughness, a different type of swagger that you play the game of basketball with,” junior guard Daryl Banks said. “As far as a chip on your shoulder, it’s just a different breed of basketball, and that is what all of us are embracing.”
Saint Peter’s roster is a collection of under-recruited, overlooked players who have come together under coach Shaheen Holloway.
“Typically, those are the type of kids I like to recruit, guys who are under-recruited, have a chip on their shoulder with something to prove. Tough, hard-nosed kids, tough-minded,” Holloway said.
— Stephen Edelson, NorthJersey.com
Coaches become parents as teams advance through women’s NCAA Tournament
Creighton assistant Carli Berger watched the Bluejays upset No. 2 seed Iowa last Sunday from home, after she gave birth to her son Luke on March 15 and the team FaceTimed her from the court. Meanwhile, South Dakota strength and conditioning coach Caleb Heim, whose wife Katie gave birth to son Bennett (also) on March 15, texted motivational videos and coordinated meals.
— Jordan Mendoza
Toughness is winning in March – and it’s why No. 1 seeds Arizona, Gonzaga are out
SAN ANTONIO — At its best, basketball is a beautiful game of skill and artistry mixed with soaring athleticism that will inspire leaping from seats. At its most dramatic, it’s often barroom brawl in gym shorts.
The NCAA has made its choice about what kind of sport it wants college basketball to be on the biggest stage. It prefers a game where freedom of movement is a myth, the lane is constantly clogged and nobody is going near the rim without risking half their body getting covered in scratches and welts. It is ridiculously physical, inconsistently officiated and often just plain ugly.
But it’s pretty good television, and it certainly reveals something about what wins in the NCAA tournament.
Though we’re supposed to call it a crazy night when two No. 1 seeds fall, as Gonzaga and Arizona both did within a couple hours Thursday, those twin results fit perfectly within the paradigm of what college basketball has become.
Whatever concept you have of “best team wins” has never been more irrelevant. In this tournament, the toughest, most physical team wins.
— Dan Wolken
Hall of Fame coach thinks Arkansas will beat Duke
SAN FRANCISCO – Nolan Richardson, the Hall of Fame basketball coach who led the Arkansas Razorbacks to the 1994 national title, has a prediction about Mike Krzyzewski’s farewell tour.
It’s going to end of Saturday, at the Chase Center in the Elite Eight.
That’s when the fourth-seeded Arkansas plays the second-seeded Duke Blue Devils.
“When you look at it with the eye test, when they both (teams) play to their potentials, I think the Razorbacks are three, four, five points better at this point, hopefully because of maturity,’’ Richardson said Friday.
In 1994, his Razorbacks beat Krzyzewski’s Blue Devils, 76-72, in the national championship game.
– Josh Peter
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Uber, Lyft made safety improvements, but many of those protect riders more than drivers. But drivers are also in danger.
Naomi Ogutu
Opinion contributor
I’ve been a rideshare driver in New York City for six years, and I take pride in my job and helping my passengers get where they need to go safely. But my safety is not a guarantee. I’m a mom of three. I need to know that I’ll make it home to my kids at the end of each night.
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Business
'A bad déjà vu': Under the crush of Western sanctions, Russians fear a return to dark economic days
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Harsh sanctions from Western nations on Russia have reminded citizens of the country’s 1998 debt crisis.
By Anna Nemtsova
USA TODAY
- McDonalds and other American businesses have closed in Russia amid its invasion into Ukraine.
- One expert estimates more than 200,000 Russians have left the country since the start of the war.
- To counter economic turmoil, Putin has demand “unfriendly” countries pay for natural gas exports in rubles.
The once bustling corner of Moscow’s central Tverskaya Street looked deserted on Wednesday, as Russia’s first-ever McDonald’s franchise – opened in 1990 in a move that symbolized the Soviet Union’s opening to the West – shut its doors.
A large mural depicting a giant, Soviet-era medal – the Order of Victory, the highest military decoration awarded in World War II — loomed over over the empty sidewalk.
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The lone No. 1 seed still alive heading into the Elite Eight, Kansas needs only a win against No. 10 Miami (Fla.) to book a spot in the Final Four.
No. 2 Duke and coach Mike Krzyzewski can make one last Final Four and chase one final national championship by beating No. 4 Arkansas.
No. 2 Villanova can reach the national semifinals for the third time in six tournaments by winning what should be a defense-dominated brawl against No. 5 Houston.
And after beating No. 4 UCLA in the Sweet 16, No. 8 North Carolina is one win from reaching the Final Four under first-year coach Hubert Davis.
If everything goes according to plan, this year’s Final Four will consist of some of the biggest names in the history of the sport.
But the last week has taught us that this year’s NCAA Tournament will inevitably deviate from the script.
So look for the Jayhawks to be shocked in the Elite Eight, as the Bill Self collection of tournament collapses adds another painful chapter. Based on how things have gone through three rounds, Arkansas is a lock to send Krzyzewski into retirement one game shy of the Final Four. Villanova may be a two-time champion under Jay Wright, but the Wildcats will be smothered by Houston.
And, of course, the Tar Heels will lose to the team that embodies the wackiness and uncertainty of this entire tournament.
Saint Peter’s stands at the precipice of another outlandish achievement: being the first No. 15 seed — the first seed lower than No. 11, in fact — to reach the Final Four.
The Peacocks will be the underdog once again come Sunday, when they’ll match against a deeper and more talented opponent with decades of history to more than overshadow the Peacocks’ three-game run.
But beating another college basketball giant will simply take what we already know the Peacocks can bring to the table: Saint Peter’s reached the Elite Eight with energy, aggressiveness and composure, following the model set by unflappable coach Shaheen Holloway, and that same combination will give the Peacocks a chance at etching themselves into an even more permanent place in NCAA Tournament history.
“We’re happy but don’t mistake, we’re not satisfied, we’re not satisfied at all,” said guard Doug Edert. “The job is not finished. We feel like we belong and the more games we win the more confidence we build.”
That sounds like bad news for the Tar Heels, who might’ve righted the ship after a poor start to ACC play but could be the latest blueblood to the Peacocks’ formula.
At some point, the magic has to run out — for Saint Peter’s, which somehow keeps stacking upsets of higher-ranked opponents, and for the tournament at large, which has been wackier than ever but could suddenly snap back to the status quo.
But this March has not gone according to plan. Several big names lost early. Others failed to get out of the second round. The story of this year’s tournament has been upsets, shockers, letdowns, unpredictable officiating and unpredictability, period — why should the next two days be any different?
Follow colleges reporter Paul Myerberg on Twitter @PaulMyerberg
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