SC vs Gonzaga Final Four 2017 schedule

Now the NCAA’s winningest program will play another of basketball’s titans Sunday in top-seeded North Carolina with a trip to yet another Final Four on the line. “The way we play defense, you can put any school – big or small – against us”.

Xavier’s postseason run came to an end Saturday night with an 83-59 Elite Eight loss to No 1-seeded Gonzaga at the SAP Center in San Jose. He added 11 points on 5-of-6 shooting, and if he can remain that efficient, OR will get off to a great start.

Kentucky senior Dominique Hawkins picked up the slack in Fox’s absence and tallied 10 points in the first half.

The result was the Gonzaga fans in attendance – including Basketball Hall of Famer and Bulldogs alum John Stockton – had most of the second half to revel in the significance of what their team was about to achieve. Defensively, South Carolina is yielding 64.8 points against the opposing teams.

In many ways, it was the first meeting – a 57-53 SC win on January 18 – that set the stage for where both teams are today.

Game 1: (7) SC vs. (1) Gonzaga, 3:09 p.m. “But then we were talking about how we would have a shot at the Final Four, which would mean we’d be one of only four teams still playing in the whole of America”.

By contrast, SC coach Frank Martin asked, in his locker room after beating Florida, “Why not?”

WCPO Insiders can learn about other similarities between the schools as well as how the Elite Eight game was nearly a rematch. Gonzaga and SC, who will play each other in one semifinal, have never advanced to a Final Four. This should be much more of a scoring show, with the sixth (UNC) and 16th (Oregon) most efficient offenses. If it gives OR easy buckets in transition, the Ducks will bury the Tar Heels in a hurry with their high-volume shooting.

Tyler Dorsey scored 20 points and this is his sixth straight game with 20 or more points. “We got away from what we’ve done against BYU, or we’d be looking at 37-0 right now”.

In the Midwest region, we will see a clash between number one seed Kansas Jayhawks and number three seeds Oregon Ducks. They had scored those 288 points in the first three games on just 217 possessions, 1.333 PPP. He had 19 points, eight rebounds and three blocks. Sunday’s game went under the total of 161. Most of all, he knows when he has to take a game over, or be the guy that takes the big shot. The Jayhawks fumbled rebounds, looked confused. Maye’s game-winning bucket came after Kentucky freshman Malik Monk hit a 3-pointer to tie the game with 7.2 seconds remaining.

OR is 17-7-1 ATS in their last 25 games overall and 10-4-1 ATS in their last 15 NCAA tournament games while the under is 4-1 in their last 5 games against the ACC. UNC is 7-1 ATS in their last 8 games against the Pac-12 and 7-3-2 ATS in their last 12 games overall while the under is 10-2-1 in their last 13 games following a win.

For one of these teams, it’s finally happening.

Both South Carolina and Gonzaga are making their first Final Four appearances, but don’t call either a Cinderella. Roy Williams was on the bench with Dean Smith when Michael Jordan made that shot in 1982.

Consider the nation “woke” to OR and Gonzaga as title contenders following impressive Final Four runs. “These were two teams just slugging at each other”. If one of them wins a championship, it would be the first for a true West Coast team since UCLA in 1995 (Arizona won in 1997).