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Show r SPORTS SUN WEDNESDAY, MARCH 31, 2004 With 61 down, here's your Final Four The Devils have a drive-way-bre- State takes out Tech. If d shooter in J.J whose range would that Oklahoma State Redick, stretches across both zip and area codes; a versatile, burgeoning talent in Luol Deng; and a coach extension in the patient point man Chris Duhon. The other semi pits Oklahoma State's lumberjacks and longshoremen against the road runners of Georgia Tech. Whatever Tech does or doesn't do will largely be the result of its trades, Jarrett Jack, who is creator, orchestrator, elevator. Jack-of-a- Jack will himself a against bangers. years in the busi ness have taught him this "Luck is big. You need a helpful bounce here, a call in your favor there." Forty-fiv- Joe's, Xavier can't hang St. by Bill Lyon Newspapers Knigh t Ridder Joe's is gone, leaving a candlelight glow behind, and a legion of fans and converts sighing wistfully over what might have been at the Final Four. St. Still, for a time there yesterday, it looked like a small Catholic school and earn the survive might right to mix it up with the big boys anyway. But Xavier finally ran down after a wonderful run, beaten at the end by a program that seems to have the patent on winning. Duke. Of course. The aris- tocrats of college hoops. This news will be met with some impolite and unflattering noises. For some reason, sustained excellence isn't appreciated by everyone. So, 61 have been eliminated and four are left to twirl ' i around the Big Dance floor The marquee is filled with familiar names: UConn, Duke, Oklahoma State and Georgia Tech. In order, two No. seeds, one No. 2, one No. 3. It means the selection committee did a creditable job in its rankings. UConn looks to be the best of what is left. The Huskies have the complete place setting - guards, forwards, centers, knives, forks and spoons. Talent and depth. And, so far, little reason to linger in the shower because their four tournament games have not required the breaking of perspiration. Coach Jim Calhoun, who won a national championship in 1999 and hence knows legitimacy when it is placed in front of him, readily admits his cupboard overflows and includes two of the best 20 players in the country -guard Ben Gordon and center Emeka Okafor. 1 This largesse, however, carries with it a certain responsibility, namely an obligation to all that talent. "I would have been disappointed in myself if I couldn't get this team to the Final Four," Calhoun said. "I'd have felt awful." e And he is a pragmatist about that championship "If I do, I do, and if I don't, well, it's not the end of the ll world." That sentiment might be of some help to St. Joe's, whose run ended in an excruciating loss in the final blinks of the clock. need to make moving target Okie State's five-mont- h But the Hawks, and their 64-6- 2 79-7- coact Fast Eddie Sutton one wir, from the national champi onship that has eluded him all these years. At 68, he would be the oldest coach to win a title. The Cowboys were the ones to bring St. Joe's Technicolor Dream Machine to a halt in a epic that takes its place on the top shelf of tournament games. The guess here is that form holds and UConn beats Duke, and Oklahoma 1 overtime victory over the Kansas Jayhawks, Georgia Tech team members celebrate the Yellow Jackets' in St. Louis will March Tech Missouri. face Oklahoma State at the Final Four, 28, 2004, Sunday, Georgia Saturday in San Antonio, Texas. so leave fans, the old ones and the new ones, shouldn't mourn what might have been. They should what was. celebrate Not to worry. Here they are, and they have won their four tournament games by 70 points, and even that does not begin fo" reflect how easily they have rolled along. mentioning ' that they have feasted on lower seeds - Vermont went down by 17, DePaul by the same, Vanderbilt by 20, Alabama by 16. Their on opponent Semifinal Saturday, however, will be a team of far sterner fiber: Duke. This one brims with promise. The Blue Devils, as is their custom, have the requisite parts, the sum of them exceeding ... well, you know how it goes. Duke can play inside, outside, downtown, uptown, attic or basement. Doellman during the Blue Devils' 2 victory over the Musketeers in the NCAA Atlanta Regional, Sunday, March 28, 2004, to advance to the Final Four. 66-6- |