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Show 4inillllllNIMIIIIIiMIIIIII!N!IIIMIIIMIIIIIIIIIIMIIIIIIMIIItlllllllllllflllllUI] I PAtotmiwwps I UPSET FINAL FOUR From page 9 From page 10 Wnsmmu, 0.C, them. We definitely weren't supposed to be UConn. I think we'll stick to the script going into whoever we play. We don't mind being the Cinderella." AllfiveMason starters finished in double figures. Jai Lewis had 20, and Lamar Butler and Will Thomas each scored 19. Larranaga's team kept the samefiveplayers in the game from the 10:37 mark of regulation to the very end of overtime. Butler was chosen as the most outstanding player of the regional, and he and his father were in tears as they hugged at length on the court after the game. "I feel so good, through my own sadness, for Jim Larranaga," UConn coach Jim Calhoun said. "Playing at that level is not easy." Michael'Conroy/AP'Photo FLORIDA'S COREY BREWER, RIGHT, falls backwards after an offensive foul by Villanova's Randy Foye during the second half of their NCAA Regional final basketball game in Minneapolis Sunday. Florida won 75-62. in their nine-game winning streak and only Villanova broke 60 in the NCAA tournament. REBOUNDING Even though George Mason has no starter over 67, the Patriots do a solid job on the boards, outrebounding opponents by almost three per game. Lewis grabs 7.8 per game and Will Thomas is second with a 7.2 average. George Mason picked up the rebounding in the NCAA tournament, outrebounding Michigan State, one of the best rebounding programs in college basketball, 40-24. The Patriots outrebounded Connecticut, which led the nation in rebound margin this season, 37-34. Al Horford (7-2) and Noah (6.8) provide most of the rebounding for the Gators, who outrebounded opponents by about three per game. Florida does have a problem giving up offensive rebounds as teams have grabbed almost 70 more than the Gators. Horford and Noah each had 15 rebounds against Villanova and the Gators finished with a 53-40 advantage on the boards. FREE THROWS The Patriots shoot 66 percent from the line with senior guard Tony Skinn easily the best at 81.1 percent and Campbell next at 75 percent. It was rough down the stretch against Connecticut as George Mason went 5-for11fromthe line in the final 30 seconds of regulation and overtime. The Gators shoot 74 percent from the line and Taurean Green leads the way at 88 percent, a fact that becomes even more important because he's the point guard and always has the ball in his hands in end-of-game situations. INJURIES George Mason has been injury free this season and the Patriots need it to stay that way because the starters all average 30 minutes per game. There are just two other players who average more than 10 minutes. Humphrey separated his left (non-shooting) shoulder on Jan. 29 and missed one game and most of another but has been healthy and shooting 3s since returning. INTANGIBLES Those who believe in karma have to love George Mason. One of the controversial at-large selections in the field, the Patriots beat two teams from last year s Final Four (Michigan State and North Carolina) and the last two national champions (Connecticut and North Carolina) in their run. Even though this level of the tournament is new to them, the Patriots have three senior starters. Florida lost 60 percent of its offense from last season and little was expected of the Gators with four sophomores in the starting lineup. The Gators blew away any thought of a sophomore jinx by winning theirfirst17 games and then winning the Southeastern Conference tournament. When the Gators got on a roll, they were almost unbeatable, but five of their six losses came in a two-game and three-game losing streak. LSUvs. UCLA GETTING THERE Fourth-seeded LSU (27-8) needed an extrafiveminutes to get to its first Final Four since 1986, beating Texas 7060 in overtime on Saturday to win the Atlanta Regional. Second-seeded UCLA (31-6) beat Memphis 50-45 to reach the Final Four for a 16th time, tying North Carolina for the most ever. The Bruins were last in the national semifinals in 1995 when they went on to win their record 11th NCAA championship. THE ROAD .......... LSU beat No. 13 Iona 80- ; 64; No. 12 Texas A&M 5857; No. 1 Duke 62-54; No. 2 Texas 70-60, OT. UCLA beat No. 15 Belmont 78-44; No. 10 Alabama 6259; No. 3 Gonzaga 73-71; No. 1 Memphis 50-45. THE COACHES John Brady has taken LSU to the NCAA tournament four times in his nine seasons there and this is the first time the Tigers have gotten past the regional semifinals. Ben Howland has taken three schools tofiveNCAA tournaments (Northern Arizona, Pittsburgh, UCLA) and this is the first time one has gotten past the regional semifinals. OFFENSE LSU averages 74.1 points per game and three of the Tigers' four double-figure scores are frontcourt players. Glen "Big Baby" Davis, the hard-to-miss 6-foot-9, 300pound-plus forward, leads the team with an 18.5-point average, and throughout the tournament 6-9 freshman Tyrus Thomas, third on the team at 12.3 points per game, became more of a factor on offense, scoring 21 points in the win over Texas. The Tigers shoot 47 percent from the field, a testament to their power inside, but still hit 34 percent from beyond the arc with the majority of the 3s coming from Darrel Mitchell, who averages 17.2 points and hit 82 of the team's 147 3pointers. The Bruins average 68.8 points per game and the two leading scorers are sophomore guards Arron Afflalo (16.2) and Jordan Farmar (13.6). Afflalo shoots 48 percent from the field, including 37 percent from 3-point range, while Farmar averages 5.2 assists per game. Freshman forward Luc Richard Mbah a Moute saw his numbers improve throughout the season to a 9.1 scoring average. The frontcourt combines for some impressive shooting percentages as Mbah a Moute shoots 56 percent, while Cedric Bozeman is at 51 percent and 7-footer Ryan Hollins shoots 62 percent. DEFENSE LSU was a more than solid defensive team all season but the Tigers really turned it up in the tournament, holding Duke to its lowest point total since 1996 in the regional semifinals and then holding Texas to 30.4 percent shooting from thefieldin the regional final. UCLA has become one of the better defensive teams in the country under Howland, whose Pitt teams were known for holding teams well below their average numbers. The Bruins are 10th in the country in team defense (58.7) and only Gonzaga in the regional semifinals scored more than 60 points in their 11-game winning streak. Memphis entered the regional final eighth in the country at 81 points per game and UCLA held the Tigers to 45. 'REBOUNDING Davis, the Southeastern Conference player of the year, pulls down an average of 9.8 rebounds per game and Thomas gets 9-2 as the Tigers outrebound opponents by more than nine per game. Davis is especially effective on the offensive glass getting almost half his rebounds on that end. This isn't UCLA's strongest phase of the game but Mbah a Moute leads the team by grabbing 8.1 a game with nobody else averaging five. The Bruins average 32.9 rebounds per game, four more than their opponents. Afflalo (4.3) and Farmar (2.5) do a good job off the boards from the backcourt. FREE THROWS The Tigers shoot almost 70 percent as a team from the line and there really is no weak link as the top six players all shoot between 75 percent (Mitchell) and 66 percent (Thomas). The Bruins shoot 70 percent from the line and again they are led by Afflalo (80 percent) and Farmar (73 percent). INJURIES Thomas was bothered in the regional final by cramping hamstrings in both legs but he returned both times after brief rests and was on the floor at the end of the game. UCLA had one of the most remarkable seasons as far as injuries went. Every scholarship player was injured at some point after practice began in October and seven players missed a total of 83 games, although the team has been healthy throughout the NCAA tournament. INTANGIBLES Mitchell is the only senior on the LSU roster and the other key players are extremely young with Davis a sophomore and Thomas a freshman. The Tigers have played the "no respect" card throughout the tournament and they will keep it going in the Final Four. 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