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College basketball
© St. Petersburg Times, published March 24, 2003
A year after not even being invited to the NCAA Tournament, Butler is all the rage.
The Bulldogs beat Rick Pitino and Louisville 79-71 on Sunday to advance to the round of 16, pulling off one of the biggest upsets of the tournament.
Butler, which won the Horizon League regular-season title and lost to Wisconsin-Milwaukee in the conference tournament, knocked off No. 5 Mississippi State to get to play Louisville. The Bulldogs stunned the Cardinals with an awesome 3-point shooting display.
Butler, which was left out of last season's field despite a 25-5 record, made 14 of 22 3-pointers, including 9-of-13 in the second half.
Butler won't be able to sneak up on top-seeded Oklahoma on Friday when they meet in the East Region semifinals.
Auburn was the only other double-digit seed to reach the third round.
The Tigers, the team many thought didn't deserve an at-large bid, beat No. 2 Wake Forest 68-62 and meet third-seeded Syracuse in the other East Region semifinal. Auburn advanced to the round of 16 for the second time in five seasons under coach Cliff Ellis. It also made the region semifinals under Ellis in 1999. Marquis Daniels led the way, scoring seven of his 18 in the final four minutes.
The third-seeded Orangemen rallied past Oklahoma State 68-56 thanks to three big 3-pointers from Gerry McNamara, who was left bloodied by a blow to the head. The wins by Syracuse and Pittsburgh, who manhandled Indiana 74-52 in the Midwest, gave the Big East an 8-0 record in the NCAA Tournament and four teams in the Sweet 16.
Meanwhile, Maryland kept its national title defense alive with a 77-64 win over third-seeded Xavier. The Terps, who meeded a last-second basket to advance in the first round, rode an early 19-4 run to reach their third Sweet 16 in a row.
Top seeds Kentucky and Texas advanced with little resistance.
The Wildcats routed Utah 74-54 in the Midwest Region for their 25th win in a row. The Longhorns reached the round of 16 for the second straight year with a 77-67 win over Purdue in the South, sending them to the Alamodome in San Antonio, about 80 miles south of their campus.