Lady Luck helps Fighting Irish get to Sweet 16

2nd year in a row for Notre Dame

It looked like Stephen F. Austin had another out-of-nowhere victory lined up, but Lady Luck had other ideas.

It was almost another big upset at this zany NCAA tournament, but you know what they say about almost.

No. 6 Notre Dame had three cracks at a winner against the East Region’s No. 14 seed on Sunday, and needed each of them.

Looking to pad a slight lead, Stephen F. Jackson missed a shot, giving Notre Dame the ball back with 17.5 seconds remaining. The Fighting Irish sent everyone to the glass following a driving miss and got a tip that just missed, but found its way to Rex Pflueger, who was averaging 2.5 points a game and had not scored. Of course, Pflueger got a couple of fingers on the ball and tapped it in. A desperation heave was way off and Notre Dame prevailed 76-75.

This after fighting back against Syracuse in the opener in another game that appeared lost.

After clobbering No. 3 West Virginia on Friday, the small school from East Texas grabbed a fivepoint advantage with 2:05 remaining in a dogfight of a game, but missed its final four shots before the tough finish.

Now, Notre Dame is in the Sweet 16 for the second year in a row, looking mighty good offensively after shooting 57 per cent from the floor in this one and 58 per cent against the Wolverines.

NOT CLOSE

There was no early disappointment for Villanova this year.

The much-hyped program, bounced more quickly than expected recently, easily moved on to the tournament’s second weekend by crushing No. 7 Iowa 87-68 in Brooklyn on Sunday.

The No. 2 seeds in the south have 93 wins over the past three seasons — behind only Kentucky — but advance to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2009 after a string of crushing losses.

Villanova players said they felt relief, but know No. 3 Miami will be a tough challenge and can play better (two close victories).

A 41-16 Wildcats run after it was 13 apiece turned out the lights on Iowa early and the team’s 54 firsthalf points were the most at a tournament game since 2012.

BEST OF THE BEST

And then there were four. The candidate for player of the year has been trimmed down to a quartet from 30 in February to Virginia’s Malcolm Brogdon, Oklahoma’s Buddy Hield, Michigan State’s Denzel Valentine and Kentucky’s Tyler Ulis.

Brogdon has averaged nearly 19 points a game for 28-8 Virginia and was the ACC’s player of the year and a two-time consensus all-American.

Hield has hit more three-pointers than anyone and is the first player from a major conference in 20 years to average at least 25 points and five rebounds a game while also hitting at least 100 three-pointers. He was the Big 12 player of the year.

Valentine was the Big Ten’s top player and stuffed the stat sheet, but wasn’t at his best as his Spartans suffered one of the biggest upsets in tourney history on Friday.

Ulis averaged 17 points and 7.1 assists and scored 27 points in Kentucky’s loss Saturday to Indiana. Some have called him John Calipari’s best collegiate point guard, better at this stage even than John Wall, Derrick Rose and others, though he is considered too small to have their impact at the next level. He was the SEC player of the year.

The trophy will be awarded just ahead of the Final Four. Wisconsin’s Frank Kaminsky won it last year, Doug McDermott, Trey Burke, and Anthony Davis most recently before that.