Calipari returning home to play in Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh gets a strong local rooting interest in the first- and second- round March Madness games that begin Thursday at PPG Paints Arena.
Kentucky ( 23- 9) — coached by Moon native John Calipari — of the SEC earned a 3-seed in the NCAA tournament and faces 14seed Oakland (23-11), the Horizon League regular-season and tournament champion. The two teams will meet as part of the NCAA’s South Region, where Houston earned the 1 seed.
Calipari, 65, is in his 15th season coaching the Wildcats. During his tenure, Kentucky has made it to the
Final Four four times and won the 2012 national championship. In his years working up the ranks of college basketball, he served as an assistant coach for Pitt between 1985-1988.
This year’s Wildcats earned an at-large bid after losing in its first SEC tournament contest to Texas A&M, but they boast huge wins against SEC regular season champion and 2-seed Tennessee on the road, as well as ACC regular-season champion and 1-seed North Carolina on a neutral court.
Oakland finished its dominant season in the Horizon League with an 83-76 win against Milwaukee in the conference championship, finishing 18-5 in the conference.
The other two teams to face off at Pittsburgh in the South Region will be 6-seed Texas Tech (23-10) and 11seed N.C. State (22-14).
The Red Raiders finished third in the Big 12 with a conference record of 11-7 that included big wins against 4-seed Kansas and 3seed Baylor. Texas Tech also earned a conference tournament win against 6-seed BYU before losing to 1-seed Houston in the conference semifinals.
N.C. State punched its ticket by winning the ACC tournament Saturday night with a stunning series of wins against 4-seed Duke, 10seed Virginia and North Carolina in the final three rounds of the conference tournament. The Wolfpack finished 10th in the ACC and were not considered a bubble team before their ACC tournament run.
Pittsburgh’s other games include four teams from the Midwest Region.
South Carolina (26-7) of the SEC earned a 6-seed and is set to face 11-seed Oregon (23-11), while 3-seed Creighton ( 23- 9) faces 14- seed Akron.
The Gamecocks earned an at-large bid with their strong SEC resume, finishing 13-5 in the conference with its biggest wins coming over Tennessee and Kentucky. They won their first SEC tournament contest with a blowout over Arkansas, but were bounced from the tournament in a blowout loss to 4-seed Auburn. The last time South Carolina played in Pittsburgh, the Gamecocks were knocked out by No. 15 seed Coppin State in 1997.
South Carolina has a memorable tournament history in Pittsburgh. The Gamecocks came to the Civic Arena in 1997 as a No. 2 seed and were ousted in the first round by No. 15 seed Coppin State. It was, at the time, only the third loss for a 15th seed in the first round in tournament history..
Oregon punched its ticket to the NCAA tournament with a Pac-12 championship win against Colorado. The Ducks were largely perceived to be outside of the bubble before their conference tournament but left no doubt with their strong finish to conference play.
Creighton enters March Madness as a favorite from the Big East, finishing 14-6 in the conference as the secondbest team behind overall 1seed Connecticut. The Bluejays boast multiple impressive wins from their conference, including against Connecticut and 2-seed Marquette before losing their first Big East tournament contest to Providence.
Akron flipped a struggling finish to its regular season in the MAC into a conference championship run that culminated with a dramatic 62-61 win against Kent State.