European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - March 21, 2007, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 30 stars and stripes wednesday March 21 2007 Mcaa tournament East regional Trojan horses Lead us Rise Young Hackett Gibson too much for Texas and Durant to overcome by Eddie Pells the associated press Spokane Wash the talk coming in was about Star fresh Man Kevin Durant How far he could take Texas and whether hed stay in College once the sea son was Over the talk going out was about Southern California the team that put an unceremonious end to Durant season and is taking a surprising trip to the regional semifinals Nick Young led us with 22 Points sunday in an 8768 run away Over the longhorns a loss that left Durant the front run Ner for National player of the year with a decision to make two weeks earlier than hed hoped i have a sour taste in my Mouth from ending the season like this Durant said while con ceding he still Hast thought much about next year As he often has this season Durant led everyone with 30 Points and added nine rebounds for fourth seeded Texas but he hardly dominated this East regional game it was hard to after me longhorns fell behind by 17 Early in the second half and played a desperation game of catchup the rest of the Way keeping Durant from going wild especially Early and mini Mizing the damage that guards do Augustin and a Abrams could do was the key to the us game plan basically theres nothing you can do against Durant Young said you just focus on the other two Guys Augustin was held to six Points and five assists Abrams had 20 Points and was the Only other longhorn in double figures the fifth seeded trojans 2511 also got 20 Points from Daniel Hackett and 17 Points and 14 rebounds from Taj Gibson a 6foot9 freshman like Durant us won by playing smarter More disciplined basketball especially on the defensive end and looking much More like a team in doing it it was a team with a very Good Leader in Young the scrappy swing Man who had every reason to believe hed be a us Alum by the time second year coach Tim floyds rebuilding efforts took shape turns out the talents there now and next week the trojans will make Only their second trip to the regional semis since 1979 where  play North Carolina in East Rutherford no not everyone was surprised going into the year we said we we rent going to sell this team Short Floyd said we had some players that could obviously play for anybody in the country this is a Long athletic relent less team one that relegated Durant Brilliant As he was at times to the perimeter and dominated the Middle men s a acct 16 seed team and scores of first and second round games seeds in bold National Champion Taronna m in 9 Purdue 746 16 Jackson St Michigan St 8167 6 e Kentucky 8665 Friday riday Midwest St East Rutherford ii Cal Jyh 4 Maryland 625e 12 of Dominion Texas 8768 12 Arkansas i i i 11 Wrt Hrop 14 Mem Ohio vote shot 7874 for Washington 7744 Friday i Friday j j if 2 Wisconsin 7468 10 geor Catech four l j Atlanta championship sat March 31 game i j Mon april 2 i four Atlanta 1 sat March 31 Boston col 6255 8t55 i state a 8 Kentucky 8876 16 Niagara Xavier 7871 or thursday j j t thursday i i h Southern 5 Virginia tech 6348 131 adv Cross 7774 2 Long Beach St 12186 9 Pittsburgh 11 ecu 8479 or 14 Wright state West san Jose All times est i thursday South san Antonio Texas 1 6 Louevie thursday 14 Pennsylvania 6852 Urcla 7 inc Ana 15 Weber state 5449 7042 imm four Memphis 7 Nevada 15 North Texas regional 7m8 regional source Mcaa us put this game away Early in the second half after Texas had trimmed a 15point deficit to four Lodrick Stewart worked for and made an open 17footer Young came Back with a three Pointer then swatted augustins shot out of Bounds on Tex As next Possession a few moments later Young got an easy Putback he made two free throws then forced a steal filled the Lane and took a pass from Gabe Pruitt for a slam by then it was 4833 and Texas was All but out of it Durant added this to a 27point eight rebound opener against new Mexico state in which he never quite looked in sync but he  do it All for the horns and it is now decision time for the 26points 11re Bounds game Star who will probably win several play prof theyer awards Over the next few weeks if he chooses the Aba and Fel Low freshman Greg Oden of Ohio state Doest Durant will Likely be the top pick his perimeter skills giving him a Chance to succeed right away while he fills out that Skinny 225pound Frame Hes a great player Hes a great Guy Augustin said of Durant i dont know what Hes going to do whatever he does ill be Happy for him a while that drama plays out us is thinking about the present hoping to continue an unexpected run in a season played in memory of teammate Ryan Francis Francis the us Point guard was gunned Down in a drive by shooting last year in his Home state of Louisiana his Mother Paulette was in Spokane this weekend her son would have turned 20 on Satur Day we wanted his mom Here be cause of that Floyd said we didst want her to have a lot of time on her hands by herself the coaches wives were around her All week Long they enjoy Hershell be around us As Long Asim Here Mcaa tournament Midwest regional Butler Learned valuable lesson in 2003 tournament by Michael Marot the associated press Indianapolis Joel Cor Nette was a Busy Man the last time Butler reached the Caas regional semifinals maybe too Busy after leading the bulldogs past Mississippi state and Louisville in the 2003 tournament these Nior spent the following week doing interviews and helping the school sell its allotment of tickets for the next game in Albany by butter Doest intend to get Side tracked by All that this week when we got Back on Campus the students wanted to celebrate and there was the Media circus and youre trying to catch up with your school work said Cornette now the bulldogs coordinator of basketball operations you have ticket requests and everything what we Learned was that youve got to find a Way to strike the right balance with All of that the lessons from four years ago still linger with coach Todd Lickliter he admits now that having two senior starters Cornette and Dar Nell Archey camped out at a fold ing table hawking tickets in the Hinkle fieldhouse lobby might not have been the Best Way to pre pare for Oklahoma nor was set Ting aside so much time for inter views but when a Small school play ing on the Caas biggest stage reaches the second weekend of the tournament its Tough to say no the experience the bulldogs believe will make them better prepared for Friday nights show Down with defending National Champion Florida i know we wont have that Deal Lickliter said when asked about players Selling tickets i think the peripheral stuff will be taken care of by the sports staff and that will help the Only thing i really remember was what that sting was like losing to Oklahoma whats changed in four years plenty the bulldogs have already set a school record for victories were ranked for 16 straight weeks and took advantage of earn ing the highest tourney seed in school history no 5 in the mid West regional Treyve proven they can play with some of the nations Best teams having won five games against Power conference schools All of whom made the Mcaa tournament there also 80 on Neutral courts this season and Are confident they can continue winning the expectations Are different too in 03 two Mcaa victories were a major accomplishment for a program that had won Only three previous tournament games one of those a third place game in the 1962 regional yes the bulldogs still embrace their Little Guy image but Treyve demonstrated they will not be awestruck two november Victo Ries in new York capped their improbable run to the not season Tipoff championship so Butler int satisfied just hanging around Well get Back to work that not a problem Junior guard a Graves said weve experienced Success and Well put this in its place too we did that in the pre season not and we want to do More off the court butter has other advantages Classwork wont be an Issue be cause the school was on Spring break last week when the Bull dogs were beating old Dominion and Maryland they wont necessarily be under such a Strong spotlight either because seventh seeded univ is the lowest seeded team remaining and butter is one of four teams left that does not play in a Power conference the oth ers Are Southern Illinois univ and Memphis logistics could help too St Louis is about a three hour Road trip from Indianapolis meaning the bulldogs could bring a larger contingent of fans than they did to Albany four years ago plus Cornette wont let them forget Butters near upset of Florida in the 2000 tournament the gators eventually reached the championship game before losing to Michigan state All of that has the bulldogs eager to play even though few give them a Chance against a team that has All five starters Back from last seasons team that won the championship who  be excited Graves said when you play in the greatest tournament in the world you want to play the Best team and with Cornette on the Bench theres always something there to remind them of what went wrong in 2003 you want to celebrate but you also need to understand that the ultimate goal is to win a National championship and i think there were a lot of distractions the first time Cornette said i think we Learned some things from that experience that will help us this time