NCAA – Butler advance after crazy finish v Pitt; Duke’s Coach K gets 900th win

WASHINGTON (NCAA) - The Butler Bulldogs and Duke Blue Devils took their fans on a wild ride last year that ended in the NCAA Final.

So far, so good for the two teams in this year's tournament as well because both won their games over the weekend to advance to the Sweet 16.

Duke, who edged Butler in the 2010 final, followed up an 87-45 mauling of Hampton in their West Region opener with a 73-71 triumph on Sunday over Michigan.

Butler survived two close encounters, first beating Old Dominion 60-58 and then stunning the Southeast Region's top seed, Pittsburgh, 71-70.

No one could have dreamed up the end to the Butler v Pitt game in Washington on Saturday night.

Butler, the eighth seed, seemed to have victory in their grasp when Shawn Vanzant penetrated and dumped the ball off to Andrew Smith, whose lay-up gave the Bulldogs a 70-69 lead with just two seconds to play.

Pitt through a long inbounds pass to Gilbert Brown, though, and he was bumped near midcourt by Butler's Shelvin Mack with only 1.4 seconds left.

Brown went to the line and made the first free-throw to knot the contest at 70-70 but missed the second.

In the battle for the rebound, Pitt’s Nasir Robinson raked the arm of Matt Howard and that meant free-throws for Butler.

Howard sank the first but intentionally missed the second and the final buzzer sounded.

Had Robinson not committed the foul, the game would have gone to overtime.

"I take the blame, man," Robinson said.

"I take the blame for the loss.

"I've been playing basketball my whole life and I know I shouldn't have done that.

"It was a stupid play.

"It wasn't the ref's fault.

"It was my fault."

Mack, who had 30 points, would have been the goat had Brown made both free-throws for Pitt but instead, he breathed a sigh of relief.

"It was the dumbest mistake of my life," he said.

Blue Devils Turn Back Wolverines

Duke had double-digit leads against Michigan but weren't able to put Michigan away.

Instead, the brilliant Darius Morris brought the Wolverines back and attempted a runner in the lane that could have sent the game to overtime but missed.

As it was, Duke, who got 24 points from Nolan Smith, prevailed to give their coach, Mike Krzyzewski, the 900th win of his collegiate career.

Krzyzewski is also the coach of Team USA, the side he has led to the 2008 Olympic gold medal and last year's FIBA World Championship title in Turkey.

If Krzyzewski leads Duke past Arizona in the Sweet 16, he will equal his former coach at Army and former Indian Hoosiers Bobby Knight with 901 college victories.

Knight, like Krzyzewski, also coached Team USA. He led a team that included Michael Jordan to the gold medal at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles.

Should Duke beat the Wildcats, and then overcome the University of Connecticut or San Diego State to reach the Final Four, Krzyzewski will have more wins than any coach in college basketball history.

Arizona advanced with a 77-75 win over Memphis and a 70-69 victory over Texas.

UConn are the only Big East team to reach the Sweet 16 after a 69-58 win over Cincinnati.

San Diego State needed double overtime to beat Temple and reach the next round against UConn.

They won that game against the Owls, 71-64.

In the Southeast Region, Jimmer Fredette and Brigham Young are in the Sweet 16 after beating Wofford 74-68 in their opener and then thrashing Gonzaga, 89-67.

Fredette had 32 points against Wofford and 34 against the Zags.

Next up for BYU is a clash with Florida, who followed up a 79-51 hammering of UC Santa Barbara with a 73-65 triumph over UCLA.

VCU Alive And Well!

Virginia Commonwealth have forced many a critic to eat humble pie by advancing to the Sweet 16 in the Southwest Region with victories over Georgetown (74-56) and Purdue (94-76).

When the NCAA Tournament selection committee announced VCU had been given an at-large bid in the field, many 'experts' said they should not have been let in.

Bradford Burgess had 23 points for the 11th seeded Rams in their rout of Purdue.

VCU forward Jamie Skeen, who transferred to VCU from Wake Forest after his first two seasons, said: "It's VCU against the world.

"Nobody else thought we could do this. Nobody else's bracket said that we're going to make it to the Sweet 16.

"Honestly, if it was me and I was just a regular person, I wouldn't put VCU in the Sweet 16. Who would have thought?"

Florida State will be the next opponent for VCU.

The Seminoles followed up a 57-50 win over Texas A&M with a 71-57 demolition of Notre Dame.

"Hopefully, this is just the beginning of something special," Seminoles coach Leonard Hamilton said.

"The good thing about this team is I still think our best basketball is ahead of us."

Top seed Kansas will meet Richmond (12th) in the Southwest Region's other Sweet 16 clash.

Kansas have beaten Boston University 72-53 and Illinois 73-59 while Richmond followed up their 69-66 triumph over Vanderbilt with a 65-58 victory over Morehead State.

Ohio State, the number one seed in the East, have rolled to big wins to reach the next stage.

They crushed UT-San Antonio, 75-46, and then blew out George Mason, 98-66.

Now Ohio State have an big game against Kentucky, who survived 59-57 against Princeton and then prevailed 71-63 over West Virginia.

Marquette have upset two teams, first beating Xavier 66-55 and then surprising Syracuse, 66-62.

They will face North Carolina, who put away a gritty Long Island 102-87 on Friday and then edged the Washington Huskies 86-63 on Sunday.

Marquette beat UNC in the 1977 title game.

The defeat for Washington ended the collegiate career of Great Britain's Matthew Bryan-Amaning.

The 22-year-old is a member of the British national team and has an excellent chance of playing at the Olympics in London, his home city.

Bryan-Amaning had 14 points and eight rebounds for the Huskies against the Heels.

FIBA