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NCAAs: Oregon upsets Kansas; Gonzaga makes first Final Four

 
Gonzaga center Przemek Karnowski gets pumped up during an 83-59 win over Xavier.  [Getty Images]
Gonzaga center Przemek Karnowski gets pumped up during an 83-59 win over Xavier. [Getty Images]
Published March 26, 2017

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Tyler Dorsey poured in 27 points, Dillon Brooks added 17 and Oregon upset Kansas 74-60 Saturday night, giving the Ducks their first Final Four trip in nearly 80 years.

Dylan Ennis added 12 points for the third-seeded Ducks (33-5), who took the lead with 16 minutes left in the first half and never trailed again.

Player of the year front-runner Frank Mason had 21 points in his final game for the top-seeded Jayhawks (31-5), whose season ended 40 minutes from campus on a night where very little went right.

Star freshman Josh Jackson was mired in early foul trouble. Sharpshooting guard Devonte Graham never got on track. And the swagger that the Big 12 champs showed in humiliating Purdue in the Sweet 16 quickly became a distant memory on a night that belonged to the Pac-12 champions.

Oregon coach Dana Altman had never been to the Final Four in 13 appearances in the NCAA Tournament. And the last time the Ducks were on the big stage, it was 1939 and the Tall Firs took home the title.

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"It feels great,'' Altman said. "I'm so happy for our guys. They fought so hard. I'm proud of them.''

To get to this point, Oregon had to overcome the loss of a key player to an injury; get past an apparent team of destiny, Michigan, and then defeat Kansas. The Ducks lost Chris Boucher to a knee injury in the Pac-12 tournament

Jordan Bell added 11 points, 13 rebounds and eight blocks for Oregon, while Jackson had 10 points for the Jayhawks.

The bus carrying the Ducks to Sprint Center passed right by the Power and Light District in downtown Kansas City, where thousands of Jayhawks fans were rallying. They knew they were facing a de facto road game.

But torrid shooting quickly riled up the small section of Oregon fans while deflating the rest of sold-out Sprint Center.

Dorsey finished the half with back-to-back 3s, including a deep bank shot at the buzzer, for a 44-33 lead.

The lead swelled to 55-37, creating the kind of hole Kansas has rarely faced. Jackson didn't score until midway through the second half. Graham was 0-for-6 beyond the arc.

"Oregon played a great game,'' Jayhawks coach Bill Self said. "Our shot selection wasn't very good.''

RELATED: Gators part of SEC surge into Elite Eight

Finally, Gonzaga

SAN JOSE, Calif. — The criticism dogged Gonzaga wherever it went, no matter how much it won.

The Zags run up their record by beating up on teams in a weak conference, then always seem to come up short as the calendar goes deep into March. Few outside of Spokane, Wash., have believed the program that coach Mark Few has helped build from scratch belonged in the national powerhouse conversation.

Now, Gonzaga is finally headed to the Final Four. The Zags took the pressure of history head on with a performance worthy of their No. 1 seed, rolling to an 83-59 win over Xavier in the West Region final.

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"Just an incredible feeling of elation and satisfaction," Few said. "It's been a long, hard journey to get this program here."

Few and the Zags have won the West Coast Conference tournament 16 times, been regulars in the NCAA Tournament since 1999, reached the Sweet 16 eight times.

Gonzaga (36-1) made 12 of 24 3-pointers after struggling the first three NCAA Tournament games. The Zags were No. 1 in defensive efficiency during the regular season and shut down the 11th-seeded Musketeers (24-14) to become the first WCC team to reach the Final Four in 60 years.

"Sometimes you just lose to a better team," Xavier coach Chris Mack said. "Our guys have nothing to hang their head about. They're obviously down. They're competitors. I thank them for their continued belief throughout the year. It's always tough when it ends."

Xavier had a good offensive start, only to hit a dry spell as Gonzaga stretched to lead to 49-39 by halftime. The first half ended with a strange sequence that started with Gonzaga accidentally knocking the ball into its own basket while fighting for a rebound. RaShid Gaston was credited with the basket after the ball bounced off the floor and the backboard into the basket.

As the half ended, Xavier's J.P. Macura made an 80-foot shot, but was ruled too late.

Quite the turnaround

When Mark Few was an assistant at Gonzaga in the 1990s, coach Dan Fitzgerald never pursued prospects with Pac-10 offers because he thought it was a waste of time and money. What player would turn down a Pac-10 school to come to a remote WCC program with little to offer? Under Few, who became coach in 1999, Gonzaga has 28 NCAA Tournament victories (making the Big Dance every season) and can go after any recruit it wants.

Quotable

"There's no pro team, there's no football team. We're pretty much it. We're the celebrities; we're the role models. It's fun, but you've got to win basketball games or it's not so good."

Guard Josh Perkins, on Gonzaga's hometown of Spokane, Wash.; Perkins said he was amazed when he was recognized at a Chipotle restaurant his first day on campus

Ball is one and done

Freshman guard Lonzo Ball said he planned to enter the NBA draft after UCLA lost to Kentucky in the Sweet 16 on Friday night. Coach Steve Alford believes Ball will be the No. 1 pick. "Sometimes those guys aren't real coachable, and he was phenomenal to coach," Alford said. "Never had a bad practice, never showed up just to put in time. You don't see that a lot in the one-and-done era."