Arizona’s Nick Johnson (Highland) is into the Sweet 16 with the Wildcats after 18 points, 2 rebounds, 1 assist vs. Weber State in round two and 17 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists, 4 blocks and 3 steals in round three vs. Gonzaga. He was also named a Naismith Award Finalist this weekend. His teammate Matt Korcheck (Sabino) has received some playing time, especially against the trees on Gonzaga and walk-on’s Chris Johnson (Highland) and Eric Conklin (Chaparral) did not play but are looking to be a part of a national championship run.
Facing Arizona in the second round was Weber State’s Kyle Tresnak (Horizon) who scored 3 points, had 3 steals and 2 rebounds in 28 minutes in the loss to the Wildcats.
Arizona State suffered a crushing loss to Texas in Milwaukee last Thursday. In the game, Jahii Carson (Mesa) had 19 points, 9 assists and 4 rebounds, Bo Barnes (Scottsdale Christian) did not score and had 1 rebound in 8 minutes of play, Eric Jacobsen (Hamilton) did not score and had 1 assist in 12 minutes of play, and Calaen Robinson (Corona del Sol), Sai Tummala (Brophy), Jarrett Upchurch (Chaparral) and Dave Whitmore (Corona del Sol) did not play in the game.
Providence’s Bryce Cotton (Palo Verde) had a remarkable showing in the tournament with 36 points, 8 assists and 5 rebounds in at tough opening round loss to North Carolina.
BYU ‘s Matt Carlino (Highland) had 15 points and 5 assists on 4 of 16 shooting in second round loss to Oregon.
Finally, Colorado’s Jaron Hopkins (Dobson), played 20 minutes, had 2 points, 1 rebound and 1 steal in the Buffalos’ blowout loss to Pitt.
That was all for the Men’s bracket. There is some solid Arizona representation in the Women’s NCAA Tournament as well.
The nine seeded Arizona State beat eight seeded Vanderbilt 69-61 in Toledo, OH over the weekend. Leading the Sun Devils with 33 minutes played was Promise Amukamara (Apollo) who had 10 points. Arnecia Hawkins (Mesa Mountain View) and Joy Burke (Marcos de Niza) both played but did not score in the game. Devils play the number one seeded Notre Dame Fighting Irish Monday night at 3:35pm.
Oregon State’s Sydney Wiese (Pinnacle) lead the Beavers past Middle Tennessee for their first NCAA Tourney win in 20 years. She had 26 points, including 6 three pointers, 5 rebounds and 4 assists. Wiese and the Beavers take on the number one seed in the Stanford bracket, South Carolina next on Tuesday.
Courtnee Walton (Saint Mary’s) for third seeded Louisville played 19 minutes off the bench and scored 3 points and hauled in 6 rebounds in the Cardinals’ 88-42 opening round win over Idaho.
Iowa State’s Jordan Jensen (Mesa Mountain View) did not play in the Cyclones’ 55-44 loss to Florida State in their first game of the tournament.
Western Kentucky’s Ilena Johnson (Flagstaff) did not play in the Hilltoppers 87-74 loss to second seeded Baylor.
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Jared Cohen
A born and bred Arizonan, Jared has had great passion for the hometown teams all his life. He now channel's that passion into covering the pro, college and high school teams around the state as a Multimedia Reporter for Sports360AZ.