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The Big Dance at a Glance:
Regional finals, day two

At the Water Cooler What happened Sunday Kentucky's lack of shooters came back to haunt the Wildcats in the game's last 10 minutes ... People may ask: How does Michigan State do it? The answer: chemistry like no other team in the country ... Any more questions about the quality of the Big Ten ? ... The tourney's last Cinderella went out with Temple ... How many eventual NBA players will this year's Duke team produce? We'll say six; you figure out which ones ... Kentucky was the only team in the field of 64 with no fear of Duke -- and now the 'Cats are gone ... The Owls' hot tournament shooting couldn't last, especially against Duke's awesome defense ... When Trajan Langdon puts up a 3-pointer, you might as well call out "Layup!" ... Mark Karcher has a great career ahead of him at Temple ... Duke's Corey Maggette had the dunk of the tournament at the end of the first half. His head was at rim-level ... Is Duke's squad the greatest college basketball team of all time? Let the drumbeat begin ... Recapping 60 games Teams we loved: Gonzaga, SW Missouri State, Florida, Miami (Ohio), Iowa, Weber State ... Players we loved: Harold Arceneaux, Wally Szczerbiak, Corey Maggette, Desmond Mason, Kent McCausland, Eduardo Najera, Matt Santangelo and Richie Frahm, and -- of course -- Scoonie Penn ... Teams that didn't come to play: North Carolina, Miami (Fla.), Washington, Stanford, UCLA, Arizona, George Washington, Minnesota, Tennessee, College of Charleston ... Towns we love: Flint , Mich.; Spokane , Wash.; Long Island City , N.Y.; Oxford , Ohio; Ogden , Utah ... Upset of the tournament: Weber State over North Carolina (first round), followed by Gonzaga over Stanford and Miami (Ohio) over Utah (second round) ... Two seeds disappointed (Maryland, Miami of Florida, Stanford, Utah) ... 10 seeds ruled (Gonzaga, Miami of Ohio, Purdue) ... Duke's a juggernaut, Michigan State rebounds and defends well enough to play the Blue Devils tough, Ohio State was carried by its backcourt, UConn makes it a Final-ly Four. Name to know Ohio State PG Scoonie Penn , the tournament's most outstanding player so far is coming off an incredible game in the South Region finals: 22 points, 8 rebounds, 8 assists, 2 steals and 38 minutes. Top storyline Point guards in St. Pete There isn't a finer quartet of starting lead guards than the ones in the Final Four: Duke's fearless William Avery , Michigan State's iron man Mateen Cleaves , UConn's confident Khalid El-Amin and Ohio State's do-it-all Scoonie Penn Random speculation Duke doesn't win another game by more than 10 points. Tourney trend The Duke bandwagon Who among us is willing to pick against the Blue Devils? Michigan State plays with the chemistry -- if not Kentucky's champion's swagger -- to stand up to them. UConn has matching top-level talent, speed and depth. If only we could combine the best qualities of the two, plus a little dash of Ohio State's Penn and Redd. In case you missed it... Regional finals, day one Regional semifinals, day two Regional semifinals, day one Second round, day two Second round, day one First round, day two First round, day one Selection Sunday Charting the Tournament, Game by Game Final Four Elite Eight Sweet 16 Second Round: S | W | E | MW First Round: S | W | E | MW The Bandwagon Duke Not done yet Mo P Masterful Flint Michigan's pride Jim Calhoun Final-ly Four Scoonie Game to match great nickname Temple Hot shot left 'em Coach K Unflappable Trajan Langdon 3 too easy Mateen Cleaves One more year? Ohio State Who needs a frontcourt?

By Dan Shanoff, CNN/SI

ALL-EAST REGION:
William Avery G Duke
Elton Brand C Duke
Mark Karcher F Temple
Trajan Langdon G Duke
Pepe Sanchez G Temple

Most outstanding player: Elton Brand
Avery is essential and Langdon extends defenses, but no player eats up as much space or wreaks as much damage as Brand, who owns the lane on offense and defense and is the only player in the tournament impossible to stop one-on-one.

ALL-MIDWEST REGION:
Mateen Cleaves G Michigan St.
Eduardo Najera F Oklahoma
Scott Padgett F Kentucky
Morris Peterson F Michigan St.
Wally Szczerbiak F Miami (OH)

Most outstanding player: Morris Peterson
In a region defined by the scintillating individual performances of Najera, Padgett and Szczerbiak, "Mo P" came up big when the Spartans -- not known for offense-on-demand -- needed critical baskets and clutch free-throw shooting against Kentucky. Peterson's 19 points and 10 boards in the regional final belied his official status as a "bench player."

Click here to check out the South and West all-region teams.

An early look
at the Final Four

Despite three No. 1 seeds in the Final Four, no one outside of Flint really expected Michigan State to survive the region, especially with a matchup against defending champ Kentucky, playing its best ball of the season. But the Spartans challenged the doubters and dropped the now-ex-champs behind inspired defense, timely shooting and team chemistry that can't be matched among the Final Four, even by Duke.

Duke-Michigan St.
Speaking of the prohibitive favorites, after rolling along past Temple the Blue Devils now face one of the only teams to give them trouble all year (Duke took a six-point victory over the Spartans Dec. 3 in Chicago at the Great Eight). Michigan State's rebounding tenacity and defensive intensity, not to mention momentum, match up evenly with Duke, but the Blue Devils' biggest advantage all along has been its depth. The Spartans can only hope to get Duke point guard William Avery in trouble early; it's the only position Duke has no answer for on the bench.

UConn-Ohio St.
Meanwhile, UConn better get over its "just-happy-to-be-here" attitude. Gonzaga nearly nipped the Huskies and point guard Khalid El-Amin suffered through a 0-for-12 shooting day peppered with foul trouble. The Huskies talk about having yet to break out an "A game" when all its many weapons are clicking together. Are they waiting for something? It's the Final Four. And in Ohio State, UConn faces an opponent with two advantages the Huskies can't match: the hottest player in the tournament, Scoonie Penn, who has been carrying the team on all levels, and self-confidence. UConn wondered whether they could get to this point; Ohio State knew they could.

As far as predictions for which teams will advance to Monday night's title game, we're going out on a real limb here: UConn , despite being ravaged by Scoonie Penn and Michael Redd, wears out Ohio State's thin frontcourt in Game 1. In game two, Duke needs all 40 minutes to withstand an assault from Michigan State.

Non-Final Four
all-tourney team

The all-tournament team is always stocked, reasonably enough, with players from the last four teams. But what about the worthy players who didn't make it to St. Pete? Yes, the all-region teams are nice, but here is the Glance's non-Final Four all-tourney team:

Harold Arceneaux F Weber State
Eduardo Najera F Oklahoma
Wally Szczerbiak F Miami (Ohio)
Scott Padgett F Kentucky
Erick Barkley G St. John's

See you Friday from St. Pete!

The Final Four at a Glance Marquee Matchup: Duke SF Chris Carrawell vs. Michigan State SF Morris Peterson Don't let Mo P's status as a reserve fool you -- he's the Spartans' leading scorer and carried the team past Kentucky with 19 points and 10 rebounds. "C-well" will be charged with locking Peterson down. If he can, it's Duke in a rout. If he can't, anything's possible. Under the Glare: UConn PG Khalid El-Amin For the Huskies to realize the potential of being the second-most talented team in the field -- and not be upended by the scorching Buckeyes -- El-Amin must shake off a terrible West Region final (0-12 FG shooting). Watching the Final Four Semifinal Matchup Site South vs. West UConn vs. Ohio St. St. Petersburg, Fla. Subplot: The Huskies can't be content with the program's first trip to the Final Four because the Buckeyes are playing too well and with way too much confidence. Right now, OSU's backcourt of Scoonie Penn and Michael Redd is even better than UConn's awesome tandem of Khalid El-Amin and Richard Hamilton. The game will be won in the lane, where UConn has the high-profile big men but Ohio State has the undersized, underrated hard-workers. East vs. Midwest Duke vs. Michigan St. St. Petersburg, Fla. Subplot: Duke beat Michigan State 73-67 on Dec. 2 in the Great Eight in Chicago, Duke's second-smallest margin of victory this season. Notably, Mateen Cleaves was 3 for 17 from the field and the Spartans outrebounded the Blue Devils 36-20. But since then, Duke has turned into college basketball's unstoppable force and Michigan State has put together a 22-game winning streak and the nation's best chemistry. The Glance picks Saturday's Final Four Day Semi 1 Semi 2 Saturday UConn d. Ohio St. Duke d. Michigan St. Predictions from Sunday's regional finals: 1-1 (Missed: Kentucky) Overall prediction total: 39-21