Joe Mazzulla was two assists from joining some elite company.
The reserve point guard had 13 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists in West Virginia’s 73-67 victory over Duke on Saturday. Two more assists and it would have been the 10th triple-double in NCAA tournament history.
What makes his stat line even more impressive is to compare it to his regular-season numbers. The 6-foot-2 sophomore played 31 minutes against the second-seeded Blue Devils, 14 more than his average. He came in averaging 5.5 points, 2.7 rebounds and 2.0 assists. His season highs don’t even match what he did in the second-round game: 15 points, six rebounds and six assists.
kind of performance in the NCAA tournament is remarkable. That’s what makes the tournament so good, too, you get to see these kids do that.”
Krzyzewski saw plenty of Kidd in the NCAA tournament.
As a freshman in 1993, Kidd had 11 points, eight rebounds and 14 assists in California’s 82-77 second-round victory over two-time defending national champion Duke.
West Virginia coach Bob Huggins knew the Mountaineers would need Mazzulla against the Blue Devils but he didn’t see this kind of performance coming.
“I think Duke does as good a job of putting pressure on the ball as anybody does. They try to take you out of what you want to run. Joe’s our best guy at just straight lining, driving the ball to the goal,” Huggins said. “So I didn’t know he would play as well as he played, but I thought that he had a chance to relieve some of the pressure and drive it at the basket just because of his style of play.”
The last triple-double in the tournament was by Marquette’s Dwyane Wade in 2003. Oscar Robertson and Magic Johnson each had two triple-doubles in the tournament.
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TWO BAD: Duke’s 73-67 loss to West Virginia meant that for the 12th straight year all four No. 2 seeds failed to advance to the third round.
The other three 2s – Tennessee, Georgetown and Texas – all play Sunday.
The last time all the second-seeded teams moved on to the regional semifinals was 1996. Since then three moved on three times, including last season, two went on six times and only one advanced to the third round in 1999 and 2000.
The last time the four No. 1s failed to advance to the third round was 2004 when Saint Joseph’s and Duke moved on and Kentucky and Stanford didn’t.
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SEED MATCHUPS: Sunday’s two 12-13 matchups will bring the total to seven since the field expanded to 64 teams in 1985.
No. 12 Villanova faces Siena and No. 12 Western Kentucky goes against San Diego in this year’s double double-digit seed games.
The others were: No. 12 Eastern Michigan against Penn State in 1991; No. 12 New Mexico State against Louisiana-Lafayette in 1992; No. 12 George Washington against Southern University in 1993; No. 12 Florida State against Valparaiso in 1998; and No. 12 Gonzaga against Indiana State in 2001.
The 12 seeds are 4-1 in those games with Valparaiso the only 13 to pull the second-round upset.
San Diego coach Bill Grier was an assistant to Gonzaga coach Mark Few in 2001 when the Bulldogs beat Indiana State 85-68 to advance to the third round.
“It was in Memphis,” Grier recalled Saturday. “Gonzaga was a 12 and beat Virginia. And Indiana State was a 13 and beat Oklahoma, so it was the same scenario.
“I think it just speaks volumes for the parity in college basketball. And to have Tampa have so many upsets yesterday, just in terms of the seeding. I think that’s what makes the NCAA tournament so special and what draws so much interest to it.”
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