Monday, March 17, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.
Some were sure shots, others surprises.
The NCAA Tournament's final 16 includes top seeds Kansas, North Carolina, Kentucky and Minnesota. However, the group also includes 14th-seeded Tennessee-Chattanooga and a pair of No. 10 seeds, Providence and Texas.
Chattanooga beat Illinois 75-63 Sunday at the Southeast Regional to reach the final 16 for the first time in school history. The Mocs, who upset Georgia in the first round, are only the second No. 14 seed to reach the regional semifinals.
"This kind of thing can obviously put us on the basketball map a little bit more," UTC coach Mack McCarthy said. "I'm just pleased we were the ones who were able to do it."
Texas barely beat an even bigger long shot, 15th-seeded Coppin State. The Longhorns survived 82-81 at the East Regional when DeJuan Vazquez intercepted Coppin State's inbound pass with four seconds left.
"Athletes like to win, but it is hard for me to hang my head right now," said Reggie Welch of Coppin State, which shocked second-seeded South Carolina in the opening round. "You have to accept the bad with the good. We had a heckuva ride."
Derrick Brown scored a career-high 33 points to lead Providence over Duke 98-87 at the Southeast Regional. The Friars advanced to the final 16 for the first time since 1987, when they went all the way to the Final Four.
"He's a warrior," coach Pete Gillen said of Brown. "He gets that tunnel vision in his eyes and it doesn't matter if the Russian Army is in front of him. He's going to shoot. He wouldn't be denied today."
Neither would Brevin Knight, who scored 19 points as Stanford defeated Wake Forest 72-66 at the West Regional.
With Stanford, Arizona, UCLA and California in the regional semis, the Pac-10 has more teams left in the tournament than any other league. The only Pac-10 team to lose so far was Southern Cal, which was beaten by Illinois in the opening round.
"For a long time, a lot of people have been down on the Pac-10 and said we couldn't win big games," Knight said. "But we're showing we deserve the number of teams we got in."
The round of 16 begins Thursday in the Midwest and West.
At San Antonio, it's UCLA (23-7) vs. Iowa State (22-8), and Minnesota (29-3) vs. Clemson (22-9). At San Jose, Calif., it's Kentucky (32-4) vs. St. Joseph's (26-6), and Utah (28-3) vs. Stanford (22-7).
On Friday, it's North Carolina (26-6) vs. California (23-8), and Texas (18-11) vs. Louisville in the East at Syracuse, N.Y. In the Southeast, it's Kansas (34-1) vs. Arizona (21-9), and Providence (23-11) vs. Tennessee-Chattanooga (24-10) at Birmingham, Ala.
Southeast
* PROVIDENCE 98, DUKE 87: Brown was 12-of-16 from the field and Austin Croshere added 21 points for the Friars despite foul problems. Jeff Capel led Duke (24-9) with 26 points.
* TENN-CHATTANOOGA 75, ILLINOIS 63: Chattanooga closed the game with a 20-4 run, holding Illinois (22-1) to one basket in the final 10:09. Willie Young led UTC with 15 points.
West
* UTAH 77, UNC CHARLOTTE 58: All-American Keith Van Horn had 27 points and eight rebounds, and Michael Doleac scored 18 as Utah's quick big men wore down Charlotte. Tremaine Gardiner led Charlotte (22-9) with 14 points.
* STANFORD 72, WAKE FOREST 66: Tim Duncan had 18 points and 20 rebounds for Wake (24-7), but it wasn't enough to beat Stanford, which advanced past the second round for the first time since winning the NCAA title in 1942.
East
* LOUISVILLE 64, NEW MEXICO 63: DeJuan Wheat, playing with a shoulder injury that required a second cortisone shot in five days, led Louisville with 22 points. New Mexico (25-8) had a last chance to win, but David Gibson missed a driving shot with 2.3 seconds left.
* TEXAS 82, COPPIN ST. 81: Reggie Freeman scored 22 points for Texas and made a key block in the closing seconds. Coppin State (22-9) was trying to become the first No. 15 seed to reach the final 16.
Midwest
* CLEMSON 65, TULSA 59: The Tigers shot just 32 percent from the field, but held Tulsa star Shea Seals to five points. Clemson's Terrell McIntyre and Merl Code combined for 31 second-half points.
* MINNESOTA 76, TEMPLE 57: Temple's feared matchup zone defense couldn't contain Minnesota, which made 10 3-pointers, including four by Sam Jacobson.
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