March Madness continues in Spokane

Here is how the teams that will play in the Spokane Regional match up

	Stanford	North Carolina	Gonzaga	Louisville
Points per game	80.0	78.2	86.3	71.3
Scoring margin	+25.2	+16.8	+24.3	+11.4
Field goal %	0.494	0.430	0.499	0.448
3-pointers per game	6.3	4.4	4.6	7.0
3-point %	0.363	0.293	0.319	0.358
Free throw %	0.748	0.691	0.754	0.692
Rebounds per game	43.4	47.4	42.0	35.9
Rebounding margin	+11.7	+7.0	+8.0	+1.3
Assists per game	18.1	16.5	20.6	14.9
Turnovers per game	14.1	17.6	13.5	17.6
Assist/turnover ratio	1.28	0.94	1.52	0.85
Steals per game	7.3	11.0	11.6	11.6
Blocks per game	3.5	6.6	3.6	3.7
Win-loss record	31-2, 18-0	28-8, 8-6	30-4, 14-0	22-12, 10-6

  #5 North Carolina Tarheels

North Carolina earned an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament with a sixth-place finish in the ACC (Atlantic Coast Conference) behind Duke, Miami, Florida State, Maryland and Georgia Tech. They lost to Duke 66-81 in the ACC tournament title game. They arrive in Spokane with an 82-68 win over #12 Fresno State and a 74-86 win over #4 Kentucky. UNC women seize momentum is an interesting account of the game vs. Kentucky.

North Carolina is a tough, fast-moving, high-scoring team. The Tarheels like to dominate the boards and turn games into track meets. They are ranked #4 in the nation in blocked shots, #5 in field goal percentage (each of the five starters makes more than 40% of her attempts), and #10 in points per game.

Stanford and North Carolina have played each other just once before — in the 1995 Sweet Sixteen when North Carolina was the defending NCAA champion. Stanford won 71-61. They have each played Connecticut this season — Stanford won 71-59, North Carolina lost 57-83.

Here are North Carolina's 2010-11 statistics and roster. The probable starters are:

• #22, 5'6" senior guard Cetera DeGraffenreid runs the point. She averages 4.9 assists per game. Her assist-to-turnover ratio is 2.38, which is the sixth-best in the nation. She also scores 7.9 points per game.


• #50, 5'8" senior guard Italee Lucas is Louisville's top scorer (16.0 points per game) and the best from beyond the arc ( 2.1 per game at a rate of 33.5%). She is the only one that averages as much as one 3-pointer per game.


• #51, 6'3" senior forward Jessica Breland is Louisville's top rebounder (7.1 per game) and second-best scorer (12.7 points per game). She is also second in blocked shots with 1.8 per game. (Reserve forward/center Waltiea Rolle averages 2.3 blocks per game.)


• #20, 6'5" junior forward/center Chay Shegog averages 8.8 points and 4.8 rebounds per game. She makes 52% of her field goal attempts.


• #21, 6'0" sophomore guard Krista Gross averages 4.3 points and 4.2 rebounds per game.

  #11 Gonzaga Bulldogs

Gonzaga earned a bid to the NCAA conference by winning the WCC (West Coast Conference) tournament. They are also the regular season champion with a perfect 14-0 conference record. They've made it to the Sweet Sixteen for the second consecutive year — this time with a 92-86 upset of #6 Iowa, followed by a 75-89 upset of #3 UCLA. They hosted the first two rounds and are riding a huge wave of fan support to the Spokane Arena, just two miles to the west.

Gonzaga and Louisville have never played each other before. Gonzaga women set sights on Louisville is an interesting story about the upcoming contest. The matchup between senior guard Courtney Vandersloot (who many consider the best point guard in the nation) and freshman phenom Shoni Schimmel should be extremely interesting.

Stanford and Gonzaga have played each other twice — last season and this season. Stanford won the first game at Maples 105-74 and the second at Gonzaga 84-78.

Gonzaga is a fast-moving, high-scoring team. They lead the nation in scoring, field goal percentage (four of their starting five average more than 48%), assists and assist-to-turnover ratio. They rank fifth-best in scoring margin and turnovers.

Here are Gonzaga's 2010-11 statistics and roster. The probable starters are:

• #21, 5'8" senior guard Courtney Vandersloot runs the point. She averages 10.3 assists per game with an assist-to-turnover ratio of 3.16 — both rank #1 in the nation. She is also Gonzaga's top scorer (19.4 points per game) and has the most steals (3.1 per game).


• #32, 6'2" junior forward Kayla Standish is Gonzaga's top rebounder (8.7 per game) and their second-best scorer (17.4 points per game). She blocks the most shots (1.7 per game) and has the best field goal percentage (56.8%)


• #23, 6'1" junior guard/forward Katelan Redmon is third in scoring (17.0 points per game), second in rebounds (6.3 per game) and second in field-goal percentage (54.6%).


• #11, 6'0" senior guard/forward Janelle Bekkering makes the most 3-pointers (1.5 per game at a rate of 36.2%. Only she and Vandersloot average more than one per game. She averages 11.2 points per game).


• #44, 6'0" junior forward Kelly Bowen averages 4.8 points and 4.9 rebounds per game.

  #7 Louisville Cardinals

Louisville earned an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament ranked sixth in the Big East behind Connecticut, DePaul, Notre Dame, Rutgers and Marquette. They lost to Notre Dame in the second round of the conference tournament.

This is Louisville's 14th appearance in the NCAA tournament. They advanced to the title round in 2009, where they lost to Connecticut 54-76. They have advanced to the Sweet Sixteen this season with an 81-62 win over #10 Vanderbilt and a stunning 85-75 upset of #2 Xavier. Louisville rallies, upsets Xavier recounts Schimmel's role in that victory.

As noted in the prior section, Louisville and Gonzaga have never played each other. Nor have the Cardinal and the Cardinals. However, they've had several common opponents this season — Connecticut (Stanford won 59-71, Louisville lost 55-78), Tennessee (Stanford lost 72-82, Louisville lost 50-63), DePaul (Stanford lost 71-91, Louisville won 68-55) and Xavier (Stanford won 89-52, Louisville lost one 59-71 and won one 85-75).

Here are Louisville's 2010-11 statistics and roster. The probable starters are:

• #33, 6'1" junior forward Monique Reid is Louisville's top scorer and rebounder (15.9 and 6.2 per game)


• #23, 5'10" freshman guard Shoni Schimmel runs the point. She makes just under five assists per game, but her assist-to-turnover ratio is only 1.20. She is Louisville's second-best scorer (15.0) and the only other one to average double digits. She makes the most 3-pointers (almost three per game).


• #25, 5'9" sophomore guard Tia Gibbs averages 8.6 points, 2.7 steals and 3.9 rebounds per game.


• #45, 6'2" senior center Keshia Hines is the second-best rebounder (5.9 per game) and averages 7.3 points per game.


• #31, 6'1" sophomore forward Asia Taylor averages 3.7 points and 3.0 rebounds per game.