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D.J. Augustin was superb as Texas buried Stanford with a second-half run.

Scoring spurt

By Tim Griffin
ESPN.com

HOUSTON -- With his team withering from steady pressure inside, Texas coach Rick Barnes reminded the Longhorns what had pushed them to the Sweet 16.

"Coach told us to go back and play defense like Texas does," Longhorns guard D.J. Augustin said. "It was all our defense down the stretch."

After Stanford pulled to within 52-51 on Landry Fields' 3-pointer with 12:54 remaining, the Longhorns responded by limiting the Cardinal to one field goal over the next nine minutes. The defensive surge boosted the Longhorns to an 82-62 victory and their second trip to the Elite Eight in three seasons.

Texas put the game away with that 23-5 run predicated on its athleticism and an intensive effort on Stanford center Brook Lopez in the paint. Five Longhorns players scored, including Augustin with six and A.J. Abrams with five.

"Coach brought us in and just told us to keep running the ball," Texas forward Damion James said. "We worked too hard not to give it our all. We just tried push the tempo and get after them."

The Longhorns got a huge lift from 299-pound center Dexter Pittman, who clearly wore down Lopez late in the game.

"You know what it's like to have that big guy leaning on you for 30 or 35 minutes?" James said. "He gets kind of heavy."

The weight played on Lopez, who was held without a field goal for about the final 13:30 after dominating the smaller Longhorns in the paint earlier in the game.

"They were pretty physical on us," said Lopez, who led Stanford with 26 points and 10 rebounds. "They came out and just wanted it more."

The Cardinal hit only 28.1 percent from the field in the second half, converting nine of 32 shots after the break. Stanford finished with its third-worst shooting game of the season at 33.8 percent from the field.

"They were just a little deeper than us," Stanford forward Taj Finger said. "I think they ran out of gas, and they kept throwing bodies at us. They kept beating us up and just taking it to us."

Davidson darlings

By Pat Forde
ESPN.com

DETROIT -- Jason Richards was leading the Davidson break one more time, driving the ball straight down Wisconsin's throat, when he saw The Man spot up on the left wing.

Richards fired a pass to Stephen Curry, who caught it, squared up …

… and froze.

Badgers defender Joe Krabbenhoft, sprinting back to get a hand up on the deadliest shooter in college basketball, flew past, halfway back to Madison.

Psych.

Then swish.

Wide open, Curry flicked his right wrist, and everyone knew what was coming. Including the big fella in the brown T-shirt sitting in the front row behind the Davidson bench. He rose from his seat and stuck both arms in the air, three fingers aloft on each hand, as Curry's shot snapped the Ford Field net.

Can I get a witness, LeBron James?

Can I get one of the two best players on the planet to verify the truth unfolding before our star-struck eyes? Can we all agree that Curry is doing something not seen in March since Larry Bird did it 29 years ago -- a special talent carrying a team from nowhere to dizzying heights?

To read more of Forde's column on Davidson's win, click here.

What atmosphere?

By Pat Forde
ESPN.com

DETROIT -- They announced at Ford Field that the 57,028 fans in the house were an NCAA tournament regional record.

That's nice.

It's also a lousy tournament atmosphere.

There is more crowd noise at a Jai-Alai match. With the basketball court set up in the middle of this gigantic edifice and many of the fans sitting in nearby Hamtramck, you get no electricity.

Kansas coach Bill Self was asked whether the atmosphere was good, bad or indifferent. His diplomatic response: "I would never say bad, but pretty indifferent. The fans are so far away. I mean, away. … I don't think it's poor by any means, but it is an awfully big building. I would say if it was full or close to full, it would probably be a very good atmosphere. But when teams lose that first game, they always leave. … When it's less than 50 percent full, I don't think you have that intimate feel like you have if you're playing in a smaller venue."

Davidson sharpshooter Stephen Curry described the fan noise as more of an echo. Like something emanating from far away. Which it was. Even Davidson's traditionally lusty rendition of "Sweet Caroline" sounded faint and far away here.

The good news for the NCAA is that this mid-building gambit did not ruin the shooting. Davidson and Wisconsin combined to make 20 3-pointers in the first game Friday -- 15 of them in the first half. Then Kansas shot 42 percent (8-of-19) from 3-point range in the nightcap. Only Villanova, at a brutal 3-of-17 outside the arc, seemed affected.

Or maybe that was the Jayhawks' defense, which hasn't allowed anyone to breathe much this tournament.

Like it or not, this probably will be the setup for the Final Four here next year. And when you add in the armada of corporate swells and neutral National Association of Basketball Coaches members sitting in many of the best seats, it might be downright funereal in Ford Field in '09.