ANAHEIM, Calif., March 27 (UPI) -- The West and Midwest Regions will hold their regional semifinals Thursday night in the NCAA Tournament, and no team in action is seeded lower than fifth.
While upstarts Butler and Auburn will try to continue their magical rides on Friday, Thursday will feature traditional college basketball powers like Kentucky, Arizona, and Kansas.
The deepest bracket is out West in Anaheim, Calif., where No. 2 seed Kansas (27-7) tries to get Coach Roy Williams over a huge hump when it meets third-seeded Duke (26-6) in a matchup of programs that have combined for five national championships.
While Williams has won 415 games in his career, he is 0-3 against his Duke counterpart, Mike Krzyzewski. Kansas last beat Duke on April 2, 1988 under Larry Brown on the way to its second national title. Williams took over in the 1988-89 season.
The two schools have met four times in the NCAA Tournament, with the Blue Devils winning three of those three matchups. Duke won the last one with a 69-64 triumph in the second round of the East Region on March 19, 2000.
"The way they've done it, with true student-athletes," Williams said. "They're awfully difficult to recruit against, I can tell you that, because we haven't had very much success recruiting against them."
The first game in Anaheim has fifth-seeded Notre Dame (24-9) playing top-seeded Arizona (27-3).
Arizona advanced with a thrilling 96-95 victory in two overtimes over Gonzaga in the second round. Salim Stoudamire scored five of his 15 points in the second extra session, and the Wildcats advanced after Gonzaga missed a pair of shots in the final seconds.
Notre Dame had lost four of five entering the NCAA Tournament, but eked out a win against Wisconsin-Milwaukee in the first round, and used some impressive perimeter shooting in a 68-60 victory over Illinois in the second round. Dan Miller, a Maryland transfer, made his first five three-point attempts and finished with 23 points.
"That would be a good Final Four right there," said Arizona senior Rick Anderson of the West Region.
Top seed Kentucky (31-1) takes its 25-game winning streak into the Midwest Region semifinals Thursday when it faces No. 5 Wisconsin (24-7) at the Metrodome in Minneapolis.
Kentucky is enjoying its longest winning streak since it captured 27 straight during its national championship season in 1996. The Wildcats have outscored their opponents by an average of 17 points per game on this streak.
This is the eighth time in nine seasons that Kentucky has reached the regional semifinals. The Wildcats have lost their last two "Sweet 16" games since beating Miami of Ohio in 1999.
Wisconsin needed a three-pointer by Freddie Owen with one second left to cap a stunning 16-2 closing run for a 61-60 victory over Tulsa in the second round.
In the second game at Minneapolis, second-seeded Pittsburgh (28-4) can advance to a regional final for the first time when it faces No. 3 Marquette (25-5).
Pittsburgh has matched the farthest run in school history in the NCAA Tournament, tying last year's team and the 1974 squad. The Panthers have won 11 straight games, and cruised through the first two rounds, winning by a combined 46 points over Wagner and Indiana.
Marquette got a pair of big efforts from Travis Diener in posting two close wins over Holy Cross and Missouri. Diener scored a career-high 29 points in the first round, and added 26 in a second-round overtime victory over Missouri.
The East and South Regionals are scheduled for Friday. In the East Regional at Albany, N.Y., Auburn, a 10th seed, meets Syracuse, and No. 12 Butler opposes Oklahoma.
