SB Nation 2010 NCAA Tournament -- West
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Milwaukee, WI (Sports Network) - Jordan Crawford finished with 28 points, as Xavier overcame a poor-shooting first half to beat Minnesota, 65-54, in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
Crawford sank five three-pointers and shot 11-of-21 overall for the Musketeers (25-8), who are seeded sixth in the West Region and will next face either third-seeded Pittsburgh or No. 14 seed Oakland.
Jamel McLean added 14 rebounds and seven points for Xavier, which is in the tourney for the fifth consecutive year and advanced to the second round for the fourth straight season.
Friday's victory was also Xavier's first NCAA Tournament win under head coach Chris Mack, who took over for Sean Miller last April.
Lawrence Westbrook had 19 points to pace the 11th-seeded Golden Gophers (21-14), who were making their second consecutive tourney appearance, but also exited in the first round for the second straight time.
Xavier shot just over 21 percent in the first half, but stayed in the game thanks to 15 offensive rebounds and 15 second-chance points. Crawford then took over in the second half, when he had 17 points.
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Odds Shark 
Jordan Crawford Is More Than Just An Urban Legend
NBA fans like myself probably know Jordan Crawford as the dude who dunked on LeBron James this summer, causing Team LeBron to hide the tape of the event. The joke was that LeBron was freaking out over some no-name dude punking him.
Little did us NBA fans know that Crawford is apparently far from a nobody. He averaged nearly 20 points a game for Xavier this year, and he's been been lighting up Minnesota all day. He's scored 25 of Xavier's 57 points, and we still have five minutes left to go in the game. (UPDATE: He ended up with 28 points, including a dagger three to put the Gophers away).
Who knows? Maybe he raises his own stock enough to get drafted in the near future, where he can dunk on LeBron in a real game. That would be really nice, because there's no way LeBron can hide the tapes next time.
Mar 19 4:32p by Mike Prada - 0 comments