The 2011 NCAA Tournament moves on to the second round today (the play-in games were “opening round matchups” as far as I’m concerned). We’ve got eight intriguing matchups, and while none of them involves Bay Area basketball teams, we do have three natives of Northern California playing for San Diego State and UCLA.
The second-seeded San Diego State Aztecs face the seventh-seeded Temple Owls and will be looking for a strong contribution from sophomore guard Chase Tapley. The Sacramento-native Tapley is averaging 8.6 points per game, 2.4 rebounds per game and 1.9 assists per game in 24.9 minutes per game. In the Aztecs opening game, Tapley was the team’s second leading scorer behind Kawhi Leonard, with 14 points.
The seventh-seeded UCLA Bruins face the second-seeded Florida Gators and will be looking for big contributions from forwards Reeves Nelson and Brendan Lane. Nelson, from Rockville, is the Bruins leading scorer and rebounder with 13.9 PPG and 9.0 RPG in 31.2 minutes per game. Lane comes off the bench and averages 3.1 points per game and 3.2 rebounds per game. The Bruins will need everything they can get if they’re going to knock off a strong Florida Gators squad.