Longhorns thumped; 3rd-seeded Oregon wins

Texas freshman Kevin Durant's next decision will be whether to turn pro.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
SPOKANE, Wash. -- The best player on the floor will be the best player on the couch for the rest of the NCAA tournament.
Kevin Durant's season came to an unceremonious close Sunday after Texas absorbed an 87-68 thumping at the hands of surprising Southern California.
Nick Young led USC with 22 points in the runaway, which left Durant -- the freshman front-runner for national player of the year -- to decide whether to leave college for the NBA.
"I don't think that's an appropriate question right now," Durant said. "I'm just worried about this team and what we can be next year as a team."
As he often has this season, Durant led everyone with 30 points and added nine rebounds for fourth-seeded Texas (25-10).
But he never came close to dominating this East Regional game. Many times when he got the ball, the offense ground to a halt for the Longhorns, who fell behind by 17 early in the second half and never made a serious run.
Key for Trojans
Controlling Durant and minimizing the damage that guard D.J. Augustin could do was the key to the USC game plan.
"Basically, there's nothing you can do against Durant," Young said. "You just focus on the other two guys, Augustin and Abrams."
Augustin was held to six points and five assists, while A.J. Abrams had 20 points and was the only other Longhorn in double figures.
The fifth-seeded Trojans (25-11) also got 20 points from Daniel Hackett and 17 points and 14 rebounds from Taj Gibson -- a 6-foot-9 freshman like Durant.
USC won by playing smarter, more disciplined basketball, especially on the defensive end, and looking much more like a team in doing it.
USC put this game away early in the second half, after Texas had trimmed a 15-point deficit to four.
Lodrick Stewart worked for and made an open 17-footer. Young came back with a 3-pointer, then swatted Augustin's shot out of bounds on Texas' next possession. A few moments later, Young got an easy putback. He made two free throws, then forced a steal, filled the lane and took a pass from Gabe Pruitt for a slam.
By then, it was 48-33 and Texas was moving into desperation mode.
Durant had nothing to be ashamed of. He added this to a 27-point, eight-rebound opener against New Mexico State in which he never quite looked in sync.
Oregon 75, Winthrop 61
So much for the little guys. The ones from Winthrop, at least.
Aaron Brooks scored 22 points and third-seeded Oregon smothered the frazzled Eagles to eliminate the last remaining double-digit seed from the NCAA tournament.
The 11th-seeded Eagles (29-5), who upset Notre Dame in the first round, lost for the first time in 20 games to end their most successful tournament in seven tries.
So where has the madness gone? This is the first time since 1995 that no double-digit seeds have advanced to at least the third round.
Instead, the Ducks (28-7) advanced to play UNLV in the semifinals of the Midwest Regional. They made it largely because of their 11-for-23 shooting from 3-point range -- that was almost as hot as the fluorescent yellow uniforms they wore.
Tajuan Porter, the shortest man on the floor at 5-foot-6, scored 14 points. He hit his first four shots of the second half, all from long range, in the game's decisive spurt. The win sent Oregon into the round of 16 for the first time since 2002.