Fast starters Arizona State and Syracuse meet in First Four

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DAYTON, Ohio (AP) No. 11 seed Arizona State (20-11) vs. No. 11 Syracuse (20-13)

First Four, Midwest region; Dayton, Ohio; Wednesday, 9:10 p.m. EDT.

BOTTOM LINE: Both teams had fast starts followed by fades. Arizona State won its first 12 - beating No. 1 seeds Xavier and Kansas along the way - and went 8-11 the rest of the way. Syracuse won 10 of its first 11 games before a 10-12 finish.

ABOVE ZERO: Tra Holder scored 40 points against Xavier, the most by a Sun Devil against a ranked team. The senior guard wears zero, saying he'll have zero excuses.

BARELY MADE IT: Syracuse was a bubble team for the third straight season and wound up as the last team to make the tournament, squeezing ahead of Notre Dame and Louisville.

DID YOU KNOW? The winner goes to Detroit and plays TCU on Friday at 9:40 p.m.

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