NCAA Basketball Tournament

So Much For Syracuse in 2010

Chas Rich — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 16:05:00 EST

Filed under: Big East

When it comes to predicting the early favorites for next season, the usual approach is to look at which teams appear to be coming back loaded with talent and ended the season playing well. Syracuse seemed to fit that bill.

They were poised to bring back their entire starting line-up, one of their top recruits from last year -- Mookie Jones -- was injured so he will be able to help, plus another top-20 recruiting class. Of course that depended on no one leaving early. With the encouragement of coach Jim Boeheim, point guard Jonny Flynn will be checking his status in the NBA draft -- without hiring an agent. Paul Harris and Eric Devendorf, at first blush, appear to just be leaving.
At least that would be the sense from the wording of the press release.

Syracuse men's basketball players Eric Devendorf and Paul Harris plan to enter their names into the 2009 NBA draft. Jonny Flynn has decided to submit his name for the NBA draft but will not retain an agent, enabling himself the opportunity to return to Syracuse for the 2009-10 season.

Specifying Flynn would not be hiring an agent and could return, while doing no such thing for Devendorf and Harris sure makes it appear that they are not coming back. Yet according to the Syracuse director of media communications, Devendorf and Harris are not hiring agents.

No explanation as to why. The cynical explanation would be to indicate which player is vital to Syracuse's hopes in 2010. Paul Harris has been an up-and-down player who has seemingly struggled under Boeheim's coaching. Eric Devendorf has had plenty of off-the-court issues, and has had a tendency to turn the ball over too frequently and just jack-up shots.

Or it could just be a poorly worded press release.

So Much For Syracuse in 2010 originally appeared on NCAA Basketball Tournament on Thu, 09 Apr 2009 16:05:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

DeJuan Blair Closes Door on College

Chas Rich — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 12:51:00 EST

Filed under: Big East

Pitt sophomore forward, DeJuan Blair was at the very least going to test the NBA draft waters. Most mock drafts have Blair being drafted mid-way in the first round despite being a 6-7 power forward.

Blair has decided that he will not even pretend that there is a chance that he will come back to Pitt. He has retained an attorney to help him, though he has not hired an NBA-certified agent as of yet. The hiring of an attorney, though, means that Blair has surrendered his remaining eligibility. He has a press conference scheduled for later this afternoon to make an official statement.

Blair landed on every first team All-American squad, and is a finalist for the Wooden Award and other national player of the year awards. Arguably his draft stock would not get much higher. More likely, coming back for another year would give NBA scouts more opportunity to poke holes in his game and decide that he did not improve enough from his sophomore to junior year. Diminishing his perceived upside and potential.

DeJuan Blair Closes Door on College originally appeared on NCAA Basketball Tournament on Wed, 08 Apr 2009 12:51:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

A Study in Opposites

Ray Holloman — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 12:00:00 EST

Filed under: Big East, Big Ten

Somewhere in Michigan State's middle-class brand of Michigan hope and mixed martial basketball, and North Carolina's mechanized cavalry of an offensive attack, there may be a similarity or two lurking somewhere.

But you've got about as good a chance of finding it as you do spotting an opposing fan in Ford Field's South Pacific of Spartan green.

These two teams couldn't be more different if one of them came out in shoulder pads.

And, with Tom Izzo, who invited Vikings' offensive line coach Pat Morris speak to his team before Saturday night's win, and whose teams always play like it's fourth-and-goal from the one, that could very well be the case.

What They Have to Do to Win: North Carolina | Michigan State

It's blue chip versus blue collar, a gold-standard tradition versus cement-tough squad. It's a club that proves anything is possible against another that's proof positive that, even in a depression, the rich always get richer.

It's a team that hopes against a team that expects.

Two teams. One goal. One world of difference.

North Carolina was supposed to be here. The product of top-notch talent and top-shelf tradition, Tar Heel fans likely booked reservations way back when they still had a 401k to cash out to pay for the thing. The Heels were a unanimous preseason No. 1, the first in the history of both the coaches' and the AP poll. They returned the national player of the year, their point guard on ice skates, Ty Lawson, and all-ACC performers Wayne Ellington and Danny Green. They're in the Final Four for an unmatched 18th time after stomping through five teams only loosely called challengers. It was an ending as predictable as the sappiest Disney film.

Michigan State meanwhile, is making its seventh appearance, hardly insignificant but barely in the same area code as the Heels. The Spartans started the year ranked sixth in the nation, but were routed by North Carolina in an embarrassing loss even by the standards of a stadium that hosts the Lions eight times a year. In their last game before the NCAA tournament, the Spartans were unceremoniously dumped by eventual ninth-seed Ohio State.

And while they may both be champions, only one puts the nation in national champs.

North Carolina plucks the best players from any state with a flag, all seemingly born with NBA contracts in their hands and agents doing the delivery. Unless Monday's game gets out of hand, none of the Tar Heels that play will be from the Tar Heel State.

Meanwhile, Michigan State was all but built on a Detroit assembly line. Nine of Izzo's players are from Michigan, and all but Idong Ibok (originally from Nigeria) and Chris Allen (Georgia) are from Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin or Minnesota. Most have some imperfection coming out of college. Some, like Goran Suton, survived a war just to get on the court.

Even the game they play bears little resemblance.

NCAA Tournament Action

GREENSBORO, NC - MARCH 21: Wayne Ellington #22 of the North Carolina Tar Heels drives against Garrett Temple #14 of the Louisiana State University Tigers during the second round of the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament at the Greensboro Coliseum on March 21, 2009 in Greensboro, North Carolina. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Wayne Ellington;Garrett Temple

Getty Images

PORTLAND, OR - MARCH 21: A Washington Huskies cheerleader performs during a break in the action against the Purdue Boilermakers during the second round of the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament at the Rose Garden on March 21, 2009 in Portland, Oregon. (Photo by Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images)

Getty Images

KANSAS CITY, MO - MARCH 21: Manny Harris #3 of the Michigan Wolverines jumps to the basket for a lay up against Taylor Griffin #32 of the Oklahoma Sooners in the first half during the second round of the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament at the Sprint Center on March 21, 2009 in Kansas City, Missouri. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Manny Harris

Getty Images

KANSAS CITY, MO - MARCH 21: Zack Novan #0 and Zack Gibson #32 of the Michigan Wolverines vie for the loose ball with Blake Griffin #23 of the Oklahoma Sooners in the first half during the second round of the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament at the Sprint Center on March 21, 2009 in Kansas City, Missouri. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Zack Gibson;Zack Novak;Blake Griffin

Getty Images

KANSAS CITY, MO - MARCH 21: Willie Warren #13 of the Oklahoma Sooners makes contact as he goes to the basket with Zack Gibson #32 of the Michigan Wolverines in the first hafl during the second round of the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament at the Sprint Center on March 21, 2009 in Kansas City, Missouri. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Willie Warren

Getty Images

KANSAS CITY, MO - MARCH 21: Taylor Griffin #32 of the Oklahoma Sooners goes up for the short jump shot against DeShawn Sims #34 of the Michigan Wolverines in the first half during the second round of the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament at the Sprint Center on March 21, 2009 in Kansas City, Missouri. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Taylor Griffin;DeShawn Sims

Getty Images

PORTLAND, OR - MARCH 21: JaJuan Johnson #25 of the Purdue Boilermakers goes up for a shot over Jon Brockman #40 of the Washington Huskies in the second half during the second round of the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament at the Rose Garden on March 21, 2009 in Portland, Oregon. (Photo by Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** JaJuan Johnson;Jon Brockman

Getty Images

KANSAS CITY, MO - MARCH 21: Taylor Griffin #23 of the Oklahoma Sooners and Zack Novak #0 of the Michigan Wolverines vie for position to the loose ball in the first half during the second round of the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament at the Sprint Center on March 21, 2009 in Kansas City, Missouri. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Zack Novak;Taylor Griffin

Getty Images

KANSAS CITY, MO - MARCH 21: Head Coach Jeff Capel of the Michigan Wolverines yells from the sideline during their game against the Oklahoma Sooners in the second round of the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament at the Sprint Center on March 21, 2009 in Kansas City, Missouri. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Jeff Capel

Getty Images

PORTLAND, OR - MARCH 21: Lewis Jackson #23 of the Purdue Boilermakers goes up for a layup as Quincy Pondexter #20 of the Washington Huskies looks on during the second round of the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament at the Rose Garden on March 21, 2009 in Portland, Oregon. (Photo by Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Lewis Jackson;Quincy Pondexter

Getty Images

The Spartans rebound like they might go into withdrawal if they go more than three minutes without an offensive board. Michigan State ranks in the top 11 in both offensive and defensive rebounding percentage. North Carolina, meanwhile, gave up 22 offensive rebounds to Villanova and finished 102nd in the nation in defensive rebounding percentage.

They play with an attitude around the rim, as though someone insulted their mothers every time a shot goes up. North Carolina, meanwhile, plays with precision, rarely fiery but always intense when it matters.

Both teams like to run, but the transition game is a battle between a factory Ford and race car. One can flirt with speed if needed. The other is built for it. Led by Lawson, who has 28 assists against six turnovers for the NCAA tournament, North Carolina will run you out of the building and leave your tongue hanging out, and that's just in the layup line. The Tar Heels' 75.6 possession per game pace was fifth in the nation and easily the most among NCAA tournament teams.

The Heels are as efficient as they are fast, scoring an average of 123.7 points per 100 possessions.

The Spartans will run -- ask the Huskies when they get their hands off their knees -- but you no more want to get involved in a track meet with a team anchored by Lawson than you want to get involved in a tug of war with a team anchored by a boulder.

Both teams have big men that can score, but only the Spartans can do it inside and out. North Carolina has 28 feet of interior presence that can score around the rim, but Suton can run the offense from the high post. Each of Deon Thompson, Tyler Hansbrough, Ed Davis and Tyler Zeller can convert anything in the paint into points on the scoreboard.

The Tar Heels have a buffet of scorers in their starting five. Their rotation is filled with juniors and seniors and seems as old and familiar as the team's logo. Michigan State, meanwhile, got 33 points off its bench against Connecticut and is just rediscovering Raymar Morgan, the player expected to lead the team at the beginning of the year. Only Morgan and Lucas stand up to the Tar Heels' offense.

On the bench, the Spartans will be led by Izzo, a coach who has only twice failed to live up to his seeding and minor misses in both cases when the Spartans lost in the first round as a six and a seven seed.

On the other side sits Roy Williams, a coach who finally won the big one in 2005, but is, if unfairly, remembered just as much for cleaning his glasses as the Heels fell apart against Kansas last year and all those near-misses in the Final Four.

And so, through five games, it's a team of destiny versus a team of destruction. A team that finds a way to claw to victory versus a team that can't seem to lose.

Michigan State has the crowd and the feel-good story. They're a can-do message in a state whose unemployment figures are starting to look like Lucas' scoring average.

North Carolina may have everything else, including the confidence of that 35-point de-cleating in this very same building.

But if the two teams involved are any key as to how this will play out, that result won't have much to do with the previous game.

Because in this championship game, everything is different.

A Study in Opposites originally appeared on NCAA Basketball Tournament on Sun, 05 Apr 2009 12:00:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Villanova Can't Hit 3-Pointers

Chas Rich — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 23:43:00 EST

Filed under: ACC, Big East, South Region, East Region

Whether it was an off night, the size and length of North Carolina's defense bothering the smaller Villanova guards, it all added up to the same thing: a crate load of bricks. When the Wildcats shoot a hideous 5-of-27 on 3-pointers (18.5 percent), they do not have much of a chance. There is not much to decipher.

Villanova gave up size all over the court, so they needed to hit some of their jump shots to have a chance, to open up lanes for penetration to the basket and to give Dante Cunningham a little space inside to work.

It never happened.

Scottie Reynolds was 3-of 11 on 3-pointers. Dwayne Anderson, Corey Fisher and Corey Stokes combined to miss all 13 of their attempts from the outside. The Wildcats were held to their lowest shooting performance of the season, going 26-of-79 from the floor (33 percent).

Instead, it was UNC that jumped all over Villanova on the perimeter. Wayne Ellington for North Carolina drained several threes in the first half, and that only accelerated the need by Villanova to shoot threes.

The Wildcats had to get some offense to stay with North Carolina. That never occurred. The longer the game went, the more desperate Villanova became to get some scoring. That never happened. But the bricks certainly did. Again and again.

Villanova Can't Hit 3-Pointers originally appeared on NCAA Basketball Tournament on Sat, 04 Apr 2009 23:43:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Green Dream Soothes Michigan

Jay Mariotti — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 23:34:00 EST

Filed under: Big East, Big Ten

DETROIT -- On command, when a local kid named Durrell Summers lifted off and nearly decapitated Stanley Robinson with a vicious dunk, a moving wave of green-swept humanity rose and rocked. Yes, your honor, this was a ridiculous homecourt advantage, a home-FIELD advantage of about 45,000 local crazies in a 72,500-seat football stadium, an advantage in ways freakishly unprecedented in the fiercely neutral extravaganza known as the Final Four.

Ford Field is guilty as charged.

And not a soul with a conscience should complain about it.

Final: Michigan State 82, UConn 73 | Final: UNC 83, Villanova 69

A dying city and troubled state have been pumped with life, joy and fun by a college basketball team. That's all anyone should care about today, regardless of whether Michigan State's partisan orgy created an unfair obstacle Saturday evening for favored Connecticut. The auto plants are crippled and begging for bailouts. The unemployment rate in Michigan is 12 percent, highest in the land. People are being tossed out of their homes. The former mayor was jailed in a text-message/affair scandal. Crime is a perpetual plague. On the desperate downtown streets, you'll see a homeless person begging on every block. The American economy is diseased, and Detroit is the poster child.

So when Tom Izzo and the Spartans provide a local stimulus plan, if only for a weekend, why should we do anything but stand, applaud and marvel? A good team has transformed into an inspirational, blue-collar team, with Izzo's old-school formula of defense, rebounding, selflessness and physicality fueling an 82-73 victory and a berth against powerful North Carolina in Monday night's national championship game. College programs normally aren't rallying forces in a recession, but in Michigan, the two major state universities always have been vibrant sources of sporting pride. And with North Carolina perceived nationally as a blueblood program that has been to 18 Final Fours, well, let's just say America has an easy decision regarding a rooting interest.

"It was hard to explain the emotion of the day. I told my team that I'm not gonna try," said Izzo, who has been masterful in maximizing his team's talent and rallying the MSU cause around a state's woes. "I felt (the spirit) the day we came here. I felt it at the hotel. I felt it driving to practices. I felt it at practice. We had a pep rally, and I felt it with all the people there. But my favorite time today was driving to the game. You go by some tough homes, tough places. I did make that, you know, the important part of this game. I've always said, as a player, you've got a chance to be a difference-maker, a role model, a chance to do things to make other people smile and other people feel good about you.

NCAA Tournament Action

Getty Images

"We are the blue-collar team. This is the blue-collar city. It was just amazing to walk out of that tunnel for the people in Detroit. That was an incredible setting. Yes, there were a lot of Michigan State fans. I am appreciative for that. I hope we were a ray of sunshine, a distraction for them, a diversion, anything else we can be. And we're not done yet, so hopefully we can continue to make them feel a little better and us feel a lot better."

His players are embracing the emotion, too. Star guard Kalin Lucas, a native of suburban Sterling Heights, Mich., listed his hometown as Detroit for the first time during pregame introductions. "Yeah, it was my decision. My grandma, she stays two minutes away from here," he said. "I have lived with my granny before and I've lived with my parents also. So today, I just wanted to represent the hometown of Detroit. I do know people who have had hard times, who have been laid off of they jobs or whatever. It is hard times in Detroit. So we just came out and played hard, played aggressive for the whole 40 minutes for the crowd. We just ran 'em."

"I think everybody is having hard times. Rich people losing their money -- you know, poor people ain't getting no money," guard Travis Walton said. "When you're in this type of atmosphere, you want to play for yourself and your team, but you also want to play for Detroit and your state."

How tough was Sparty amid such a heavy backdrop? We almost saw the first brawl in Final Four memory late in the first half. There was Walton, knocked to the floor under the basket by UConn forward Jeff Adrien, bouncing up with an in-your-face challenge. That led UConn's 7-foot-3 Hasheem Thabeet to push Marquise Gray, and suddenly, the refs had to work feverishly to calm players from both teams. Jim Calhoun, the UConn coach, rushed onto the court to make peace. It isn't often when a Big East brute is overpowered by a team from the Big Ten, generally known for its softness and irrelevance. Such is the heart and fire of Michigan State, which becomes a story for the ages with one more victory.

"The toughest players win," Izzo said. "Everybody has all their great players, and somebody is going to make a few more shots than somebody else. It really comes down to who is going to cut out on the free-throw line, who is going to get the loose ball."

Lest anyone think Connecticut is brooding about the crowd disadvantage, think again. "The 72,000 people quite frankly could have been 7,000 people as far as I'm concerned," Calhoun said. "It didn't affect us. I think it affected them. When they made very good plays out there, they obviously had incredible reinforcement. That probably, for them, made a difference. Didn't make a difference for us."

"When you're on the court, you're not paying attention to the crowd," said UConn guard A.J. Price, whose college career ended with a disappointing 5-of-20 thud. "You pay attention to the game, try to play as hard as you can. It really didn't make a difference."

Like Louisville last weekend, UConn has more talent than Michigan State. This could be a program-changing loss, then, if Calhoun, who is battling health issues and a brewing recruiting scandal, chooses to retire. I'd suggest that it's time to go, not wanting his mounting issues to take years off his life. Have you heard him ramble lately at press conferences? Does he make any sense? Every day, it seems, Calhoun is in another fix -- the latest involving his claim Friday that the NCAA imposed a gag order on him regarding the recruiting mess. "I said a gag order. I was reprimanded about that," he told the media. "Would you please not take everything I say literally, please? I'm trying to do the best I can. I know I'm not very accessible to you. But would you not do that, please? Would you please not do that? I had to say that because, you know, I was asked not to say it. And they're right. I've just been asked not to speak to the facts of the case."

So why come back? Late in the night, he sounded like a man who might not return. "Some of the things, some of the disappointments I've had, particularly over the past couple weeks, some people that I really care about who -- benefit of the doubt is usually what I try to give to most people," said Calhoun, addressing one media member in particular, apparently a Hartford writer. "I think you and I go back a long way, we probably had a couple of spats, and I always try to give you the benefit of the doubt after we have our spats. I don't think with a lot of people who I care about, like, respect, I don't think they've ever given me the benefit of the doubt. For that, it's a personal thing."

Next came a shot at two other writers -- possibly the Yahoo! Sports team that broke the stories about alleged recruiting improprieties. "I probably shouldn't be expressing it, but that's just who I am. I couldn't be more disappointed in two people who just jump in and all of a sudden become the expert on who Jim Calhoun is," he said. "That's incredibly disappointing to me. And it would be to you, too, by the way. It would be to you because you have respect for them. Then you see the fact that they, in turn, say things without any factual basis whatsoever and just jump along.

"So those kind of things -- that's why (former North Carolina coach) Dean Smith told me at 67, he got out. It wasn't basketball. It was the other things. He wasn't winning enough championships. He was getting too old. I do love the kids, love the game. I don't plan to go anyplace. But I'm going to give it a lot of reflection, maybe more reflection than normal, because of that."

The dark clouds over Connecticut, where Calhoun blundered last month by fumbling a question about his $1.6-million pay in the current economy, are in stark contrast to the sunshine in The Izzone. If Detroit has quivered for days, might the city explode in glee Monday night? "I think that Tommy has done a masterful job of putting the woes of the auto industry and Detroit and Michigan on his back," Calhoun said. "I never thought they could do what they did to Louisville. I honestly mean that."

And what will it be like for Izzo to wake up Monday morning and play for a national championship 90 miles from campus? "I'm not sure that's registered yet," he said. "I'm trying to make sure my team realizes that the goal of great programs is to win the weekend, not win the game. We've got another game to play. I was on the CBS show after the game, and they were waiting and waiting. I think (broadcaster) Jim Nantz felt like, 'I'm keeping this guy forever.' I said, 'Jim, chill out. I can stand here for another day. If we can prolong our game and play it later, I don't mind standing here at all.'

"The day was surreal. And now it all turns to scouting and seeing if we can make the dream, the miracle, everything come true one final time."

If they do, it will be a vintage example of sports and young people healing human pain. Astonishingly, Detroit feels like paradise right now.

Green Dream Soothes Michigan originally appeared on NCAA Basketball Tournament on Sat, 04 Apr 2009 23:34:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Do the Heels Have Any Holes?

Dan Graziano — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 23:33:00 EST

Filed under: ACC, Big East

As discussed here earlier in the week, there was a way for Villanova to beat North Carolina. They had to do it on the perimeter, where they were supposedly strong and the Tar Heels were supposedly weak. They had to do it by exploiting Carolina's suspect three-point shooting defense and driving against the Heels' weak help-side interior defense.

This was all feasible. Anybody who's watched Carolina play for the past couple of years has seen the Heels go through scoring droughts and fritter away leads while they ignored defense entirely for large chunks of the game.

But a funny thing happened on the way to Ford Field. It looks as if North Carolina doesn't do that anymore. In fact, with a healthy Ty Lawson and an improved 40-minute focus, it looks as if North Carolina might not have any flaws in its game at all.

North Carolina 83, Villanova 69: Recap | Box Score

First things first -- North Carolina beat Villanova soundly and controlled this game by dominating the perimeter. They hit their three-point shots, in large part because of the way the Wildcats seemed to fall asleep on defense and play too far off shooters like Danny Green and Wayne Ellington. And Villanova missed its own three-point shots, in large part because Carolina played a smothering blanket defense on the perimeter, and Nova wasn't patient enough to find uncontested shots.

Villanova was outmanned in this game, which everybody knew they'd be. They're not as deep or as big or as athletic as North Carolina is, and if they were going to win, they were going to have to make their shots. Lots of shots. They were going to have to make shots the way Rollie Massimino's team made them 24 years ago in the title game against Georgetown.

And they did not. Not even close.

But the Wildcats didn't shame themselves. They fought. They got back into the game. Got the lead down to five points at one point in the second half. Scottie Reynolds did that thing where he takes over the game, and for a while it looked like his driving, dishing and scoring might be enough to bring Villanova back into it.

But it was not, because these are not the 2007-08 North Carolina Tar Heels. This is not the team that got smoked by Kansas in this very round a year ago. This team pays attention on defense. This team avoids those long scoring droughts, mainly because Ty Lawson always comes up with a way to end them before they get too serious. Maybe the emergence of Lawson as a co-superstar to go with Tyler Hansbrough was enough to elevate this team from 2008 Final Four loser to 2009 national champion. Lawson is that kind of player, and he's had that kind of year.

Can they win one more and send Hansbrough out with a title? They'll be favored, of course, and for good reason. They were the best team in the country in November, the best when 2009 started. And the only reason they weren't considered the best when this tournament began was that we didn't know how healthy Lawson was. He's obviously fine, and that's enough to make Michigan State the underdog Monday night.

Michigan State may have what it takes to win. They'll have the fan support. And their rebounding could be a huge help, especially on offense. Outsized Villanova did very well on the offensive glass tonight against Carolina, and it's easy to point to defensive rebounding as a Tar Heel weakness that the Spartans could exploit.

But as this event has unfolded, and all of the preseason hype about the unbeatable Tar Heels has begun to look more and more accurate, you have to start to wonder if Carolina has any weaknesses at all. Or if they're just going to go ahead and take this thing they've always believed would be theirs.

NCAA Tournament Action

Getty Images

Do the Heels Have Any Holes? originally appeared on NCAA Basketball Tournament on Sat, 04 Apr 2009 23:33:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

For UConn, Death by Guard Play

Chas Rich — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 21:09:00 EST

Filed under: Big East, Big Ten, Midwest Region, West Region

Specifically, the Huskies' own guards killed them against Michigan State. In one of those nights where the stats do not lie, A.J. Price, Kemba Walker and Craig Austrie were every bit as miserable as their numbers suggested. They took 29 of the Huskies 59 shot attempts, but only scored 26 of UConn's 73 points.

Sadly that includes points from free throws.

Credit Michigan State's defense.

The Spartans were aggressive and would not give A.J. Price and the guards clear lanes to the basket. The Spartans knew that UConn does not take many 3-pointers, so they packed it in to force long jumpers or well-contested shots. The Spartans did everything they could to keep it from getting inside to Hasheem Thabeet or Jeff Adrien. Wisely gambling on being able to contain UConn's guards.

That said, a lot has to fall on the UConn guards. They shot miserably the entire game. Whether it was from the field, or at the free throw line. Fans will look at the box score and just wonder what if.

Price shot a dismal 5-of-20, and only had one assist. The more shots he missed, the more frustrated he became.

Kemba Walker only took five shots in the game, making only one. His problem was an inability to make free throws. Walker was a 75 percent shooter from the stripe for the season. Tonight, he could only shoot 3-of-9. Whether it was the pressure of the big game on the freshman, or playing for the first time on the floating center court in a football stadium. He had no one to blame but himself for that.

NCAA Tournament Action

Getty Images

For UConn, Death by Guard Play originally appeared on NCAA Basketball Tournament on Sat, 04 Apr 2009 21:09:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Spartans Tame the Beast

Dan Graziano — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 20:43:00 EST

Filed under: Big East, Big Ten

Here's a question to nibble on between games: Where would Michigan State have finished in the Big East?

Remember the Big East? The monster conference of all-time? The beast? The 16-team behemoth that grabbed three of the four No. 1 seeds in this tournament? That just 10 days ago had a chance to have four teams in the Final Four?

Well, the champions of the Big Ten have just taken out two of those No. 1 Big East seeds en route to the NCAA title game, in which they will play the winner of tonight's Villanova-North Carolina game Monday night. They've done it with grit and toughness and hard-core rebounding -- qualities we normally associate with the Big East but of which Michigan State has brought truckloads to this tournament.

Michigan State 82, UConn 73: Recap | Box Score

It's the Durrell Summers dunk that we'll all remember, and for good reason. It was nasty, loud, violent and history-making-ly awesome. Incredible that the ball went down. Incredible that Stanley Robinson's hand didn't break off between ball and rim (because Robinson got a LOT of ball). Kind of incredible that no foul was called. But just a tough, dominant play -- the kind that tells your opponent and everybody watching that you and your team are not going to be outworked or out-toughed.

Michigan State is scary tough. They have a tournament-tough coach who's got them all kneeling at the altar of the almighty rebound. They don't make many shots, but when they miss they go and get that ball. They send at least four and often five to the glass on every shot, steadfast in the belief that rebounding is one of those aspects of the game subject not to the whims of fate but instead to the competitive determination of your players.

You can shoot too much, and you can pass too much, but you can't rebound too much. Teams like Michigan State and Pittsburgh, who believe this to their core and play as if it's gospel, are tough, mean and miserable to play against. It's no coincidence that three of Connecticut's five losses this year were to those two teams. The Huskie had more talent than the Spartans, and more depth. But they couldn't match them in toughness. So far in this tournament, no one has.

NCAA Tournament Action

Getty Images

Goran Suton, such a factor in the regional, was somewhat neutralized in this one. No matter. Raymar Morgan, neutralized for the past two months, came up with 18 points and eight rebounds. Kalin Lucas, the Big Ten player of the year, went off for 21. Korie Lucious hit big shots. Draymond Green morphed, according to a frenzied Clark Kellogg, into a dancing bear.

And really, how can you game plan for a dancing bear?

By the end of the first half, the North Carolina fans at Ford Field had adopted the Spartans, perhaps believing it best for their own chances Monday if the Huskies went home. But assuming Carolina even makes it to Monday night (and they still may not), they should be careful what they wish for.

Monday will be a home game for a Michigan State team that just took out two of the top three teams from what we all thought was the greatest conference of all time. If it's Villanova they face, well, at least they've proven they can play with the Beasts of the East. And if it's North Carolina, sure, the Tar Heels will be favored. But they'd better be careful. The Roy Williams Carolina teams of recent years -- the teams of drifting focus and lax defense -- would be vulnerable to this never-let-up bunch of Spartans. Some say this Carolina team has tightened it up, and that it's playing defense better than it gets credit for. But they'd need to lock in for all 40 minutes to beat Izzo's bunch.

No matter who it is they face Monday, Michigan State is going to have a chance. They've already proven they can play with anybody.

Spartans Tame the Beast originally appeared on NCAA Basketball Tournament on Sat, 04 Apr 2009 20:43:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Tempers Flare for Huskies, Spartans

Matt Snyder — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 19:17:00 EST

Filed under: Big East, Big Ten

Late in the first half of an incredibly entertaining national semifinal game, players from Connecticut and Michigan State had to be separated by officials. The incident stemmed from a hard foul on Michigan State's Travis Walton, where he got a good piece of Jeff Adrien under the basket.

As Walton first fell to the ground, Adrian attempted to push him but whiffed. Walton took exception and swiped back at Adrian, and then an amoeba formed under the basket. Little more than pushing and shoving -- really, just grandstanding, but you can't blame them -- occurred before cooler heads prevailed and the players were separated. Of note, Hasheem Thabeet really looked like he wanted to fight someone (pictured right with teammates restraining him).

In the aftermath, the officials checked the monitors to see if they needed to asses any further penalties than just the foul on Walton. They made the correct decision in doing nothing more than discussing the incident with both coaches.

One thing about this fracas, it certainly sets the tone for an intense second half. Michigan State holds a two point advantage, but this thing is going to the wire. It's been a physical, fast-paced, and well-played game by both sides thus far. If you aren't watching, I strongly suggest you find a way. If not, we have the FanHouse live chat machine fired up and waiting for your participation.

NCAA Tournament Action

Getty Images

Tempers Flare for Huskies, Spartans originally appeared on NCAA Basketball Tournament on Sat, 04 Apr 2009 19:17:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Final Four Live Blog

Chas Rich — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 19:10:00 EST

Filed under: ACC, Big East, Big Ten, Midwest Region, West Region, South Region, East Region

This is what we have been waiting all week for, through non-stories like Ty Lawson legally playing craps, through analysis beaten into the ground, through the cycling of the coaching carousel. Well, Michigan State and UConn tip off at 6:07 PM EST. We will start the live blog at 6 PM ET. Join us after the jump.

&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href=&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;quot;http://www.coveritlive.com/mobile.php?option=com_mobile&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;task=viewaltcast&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;altcast_code=117bd8c793&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;quot; &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;FinalFour09&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;

Final Four Live Blog originally appeared on NCAA Basketball Tournament on Sat, 04 Apr 2009 19:10:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

How Michigan State Can Upset UConn

Dan Graziano — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 15:17:00 EST

Filed under: Big East, Big Ten

Rebound. Make the shooters beat you. Rebound. Make Thabeet roam. Rebound.

These are the five keys for Michigan State if it's to win its Final Four game. The most important are the first, third and fifth, but Nos. 2 and No. 4 could make the difference if the game is close.

Connecticut has only lost four games this year. One was in six overtimes, so we're going to throw that out. The other three all offer clues on how to beat the Huskies.

More Coverage: Spartan Fans Hit in Wallet | NCAA's Lost Innocence

We'll start with the very first loss -- at home to Georgetown on Dec. 29. Now, given everything that happened to/with those two teams after that night, that game stands as one of the biggest upsets of the year in the whole country. But on that night, the Hoyas beat one of the best teams in the nation, and they did it by messing with Hasheem Thabeet's feet and head.

Georgetown coach John Thompson, figuring (correctly) that Connecticut would defend his star freshman center, Greg Monroe, with the 7-foot-3 Thabeet, decided to deploy Monroe away from the basket. Monroe, a skilled passer and a decent jump-shooter for a guy who's 6-foot-10, had four assists and hit a 3-point shot in the first six minutes of the game as the Hoyas raced out to an 18-3 lead. Thabeet continually drifted out away from the basket to play Monroe, and the middle was open for the Georgetown offense, which ran cuts to the basket with Monroe making the passes.

The result was the shockingly huge early lead and an obviously upset Thabeet, who never got back in sync and finished with just four points (though he did come up with seven blocks once he was able to get himself back under the basket).

The reason this is a blueprint for Michigan State is Goran Suton, the 6-foot-10 center with the sweet outside jumper. If UConn uses Thabeet to play Suton at the outset, it's possible that he could open up the middle for the Spartans' offense by canning a couple of jumpers and forcing Thabeet to come out and play him.

Now, Jim Calhoun is no dummy, and if I can figure this out, I'm sure he can too. My guess is you'll see either Jeff Adrien (just 6-foot-7 but tough as hell and built like a house) or Stanley Robinson (at 6-foot-9, possibly better suited to play Suton man-on-man) play Suton at the start of the game, and that Thabeet's instructions will be to camp out under the basket and make sure nobody in green gets anywhere near it. If Tom Izzo does come up with a game plan that moves Thabeet around, though, a lot of things could open up for Michigan State.

Latest College Basketball Images

Michigan State's Durrell Summers (15) does an acrobatic dunk during the Spartans' practice for the NCAA Final Four at Ford Field, Friday, April 3, 2009, in Detroit, Michigan. (Robert Willett/Raleigh News & Observer/MCT)

MCT

Villanova coach Jay Wright watches his players workout during practice for the NCAA Final Four at Ford Field, Friday, April 3, 2009, in Detroit, Michigan. (Robert Willett/Raleigh News & Observer/MCT)

MCT

Michigan State's Raymar Morgan (2) works out with his teammates during the Spartans' practice for the NCAA Final Four at Ford Field, Friday, April 3, 2009, in Detroit, Michigan. (Robert Willett/Raleigh News & Observer/MCT)

MCT

Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo watches his players during the Spartans' practice for the NCAA Final Four at Ford Field, Friday, April 3, 2009, in Detroit, Michigan. (Robert Willett/Raleigh News & Observer/MCT)

MCT

Connecticut head coach Jim Calhoun watches his players during the Huskies' practice for the NCAA Final Four at Ford Field, Friday, April 3, 2009, in Detroit, Michigan. (Robert Willett/Raleigh News & Observer/MCT)

MCT

Connecticut's Hasheem Thabeet (34) works on his free-throws during the Huskies' practice for the NCAA Final Four at Ford Field, Friday, April 3, 2009, in Detroit, Michigan. (Robert Willett/Raleigh News & Observer/MCT)

MCT

Former Arkansas coach Nolan Richardson, center, speaks to his team during the college all-star basketball game at the men's Final Four NCAA basketball tournament, Friday, April 3, 2009, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

Washington State's Aron Baynes, of Australia, slam dunks in front of Findlay's Josh Bostic during the college all-star basketball game at the men's Final Four NCAA basketball tournament Friday, April 3, 2009, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Amy Sancetta)

Illinois head coach Bruce Weber talks with his players from left, Findlay's Josh Bostic (21), Boston College's Tyrese Rice (5) and Wisconsin's Marcus Landry (31) during the college all-star basketball game at the men's Final Four NCAA basketball tournament Friday, April 4, 2009, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

Villanova's Dante Cunningham takes a water break during practice in the NCAA Final Four at Ford Field, Friday, April 3, 2009, in Detroit, Michigan. (Chuck Liddy/Raleigh News & Observer/MCT)

MCT

On defense, Michigan State needs to pay attention to the strengths and weaknesses of the UConn guards. A.J. Price has a nice outside shot, but with injured Jerome Dyson on the bench in a suit, Price is really its only outside threat. The UConn guards succeed by driving and penetrating, not by shooting from deep. MSU would do well to assign one defender to Price and then sag with the rest of the defense, closing off the lanes to penetration and forcing Connecticut's guards to beat them with outside shots.

If the Spartans do that, and UConn misses those shots, that leads right into the real major key to the game -- the rebounding. Michigan State is the best rebounding team in the country, and it absolutely must control the boards on both ends if it's to have a chance in this game. Aside from Georgetown and the six-OT epic against Syracuse, UConn's other two losses were to Pittsburgh, which was the toughest rebounding team in the Big East. Pitt outrebounded UConn 43-30 in the first game and 41-40 in the second, and won both games easily.

UConn has size and strength inside, but so did Pittsburgh. And rebounding very often comes down to determination. Pitt preaches rebounding like it's religion, and so does Michigan State. The way they hammered the glass in the second half of their game against Kansas and then against Louisville, the Spartans had the look of a team that wasn't going to allow the other team to win the game on the boards.

If they can get Connecticut into a close game, and they can attack the glass the way they and few other teams can, the Spartans have a good chance not just to stay with the Huskies, but to be playing one more game on Monday night.

How Michigan State Can Upset UConn originally appeared on NCAA Basketball Tournament on Fri, 03 Apr 2009 15:17:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Four Final Questions

Ray Holloman — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 13:46:00 EST

Filed under: ACC, Big East, Big Ten

March Madness is finally in the Motor City and one team's dream is just two wins away. So what will determine which team goes down in history and which three simply go down? FanHouse's editors and writers got together to come up with the four most important questions for each Final Four team. Find out why North Carolina might need to be concerned about its rebounding, why Goran Suton could be the weekend's biggest matchup dilemma, and more.

1. North Carolina (31-4) | South Region Champion

Is This the Game the Heels Finally Miss Marcus Ginyard?
Conventional wisdom will tell you that North Carolina's defense is something of a Maginot Line in designer basketball shorts. But, though the Heels may sneak in the occasional defensive siesta, they're actually an underrated defensive team, particularly in the NCAA tournament. North Carolina is 18th in the nation in defensive efficiency and only Michigan State registered a better defensive rating in the four Elite Eight wins, and just slightly at that. But here's where it gets hairy. The Wildcats typically have four players on the court capable of driving the ball to the basket and a better guard rotation than anyone the Heels have faced all season. When North Carolina has lost this season, they've done it against teams with great guard play: Toney Douglas at Florida State, Jeff Teague at Wake, Tyrese Rice at Boston College and Greivis Vasquez at Maryland. That shouldn't be surprising, given that the best on the ball defender in baby blue is currently wearing a suit. The senior Ginyard, also a vocal team leader, redshirted with a foot injury this season. The Wildcats have a roster full of players that can handle the ball, including two slick point guards in Scottie Reynolds and Corey Fisher. Is this the night the Heels come up one perimeter stopper too few?

Can North Carolina Hit 3-Pointers?
Villanova has ramped up what was an otherwise non-descript perimeter defense for the NCAA tournament, but that batting slump of a 3-point effort the Wildcats forced Duke into in their Sweet 16 matchup (5-of-27, for those in search of the gory details) was due in part to Duke's usual March swoon. The Blue Devils had their share of open looks but couldn't connect. Like their ACC rival, North Carolina should have open looks, particularly with three solid long-range options. But each has been prone to streaky shooting in the past, so will their attempts fall?

Can North Carolina's Forwards Handle Villanova's Drive?
While Dante Cunningham and Tyler Hansbrough will spend most of their time within arm's length of the paint, Deon Thompson and North Carolina's forwards will likely get drawn out by Shane Clark and Dwayne Anderson. Both can put the ball on the floor or shoot a mid-range jumpshot; Anderson, meanwhile, can hit from beyond the arc enough to be a threat. Danny Green will have no problem keeping up with either player, but Thompson may feel like the jet stream is whizzing past him if he has to step out and defend on the perimeter. (Possibly relevant stat: Villanova is 9-0 when Clark scores eight or more points.)

Has the Past Passed?
If you asked North Carolina's players about their collapse in the 2007 Elite Eight against Georgetown, in which the Heels hit just one of 23 field goals in a 15-minute span at the end of regulation and overtime, or the 40-12 hole they were in against Kansas by the time the popcorn vendor made his first round last year, they would tell you they were both lessons learned in as obvious a manner as if you'd asked why they didn't twice stick their hands on a hot stove. But are those losses really out of sight and out of mind? The Heels had their mettle tested briefly in the second half against LSU, but if North Carolina hits a rough stretch against Villanova, do the ghosts of the past two seasons suddenly don Wildcat blue?

3. Villanova (30-7) | East Region Champion

Can Cunningham Stay Out of Foul Trouble?
If Lawson is the tournament's most important player, his former AAU teammate and childhood friend Cunningham is so darn close he might as well be drafting. Cunningham is irreplaceable in a Villanova frontcourt made up of Cunningham, Clark and Antonio Pena. Connecticut forced the big man into foul trouble in the Wildcats' January loss; North Carolina, with its big-man buffet in the front court, could be even more problematic. Cunningham will have to beat Hansbrough to the spot defensively and, as best as he can, refuse to foul. The North Carolina star is fourth in the nation in fouls drawn per 40 minutes and, to complicate matters, is an excellent shooter from the stripe. Cunningham has only fouled out twice and if Villanova can upset the Heels, he'll have to be certain a third time doesn't happen. There is no one to replace him.

Can Villanova Slow North Carolina's Transition Game?
Lawson plays basketball like the game is on an ice rink and he's the only one wearing skates, which is exactly why North Carolina has the nation's best transition game. But Villanova needs to control the tempo and force Lawson to beat them in the halfcourt, where the Wildcats will at least have a chance to rotate a defender into his path. This, of course, is easier said than done. Look no further than the Heels' win over Oklahoma. Seemingly every time the Sooners scored a momentum-grabbing basket, Lawson had already streaked back up the court for a layup, an assist or drawn a foul.

Can the Wildcats Get Hansbrough in Foul Trouble?
The only proven way to defend Carolina's contortionist, body-by-pipe-cleaners flexible center is to keep him on the bench. Hansbrough is not an aggressive defender (look no further than his anemic .4 blocks per game) and averages just 2.2 fouls per game. But the Wildcats can spread the floor as well as any team in the nation, which should mean lots of one-on-one opportunities against the ACC's all-time leading scorer. One-on-one, the Wildcats can create fouls and this may be Villanova's only chance to turn North Carolina's four towers into a pile of rubble.

Can Villanova Generate Extra Possessions?
North Carolina has the highest rated offensive efficiency of any team in the nation, so it's unlikely the Wildcats will win on a per-shot basis. But can they create extra possessions through offensive rebounding and creating turnovers? Thus far, North Carolina has been bank-executive stingy with the basketball; they're just not turning it over. Against Gonzaga, the Tar Heels committed just three turnovers in the decisive first half and didn't commit a live ball turnover until better than 13 minutes had passed. But they could be vulnerable on the defensive glass. North Carolina isn't a great defensive rebounding team, while Villanova managed to pluck better than 40 percent of its misses from Pitt in the Elite Eight.

NCAA Tournament Action

Getty Images

2. Michigan State (30-6) | Midwest Region Champion

Will Raymar Morgan Return to Form?
If Morgan endured any more bad luck this season, you'd wonder exactly when he found the time to smash a whole room full of mirrors. From sickness to injury and now a broken nose, Morgan's season went into a tailspin in late January and hasn't recovered, though he remains an excellent weapon in transition and a tremendous offensive rebounder. Can the junior put it all together for two more games? He scored 21 points against North Carolina in the teams' earlier meeting. He's scored just 23 points in the entire NCAA tournament.

Can Michigan State Get Hasheem Thabeet in Foul Trouble?
Thabeet is a virtual forest in front of the basket. His 12.3 percent block rate is fifth in the nation and trails only Mississippi State's basket lid Jarvis Varnado among major college players. As great of a rebounding team as Michigan State is and as adept as Kalin Lucas is at getting into the paint, if the Spartans can't move Thabeet out of the lane (and hopefully onto the bench), Tom Izzo's offensive game plan could be badly disrupted.

Can the Spartans Control the Paint and Glass?
As great a defensive player as Thabeet is, his offensive repertoire is basics only. He's primarily a turn-and-dunk player, so if the Spartans can deny the hulking center the ball in the low post, they can effectively limit his offense. Meanwhile Connecticut thrives on the backboard on close-in second chance points and kick-outs for 3-pointers. But the Huskies only played one superior rebounding team this year, Pittsburgh, and were roundly dominated. The Huskies only rebounded 18.1 percent of their misfires in the first loss, a stunningly low number. Can Michigan State, which is nearly as good a rebounding team and just a physical, have the same success?

Can Michigan State Stay In Front of Connecticut's Guards?
The Huskies are incredibly skilled at getting into the lane and causing all sorts of havoc. A.J. Price has developed into one of the nation's most dangerous point guards, while Kemba Walker launched a surprise coming out party against Missouri in the Elite Eight. But Connecticut is a marginal 3-point shooting team, with only Price a valid threat from deep. Can the Spartans sag their way into stopping penetration?

1. Connecticut (31-4) | West Region Champion

Can the Huskies Handle Goran Suton?
The sweet-shooting Bosnian big man was a Thabeet-sized reason the Spartans toppled Louisville in the Elite Eight and could be an even bigger problem for Connecticut. Suton has hit 5-of-10 from behind the arc in the tournament, so when Suton catches the ball outside of the paint, Thabeet, if he's guarding him, will have to follow him out. And without the 7-foot-3 basket lid in the paint, Connecticut will be much more vulnerable to Lucas or Travis Walton penetrating, or Morgan scoring in the paint one-on-one. And if Connecticut opts to leave Thabeet in the paint, will another Connecticut defender be able to disrupt Suton's shooting touch?

Is Kemba Walker This Good?
Or more precisely, is he this good right now? A blue-chip talent, Walker's ceiling has always been high. But the freshman singlehandedly blew through Missouri's pressure defense and posted a career best 23 points to help the Huskies into the Final Four. Walker is a one-man fast break who can do everything from one end to the other except physically flip the numbers on the scoreboard. If he plays like he did against Missouri, UConn will have another gear to its game.

Can the Huskies Dominate the Free Throw Battle?
The Huskies are eighth in the nation in free throws attempted per field goal attempt and first in fewest free throws given up per field goal attempt. That's padding the Huskies need against all those misfires from the charity stripe. Three of Connecticut's biggest contributors, Thabeet, Robinson and Jeff Adrien, might as well be shooting at a coffee cup instead of a regulation hoop. Each shot between 60.3 percent and 62.4 percent from the line this season. But if the Huskies can get to the free throw line at a markedly higher rate than Michigan State, also a mediocre free throw shooting team, quantity may matter over quality. Still, as Memphis proved last year, nothing is more important than making free throws down the stretch, so don't be surprised if Izzo's shoulder-pad tendencies come out in a Hack-a-Husky philosophy in the interior.

Is This Jeff Adrien's Night?
The senior power forward isn't the attention-grabber Thabeet is, or a highlight reel like A.J. Price, but he's as dependable as an old pickup truck and might be this weekend's best player. Adrien is something from another era, a 6-foot-7 bruiser of a forward who has no interest in the 3-point shot or anything that doesn't involve a toughness test. But he's been the Huskies' most reliable offensive performer and a matchup dilemma for every team he's faced. The Spartans will be no different, and must decide whether to worry about Adrien's interior prowess or his mid-range game. Adrien has carried this team on his sizeable shoulders for the past three seasons and has all the feel of a player on the edge of an unforgettable senior farewell.

Four Final Questions originally appeared on NCAA Basketball Tournament on Fri, 03 Apr 2009 13:46:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

At the Center of It All

Dan Graziano — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 14:02:00 EST

Filed under: Big East

PHILADELPHIA -- Dante Cunningham pays attention. He watches basketball. He knows who the good players are, the ones getting all the attention. He's well aware of what North Carolina's Ty Lawson has been doing -- ACC Player of the Year, front-runner (so far) for NCAA tournament most outstanding player. Cunningham is impressed. But he's not scared.

He's been watching Ty Lawson play his whole life.

"As a friend, I'm proud of him for what he's doing," Cunningham said of Lawson on Wednesday, at Villanova's final practice before departing for Detroit and the Final Four. "But as a competitor, I have to sit and understand that he has gotten better. I mean, obviously. He's one of the better players in the country. And we're going to need a great game plan to contain him."

Cunningham, Villanova's 6-foot-8 senior forward, is all business. For that, he can thank his parents, each of whom served 30 years in the Air Force and raised a young man who carries himself like a professional and looks you directly in the eye when he's talking to you.

But Cunningham counts another military parent among his early influences. George Lawson was Cunningham's first basketball coach -- coached him from age 6 to age 10 at Andrews Air Force base in Maryland. And yes, that's George Lawson, as in father of Ty.

"He was my first coach," Cunningham said of George Lawson. "He taught me how to dribble. I learned the game from him."

Cunningham and Ty Lawson were kids together in Clinton, Md. The two of them, along with current Villanova guard Dwayne Anderson, played a couple of years on the same AAU team together. This is all part of the reason Villanova coach Jay Wright isn't worried about his team being star-struck Saturday playing against a team loaded with highly decorated, nationally known players.

"That's one of the great qualities of our kids," Wright said. "They're not going to be star-struck because they've been playing with these guys all their lives. I think that helped in our Duke game (in the Sweet 16). There were seven guys on their team that we recruited. They all know each other."

One of the other reasons Villanova isn't worried about being overwhelmed by the Final Four is Cunningham himself. Wright pointed across the gym to where Cunningham was doing interviews and singled him out as someone who's become a leader on the team.

"I think a lot about how valuable he is to us, and how tough it's going to be not having him on the team (next year)," Wright said. "I can't say enough about how hard he's worked to make himself better at every aspect of the game, and what that example has meant to the rest of the guys on this team."

Cunningham was one of Villanova's better players last year, averaging 10.4 points per game and leading the team with 6.5 rebounds per game. But last summer and fall, he showed up on campus determined to make himself a better shooter. He spent hours in the gym, shooting between 600 and 700 shots a day with the goal of solidifying a mid-range jumper that would add a new dimension to his game.

"That tells you something," junior guard Scottie Reynolds said. "This is a guy, he was already a pretty good player -- a really good player. He could have come in as a senior, been the same player he was as a junior, and that would have been fine for most guys. But for him it wasn't. He wanted to make sure he got better. And I think everybody saw that and followed suit."

Cunningham led Villanova in scoring (16.2 ppg) and rebounding (7.4) this season. On a team whose guards are justifiably getting the bulk of the pre-Final Four attention, he may turn out to be the key player in Saturday's game. He is Villanova's toughest inside presence, and as such he'll have to contend with Carolina's Tyler Hansbrough, the 2007-08 national player of the year. Of course, Cunningham downplays talk of any one-on-one showdowns.

"With our team and the way we play and commit, we switch so many times during the game, all of our forwards switch," Cunningham said. "I think a lot of different guys are going to match up with him."

Everything's even-keel with Cunningham, a grounded senior who's talked a lot this week about making sure the younger players on his team don't get too caught up in the hype and the excitement of the week. It doesn't sound like talk coming from the confident, clear-eyed forward. Villanova may not win its semifinal matchup against the favored Tar Heels, but if they lose it won't be because they were overwhelmed.

Dante Cunningham, who had the same youth coach as Carolina star Ty Lawson did, will help make sure of that.

At the Center of It All originally appeared on NCAA Basketball Tournament on Thu, 02 Apr 2009 14:02:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

UConn Lacks the Nuns to Win in Detroit

Chas Rich — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 12:15:00 EST

Filed under: Big East, West Region

As UConn has rolled to the Final Four, UConn partisans have happily pointed out the similarities to runs by the Huskies in 1999 and 2004. UConn was shipped out West, just like the prior two times. Coach Jim Calhoun had to miss the opening round game because of illness, just like he missed part of the game in 2004.

The one thing they had in both runs that they lack this time: nuns.

Mother Shaun Vergauwan and Sister Mary Richards of the Franciscan Sisters of the Eucharist, attended both Final Fours where UConn won the national championship. They were invited by coach Calhoun to make the trip. This time they had to decline.

Seems the Church failed to take into account UConn basketball. The nuns will be receiving a visit from Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran from the Vatican this weekend. Cardinal Tauran is a rather important Vatican official, and presently president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue.

Why the Vatican would send its officials to the United States while the final weekend of the NCAA Tournament is taking place, just speaks to how out of touch the Vatican must be with American culture. No excuse for that.

UConn Lacks the Nuns to Win in Detroit originally appeared on NCAA Basketball Tournament on Thu, 02 Apr 2009 12:15:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Calhoun's Time

Ray Holloman — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 23:00:00 EST

Filed under: Big East, Tourney Coaches, West Region

For all Jim Calhoun is, Hasheem Thabeet, Connecticut's seemingly two-story tall center, needs just one marvelously apt word to size up what the coach means to this Final Four team.

"We call him teacher," Thabeet said. "He's taught us a lot. When you watch us in practice, it's always hard and we used to hate it, but now we know why the practice was hard. He's prepared us so well for his postseason play and all we can right now is thank him."

Generally speaking, one word covers Calhoun's impact about as well as a tube top would cover your average offensive lineman. Calhoun is a New England institution, somewhere between Bickford's and Bird. He built a basketball dynasty out of snowy ruins and joined the exclusive fraternity of coaches with two national titles. On the sideline, his expressions run as foul and unpredictable as the region's weather. And when he speaks in that Boston-drenched accent, you half expect the man to belch out those old tokens for the T.

But Thabeet is right.

Teacher should be on the man's business card, or Calhoun should be on the front of the team's jerseys, one way or the other. Because these Huskies are a team built tough and taught tough in the image of a coach whose father died when he was 15, who worked as a grave digger to support his family before climbing his way up the coaching ladder.

This is his team. Maybe in a way none before it ever has.

And this should be his last.

For Calhoun, all the lessons are taught to this club. It will never get better than this.

Even the coach must know it, beneath the dour expressions and the business-first, last and only, demeanor. After his win over Purdue in the Sweet 16, the eighth of his career in that round, Calhoun admitted he got goose bumps. Needless to say, cast-iron guys like Calhoun typically get loose bolts or missing rivets, not goosebumps.

"When I said it to them, we are playing Saturday in the regional finals, I get goose bumps and I did," Calhoun said after the win. "There is only one or two better feelings."

Calhoun, of course, has earned the right to stay so long as he can find his way to the bench. Entering his third Final Four, he remains as gifted on the sideline as he is on the recruiting trail. But his 67th birthday will come little more than a month from championship Monday and building title teams isn't something that can be completed like a fantasy sports roster. This team he now leads into the Final Four took three years to build and is an all out ground-up job. Connecticut missed the postseason altogether in 2007 and hadn't won a single postseason game, conference or otherwise, until its opening round win over Chattanooga.

All along, the coaching veteran of 37 years understood just how precarious a path the road to the Final Four can be and how likely it was that he may have cut his final net.

"Did it cross my mind?" Calhoun asked after his Elite Eight win. "Did I leave the season with my head down a little bit? Yeah. A tad bit. Just like had we made the right judgments on some of the young kids we had."

Add another three years onto Calhoun to season another Final Four quality team and the coach will be brushing 70 before he has a chance to return to this level, no young age for any coach this side of Joe Paterno, particularly one who has suffered through as much medical misfortune as Calhoun. Even then, there are no guarantees. In 2006, Calhoun led a team that produced five draft picks that June, only to watch a group plagued by distraction fall to Cinderella George Mason.

"They probably had a lot of other agenda going on with so many pros on that team," said senior A.J. Price.

There are no great records for Calhoun to break that he doesn't already own. He may join the group of coaches with three national titles, a club that includes Mike Krzyzewski and Bob Knight, but he likely won't catch Adolph Rupp (four) and certainly not John Wooden (10). And should he win three national titles in three Final Four appearances, Calhoun would encase his reputation as the premiere big game coach of his era in lucite. Krzyzewski, by comparison, has 10 Final Fours for three national titles; North Carolina's Roy Williams has completed six Final Fours with a single title.

NCAA Tournament Action

Getty Images

The all-time wins record, 902 by Knight, could be attainable, but by the time Calhoun reaches the mark, it will likely have been eclipsed by Krzyzewski, who is 28 wins ahead and nearly five years his junior, assuming Knight himself doesn't come out of retirement and move the bar higher. Nor will he catch Krzyzewski, Wooden or North Carolina's Dean Smith in Final Four appearances.

And Calhoun has the opportunity, for the moment at least, to go out to applause, something few coaches of his success and longevity have the fortune to do. Among coaches with 780 or more wins, only Smith retired still at the pinnacle of the program he built, saying farewell months after eclipsing Rupp's win record on the way to his 11th Final Four. Arizona's Lute Olson left the Wildcats in an unfortunate mess, far removed from his 1997 national championship while Kentucky's Baron of the Bluegrass was sidelined by the state's mandatory retirement age six years removed from his last Final Four. Meanwhile, coaches like Knight, Lou Henson, Lefty Driesell and Eddie Sutton all ended coaching in relative basketball backwaters. Imagining Calhoun on San Francisco's bench, as Sutton was to win his 800th game, is like thinking about Superman wearing green.

Meanwhile, the distant thunder can already be heard from the recruiting scandal unearthed by Yahoo! last week. Should trouble spread beyond former assistant Tom Moore, the school could be forced to part ways with the coach anyway. And if NCAA sanctions don't strike the Huskies, then Calhoun can leave the cupboard stocked with another talented recruiting class, much like Smith did for longtime assistant Bill Guthridge.

And will a Connecticut institution like Calhoun ever really leave the school anymore than Smith left North Carolina?

But above all, there is this team, a 17-player testament to Calhoun's coaching and the bred-in-Boston toughness of its coach. Does anyone even remember Pitt's DeJuan Blair flipping Thabeet over his back? Could that soft label Connecticut began with seem further away when Stanley Robinson, who spent the first semester suspended and working in a scrap metal yard, bounces another post player off with his double-wide frame like they were a tennis ball in basketball jersey?

This team is unquestionably tough, fitting of the best remaining team from a mixed martial basketball league that plays hoops like they've got shoulderpads under their jerseys. And like his previous championship teams, when the coach is at his toughest, so are the Huskies. Calhoun has missed NCAA tournament games three times in his career, in 1999, 2004 and this year. That's two national titles and this intimidator of team now.

"We are just mentally tough," Jeff Adrien said. "It starts with our coach. ... We have been through a lot of ups and downs in our lives and everything. We just know how to block it off."

And that could well be the first paragraph of Calhoun's biography or the first paragraph of his farewell address.

It's hard to imagine that sideline without Calhoun, like it is to imagine Duke without Krzyzewski or the Yankees deciding pinstripes are passe. It's hard to think what the Huskies will be like without the coach and those famous perplexed looks, hands up in the air and face suggesting that he just asked his players to add two and two only to get back a chant of five. Calhoun is his program. Yet should he leave now, he'll leave a program crafted perfectly in his image.

But everyone ages, Hall of Famers and teams alike. As this Husky team goes, so should its coach.

Tough and triumphant. Just the way Calhoun taught.

Calhoun's Time originally appeared on NCAA Basketball Tournament on Wed, 01 Apr 2009 23:00:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Villanova Heads for Detroit, a Year Older, Wiser and Better Prepared

Dan Graziano — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 21:41:00 EST

Filed under: ACC, Big East

PHILADELPHIA -- Detroit's Ford Field is the place where Villanova's NCAA tournament ended last year, with a Sweet 16 loss to eventual champion Kansas. The site of this year's Final Four, it's the place where the Wildcats' 2009 tournament will end as well. This time, they're hoping they can win a couple of games before that happens.

This time, they think they'll be better prepared for the unique challenge of playing a basketball game in a converted indoor football stadium -- in particular the unusually long walk from the locker room and a raised floor that apparently shakes a bit when you play on it."It definitely impacted us last year," coach Jay Wright said Wednesday, before his team's practice at Villanova's Davis Center. "I think it impacted our shooting. There's a unique depth perception there because you're above the crowd. The elevated floor makes you feel like you're on a stage. It's different, but I think we'll be better off for having played there last year."

The Wildcats' semifinal opponent, North Carolina, was thinking ahead. Knowing that this year's Final Four would be at Ford Field (and planning on being there), the Tar Heels and Michigan State scheduled their ACC/Big Ten Challenge game at the venue.

"Which was smart," Wright said.

On Dec. 3, North Carolina beat the Spartans 98-63 in front of a crowd of 25,267. The crowd Saturday is likely to be almost three times that size, but at least Carolina will have some sense of what it's like to play on that elevated court.

"It's definitely a help to have played there," VIillanova forward Dante Cunningham said. "It's unusual. I remember when you'd move side to side, you felt the floor vibrating a little bit. So I think it's good that it's not our first time."

A couple of other assorted notes from Villanova's final practice before they boarded their flight for Detroit:

-- By now, the story about Rollie Massimino giving Scottie Reynolds shooting tips in the lobby of the team hotel on the morning of the team's regional final victory over Pitt is well known. Massimino, who coached the 1985 Villanova team to a famous upset of Georgetown in the tournament title game, has been hanging around the games and practices, giving everybody a good feeling.

NCAA Tournament Action

Getty Images

"He's completely passionate about everything that's good and Villanova, which we think are the same," Wright said. "It's been a joy to have him around and to be such a presence."

"It's great, because it reminds us that it's possible," Reynolds said. "Seeing him around, you immediately think about 'Villanova won the national championship.' And nobody thought that team could do it either."

-- Asked if his team faced any team comparable to North Carolina this year, Wright thought for a while and then said, "No."

"There's no one like them," Wright said. "Maybe a little combination of UConn and Louisville, but there's no one that can go up and down and bring the depth that they can."

Wright said the rapid tempo at which Carolina plays will pose a strategy problem for his team.

"We like to play that way, but we don't like to play that way against North Carolina," Wright said. "They're better at that. So we've got to be smart. We've got to pick our spots, when we play that way and when we slow it down. That's the challenge for us."

Villanova's regional final game was against a familiar conference opponent, and it was played at a familiar pace. Saturday's game against the high-octane Heels will be more difficult to control.

"A Big East game has fewer possessions and it's more of a grind-it-out game," Wright said. "North Carolina, that's what their system is built on -- never getting into that. Any coach I've talked to who's played against them has said the same thing: 'Don't try and run up and down the floor with them.' So we've been talking a lot about that, and we'll continue to."

-- Cunningham said he's had an additional role as one of the team's seniors this week.

"It's been important for us to talk to the younger guys just about not getting too much into the hype," Cunningham said. "Just make sure everybody's staying focused and not getting too caught up in all the excitement that's going on around here."

For that reason, Wright was looking forward to getting on that plane to Detroit on Wednesday afternoon.

"I think it'll be best for us right now to get away," the coach said. "It's really strange, being around here with all the media here, all the friends and family here. We don't come to practice every day during the season and have media like this, students waiting outside, people talking about us...it's just not normal around here."

The Cats said being on the road would make it feel more like the regular season, and to stay focused on their task instead of the buzz.

"This is going to be a business trip for us," Wright said. "You don't work all season to get to this point and just go there to enjoy yourself. We're going out there to work."

Villanova Heads for Detroit, a Year Older, Wiser and Better Prepared originally appeared on NCAA Basketball Tournament on Wed, 01 Apr 2009 21:41:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Too Much Drive for the Heels?

Dan Graziano — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 17:30:00 EST

Filed under: ACC, Big East

Is Villanova this Final Four's unwelcome guest? Its square peg? The one of these things that's not like the others; the one of these things that doesn't belong?

Maybe. The Wildcats are certainly the most surprising entrant. Plenty of people wrote Connecticut and North Carolina into that big box in the middle of their brackets two weeks ago. A few people (and yeah, you're looking at one of em) even wrote in Michigan State. But if you picked Villanova to win it all, you were in the minority, and you probably still are.

Villanova isn't even being given much of a chance to win a game in Detroit. The big, bad Tar Heels are the Wildcats' semifinal opponents, and popular opinion is reverting to the increasingly justifiable preseason preception that North Carolina is the clear-cut best team in the country -- that there's nothing anybody can do to stop them.

Maybe. But look a little deeper, and you realize Villanova might have exactly what it takes to stop them.

North Carolina has lost just four games this season, and those games have something in common. In all four of them, an opposing guard went absolutely bonkers. To wit:

March 14 vs. Florida State: Toney Douglas, 27 points on 10-for-18 shooting, 3-for-8 three-pointers.*
Feb. 21 at Maryland: Greivis Vasquez, 35 points on 13-for-24(!) shooting, 5-for-10 three-pointers.
Jan. 11 at Wake Forest: Jeff Teague, 34 points on 9-for-17 shooting, 3-for-4 three-pointers.
Jan. 4 vs. Boston College: Tyrese Rice, 25 points on 7-for-13 shooting, 2-for-6 three-pointers.**
(* - Ty Lawson did not play in this game.)
(** -- Fellow guards Rakim Sanders and Reggie Jackson also had huge games in UNC's surprising first loss of the season.)

This is no coincidence. Ever since they lost Marcus Ginyard to injury, Carolina's main weakness has been perimeter defense. Hot-shooting guards are potential kryptonite for the Tar Heels, and the problems aren't limited to the three-point line. Carolina's interior help-side defense is also vulnerable to quick, penetrating guards because it's so geared toward keeping Tyler Hansbrough out of foul trouble.

Villanova has no fewer than four guards who can light it up from outside and/or slash their way to the basket. If they get a big game from Scottie Reynolds, Corey Stokes, Corey Fisher or Dwayne Anderson, that could be enough to get Carolina off its game. And if two of them had big games, Villanova could go off and run away with the thing.

Blasphemy, you say! North Carolina has no weakness. The Heels have sealed the cracks in their perimeter defense. They smothered Oklahoma out there Sunday. And besides, Lawson is playing way too far out of his mind for any of this to be a factor. It doesn't matter how well or how tough Villanova plays. There's nothing they can do. They're just outmanned.

Maybe. But Villanova was a hot-finishing fourth-place team in the toughest conference of all time. They've played the best and most consistent defense of any team in this tournament. (Due respect to the rough-and-tumble Spartans, with whom we're sticking, by the way.) If you had to make a pick right now, which team is going to play better defense in this game Saturday, you'd pick Villanova, if you've been watching all year.

Carolina has the horses to make the Final Four a rout. A coronation, even. But when you take a deeper look at this matchup, you start to get the feeling that it the Tar Heels' semifinal game might not be a pale blue cakewalk after all.

NCAA Tournament Action

Getty Images

Too Much Drive for the Heels? originally appeared on NCAA Basketball Tournament on Tue, 31 Mar 2009 17:30:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

The Final Debate

Matt Snyder — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 10:05:00 EST

Filed under: ACC, Big East, Big Ten, Tourney Coaches, Midwest Region, West Region, South Region, East Region

All eyes are on Detroit as we're less than one week away from crowning the national champion and moving on to 2010. So with only four teams still standing in the Big Dance, NCAA Basketball FanHouse got together for a FanHouse Roundtable to discuss what we can expect. Find out why the only thing we love more than the Heels are the head coaches.

Matt Snyder: I don't think anyone can handle North Carolina right now. They didn't even need a decent game from Tyler Hansbrough to stomp a very tough Oklahoma team. Ty Lawson appears to be healthy, and he'll get some additional rest this week. They are easily the team to beat, and it would appear Roy Williams is going to do something for the second time that he couldn't do once at Kansas.

I do think Michigan State will take down UConn in the semifinals -- obvious Big Ten bias plays a role. They can adapt their game to win at any tempo, as they showed against Kansas and Louisville. Plus, they have a dude named Idong Ibok. That alone gives them an advantage at something.

If the Spartans and Tar Heels do advance, we'll get to see a rematch of the 35-point massacre from the ACC/Big Ten Challenge -- in the same venue. This time, though, Goran Suton will suit up for Michigan State. He can't make a 35-point difference, but perhaps the Spartans have improved enough over the course of the season to close the gap a bit and give us an exciting championship.

Dan Graziano: I have a Big East bias, and a memory of a really good-looking North Carolina team that showed up at last year's Final Four and got obliterated by Kansas. So I'm thinking Carolina's next game is no pushover. Villanova may not win, but I think they'll do more than anybody else has so far to make UNC earn it, and the result may be a worn-out bunch of Tar Heels two nights later.

Biases aside, though, my pick before this tournament started was Michigan State, and I see no reason to go off of it now. I agree with Matt's assessment that they can adjust their game to win in any style. The reason is rebounding. They're better at it than anybody in the country, and it's one of the few consistents in this game. Hasheem Thabeet's banged up, and on top of that MSU is the kind of team that will probably frustrate and annoy him -- and he doesn't play well when annoyed; he kind of gets moody and disappears a little, like in the last game, when Stanley Robinson had to take over inside on defense.

I give Michigan State the rebounding and coaching edge over everybody left in this tournament, and that's why I think they'll beat UNC in the title game. Suton is playing like a guy who won't accept losing, and I think MSU has the toughness edge over UNC too.

Plus, as Snyder mentioned, they have Ibok, who's bound to make an impact before it's all said and done.

Chris Burke: I've been reluctant to give Tom Izzo heaps of praise in the past because MSU went through a longer-than-it-should-have-been conference title drought, but it's pretty clear that he's right up there in terms of the best tournament coaches in the country. Still, to assume that the Spartans have a coaching advantage now is kind of a disservice to Jim Calhoun, Roy Williams and even Jay Wright. I don't know that Rick Pitino got outcoached, so much as his team got out-toughed, and those are two different things.

Michigan State's probably not going to go in and bully Connecticut, and it certainly won't push around North Carolina or Villanova. At least the Tar Heels and Wildcats are as mentally tough as MSU, though it is fair to debate if UConn can match State in that regard. Certainly, playing in Detroit will play to State's advantage.

NCAA Tournament Action

Getty Images

Thabeet can go into one of his shells, sure, but he could also completely force Suton and Michigan State's guards to the perimeter. Suton's been red hot, but UConn will take its chances with him shooting from the the outside all day. In the other semi, I just think Carolina's going to have way too much for Villanova. I thought Pitt would be a difficult matchup for Carolina because of how Pitt can get after it on defense sometimes, but I'm just not sure that 'Nova can slow UNC down enough to win that game. They might match the Heels basket-for-basket for a long time, but not over 40 minutes.

I personally think UConn and Carolina are going to the finals, with Carolina taking that one by 7-10 points. That said, I wouldn't be surprised to see Michigan State in there, though I can't imagine the Spartans being good enough to beat UNC -- Villanova, maybe, but not North Carolina. So the Tar Heels are the pick here.

Ray Holloman: I still like North Carolina, but I think Villanova will give them one heck of a test in the Final Four. The big question about the Tar Heels all year has been how well can they hold together their perimeter defense without Marcus Ginyard available, and thus far in the tournament they've done pretty well. They did a great job against Jeremy Pargo and Matt Bouldin (albeit Pargo had three fouls midway through the first half) with Gonzaga and they sealed up Oklahoma, after a few consecutive lapses against Willie Warren after the Heels initial burst in the first half anyway. Oklahoma helped by missing a lot of open shots in the second half, but North Carolina did a good job in the first 20 minutes. Almost every look was contested in the first half.

But Villanova doesn't just have one guy that can penetrate and hurt you, they've got four on the court at any given time. And they've got Dante Cunningham, who can work inside or outside and will be a tough matchup problem. If you've got both Deon Thompson and Hansbrough in the game, one of those guys will be getting driven by. Villanova is also a much better rebounding team than they're given credit for. The Wildcats are a better team on the offensive glass than the Heels are on the defensive glass, so don't expect to see Jay Wright's team be one-and-done every possession. They're also a great free throw shooting team and really get to the line. (In fact, Villanova gets there more than North Carolina as a percentage of field goals attempted). They shoot 76.5 percent from the charity stripe and against both Duke and Pitt those free throws were a killer.

But the Heels just have so much going for them. Ed Davis may be the best big man NBA prospect left in the tournament and he's third in the rotation behind Hansbrough and Thompson (and gives up minutes to Tyler Zeller, too). And yeah, they got staggered last year, and I suppose it's valid to question why Roy Williams does what he does at times, but I don't think its necessarily fair to hold the sins of last year's team against this one. They really talk about that collapse against Georgetown two years ago and Kansas last year as learning experiences. Williams talked about it going into the Sweet 16, Ty Lawson and Danny Green talked about Kansas after beating Oklahoma. But that transition offense is just so unstoppable. How many times Sunday did Oklahoma score what felt like a pivotal bucket in the first half only to have Ty Lawson dart down court before the scorer's name was announced and draw a foul or find Danny Green for a dunk? I think Villanova will break out that 1-2-2 press to disrupt the timing of the Heels offense, but I just don't know that the Wildcats will be able to do it.

Michigan State and UConn, I like the Huskies, but I'm buying stock in Johnson & Johnson before that game starts. One team is going to have to bleed to win that game. And I like North Carolina to run from Connecticut in the final, but those are going to be two dog-tired teams by the time Monday night wraps up.

Adam Papagiorgio: I had Michigan State winning the tournament in all of my pools. Mainly because of Izzo and what he brings to the table. I agree that maybe Izzo didn't necessarily out-coach Pitino, but Michigan State is certainly playing some of its best hoop.

That being said, I don't know what more can be said about North Carolina. I didn't realize that the Heels were that good. Make no mistake, Gonzaga is a really good team. And that butt-whooping was more about how good Carolina is, and not an idictment on the Bulldogs. I was actually relieved that the Heels punked the Sooners so soundly because that helped to take away some of the sting of the Gonzaga game.

So right now, I have to figure that North Carolina wins this thing going away.

Jacob Wheatley-Schaller: I'm normally more of a stats-based guy, but man, whenever I watch this UNC team play with Lawson in there, and I'm rooting against them (almost always), it's just such a helpless feeling. It's really come full circle from the preseason, where they were clearly the best team, to the second half of the season where that title changed from week to week, to now where it's pretty obvious that you'd have to expect them to win a game on a neutral floor against any team in the country. That offense ... well, it's as good as you would've expected when everyone announced they were coming back, and that's really saying something.

They could lose, of course. Really, if Oklahoma had shot even competently from three (they finished 2-for-19, and I believe they were 0-for-14 at one point), that could've been a game on Sunday. I think I figured if they were shooting 33 percent from deep at halftime, the game probably would've been tied, or at least within one possession. I think if 'Nova is going to have a chance, they'll need Stokes to get hot, and Scottie Reynolds to be hitting his shots. And they'd better hope that Lawson and the rest of the perimeter guys go cold, because when they're shooting like they were on Friday night it's game over. Gonzaga is pretty good. They obliterated Gonzaga.

I like UConn in the other game, although not nearly as much. That's a great defense, obviously because of Thabeet, but they never turn you over. And there's always the chance you get Thabeet out of the game with fouls, which really changes the whole dynamic; it actually didn't in the Mizzou game, since the Tigers never bothered to go to the rim even with him out of the game (they much preferred shooting 15-footers, always a good strategy), but in general it makes a big difference. Anyway, I think UConn probably takes it, Walker really adds a whole new dimension to their offense.

Shane Bacon: I just can't see North Carolina losing this Final Four. They are hitting their stride at the most opportune time, playing some incredible basketball against a really tough run through their bracket. Gonzaga was sneaky tough, Oklahoma might have been able to take down any of the other three teams heading to Detroit and UNC wiped the floor with them.

It's all about who is playing the best basketball at the end of March and right now the Heels are (get ready for it) head over heels better than the rest of the field.

Chas Rich: I'm very torn on the MSU-UConn game, beyond any obvious Big East bias. There is no question that Tom Izzo is a fantastic coach who finally has this team healthy and contributions going deep into the bench.

But I like the starting talent on UConn better and the Huskies don't play a pace too differently from what MSU plays, so that won't be an issue of frustration. Plus, Jim Calhoun is not exactly a slouch in preparing his team for big games.

On the other side, it will be closer than expected (I think UNC is favored by eight right now), but Villanova will just not be able to beat UNC. Again, as important as depth can be, in games at this point, it's about the starting five and only a couple players off the bench. That is so clearly in favor of UNC.

The Final Debate originally appeared on NCAA Basketball Tournament on Tue, 31 Mar 2009 10:05:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Final Four Not What You Think

Ray Holloman — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 19:24:00 EST

Filed under: ACC, Big East, Big Ten, Midwest Region, West Region, South Region, East Region

Take everything you think you know about this Final Four and toss it in the waste bin with the scrap paper that was once your brackets. The brackets that had Pittsburgh meeting Louisville for the national title. The brackets that were oh so certain Michigan State of the overrated Big Ten would, exactly like IKEA furniture, collapse after one week. The brackets that said Wake Forest was underrated and Arizona's bid was a career achievement award.

Forget it all, because like your brackets, this Final Four will be all about what you didn't know.

Start with the Spartans, the mixed martial basketball-tough team that sent overall top seed Louisville home for spring break. Tom Izzo teams have a reputation for toughness but with the aesthetics of an offensive line taking up ballet. Believe that until you see Big Ten player of the year Kalin Lucas two-step through three defenders and kiss one off the glass. Go ahead and believe that until big man Goran Suton steps back and drills a 3-pointer right in some poor defender's eyeballs. The Bosnian big man is averaging 8.1 rebounds per game, but he's also a 42 percent 3-point shooter. If that sounds impressive, it should. That's better than 3-point king J.J. Redick managed in three of his seasons at Duke.

Feel free to think the Spartans are all smash and no sizzle until they dribble right through your defense. Michigan State only coughed the ball up once against Louisville's tighter-than-Bob Knight's sweater full court press. Believe that defensive stopper Travis Walton, who made Terrence Williams disappear Sunday, can only play defense, and then watch him slip by your teams for eight points and two assists, like he scored against the Cardinals or the five assists he dropped against Kansas.

You're not wrong to think the Spartans take a page out of the Red Wings' playbook every now and again, shooting the ball on goal and hoping the scrum in front of the net can bang it in. The Spartans are fifth in the nation in offensive rebounding percentage, but they're also the 23rd most efficient offense. And while you've been cracking Big Ten jokes, Michigan State has been tightening the gears on offense. The Spartans were a superior offensive team against Louisville and its blast-furnace defense, scoring 113.5 points per 100 possessions, compared to what offensive-standard North Carolina was against Oklahoma (111.5).

So go ahead, make your football jokes, but only if you're comparing Michigan State to Oklahoma.

NCAA Tournament Action

Getty Images

Fill out your Final Four assuming Connecticut can survive only with Hasheem Thabeet, the 7-foot-3 Sequoia that has to check height restrictions to walk through highway tunnels, and then watch Stanley Robinson's double-wide frame bounce you out of the paint. Call the Huskies soft, then watch them bail out Johnson & Johnson's stock with all the Band-Aids they press into use. Don't gameplan for Kemba Walker, then watch him shed that freshman label and your defenders all at once.

Think the Huskies' hearts aren't in it and they're biding their time till the NBA calls, but then remember that when Missouri took a second-half lead, Connecticut dug so deep that it probably had to file for a permit. Pretend they won't win without help a monstrous free-throw differential (the Huskies are eighth in the nation in free throw-to-field goal ratio and first in that same metric defensively) and then realize they squashed Texas A&M while on the wrong side of the charity battle. And that free-throw differential comes from discipline the Marines would be proud of, even if it's something their coach's mouth might not always have.

Pick against Uconn because of the looming cloud of an NCAA investigation, but only if you don't talk to the Huskies, who are as concerned about that as the color of Jim Calhoun's necktie.

Then there's Villanova, a team you probably think will be happy just to be there. But is Scottie Reynolds really going to stop when he just got started with a mad dash for Detroit against Pitt? Think they're a soft perimeter team but then watch them wrestle Duke and UCLA to the ground and grab 42.6 percent of their offensive rebounds against Pitt's big-bodied glass crew. Place a bet on who has more double-doubles in the NCAA Tournament, Dante Cunningham or Tyler Hansbrough. If you picked Hansbrough, you'd be just as wrong as those who thought Duke was destined to March through the Wildcats to Detroit.

Pick North Carolina over Villanova because you don't think anyone can stop Ty Lawson and Wayne Ellington, but consider that Wildcats all but taped Gerald Henderson's hands behind his back as the athletic wing hit just 1-of-14 shots. Villanova ended Darren Collison's All-American career, humbling the UCLA point guard into five turnovers against only one assist.

Assume coach Jay Wright will have no way to defend against North Carolina's 21 feet of brute down low, but can Hansbrough, Deon Thompson and Ed Davis do something that DeJuan Blair, a man contained only by his bicep bands, couldn't? Think of them as Big East lite, but remember they played against a team whose starting guard, Jermaine Dixon, popped his groin and checked back in. Don't worry about them out-toughing Ty's toe.

And there are the Heels. You may have penciled them in for a Shining Moment already, but admit that you think of them as a team who couldn't find a little D even if they've spelled Detroit. Yet those Heels are 18th in the nation in defensive efficiency, ahead of supposedly defense-first teams like Duke, Wake Forest and UCLA. Their perimeter, which was buzzed by Tyrese Rice and Jeff Teague in regular-season losses, has tightened up just in time to stroll into the home of tuneups. They kept Jeremy Pargo in check and held Gonzaga's best perimeter passer, Matt Bouldin, to zero assists. Against Oklahoma, only two players managed to break double digits and the Sooners didn't hit a single shot from 3-point range until well after the game was in the books.

Pick against them because someone on that team has to slump, but realize they've got more weapons than an NFL entourage. Neither Hansbrough nor Ellington cracked double digits Sunday and the Heels still had such an easy afternoon Sunday they might've caught a nap in the locker room.

So go ahead, pick all these teams based on what you think you know, then remember in the season of chaos, this will be the Final Four of the unknown.

Final Four Not What You Think originally appeared on NCAA Basketball Tournament on Mon, 30 Mar 2009 19:24:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Ty Lawson's Stock Tips Up

Tom Ziller — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 04:00:00 EST

Filed under: ACC, Big 12, Big East, Midwest Region, South Region

During the NCAA Tournament, we NBA heads watch (almost) every game, judging the pro prospects of particular players. Inspired by our daily Doing Lines feature, Drooling Lines offers a daily summary of what the box scores tell us.

This song has been sung frequently, but in case you missed prior renditions ...

Ty Lawson -- ... no one has helped his NBA stock more this season than Ty Lawson. The tournament has been the same exact tune, with Sunday's killer Elite Eight performance the latest verse.

Lawson led the Tar Heels in every sense of the word. No, really. This isn't just mushy mumbo about leadership -- he nearly led Carolina in every major category. The diminutive point guard had a team-high 19 points on 6-of-13 shooting, a team-high five assists, a team-high three steals, tied for a team-high one block, and lagged behind team-leading rebounder Tyler Hansbrough by one rebound (with five). UNC won by 12, and you can basically credit Lawson completely. His teammates played well, but without him, they would not have played nearly as well.

Blake Griffin -- Speaking of playing well ...

Griffin completely torched Hansbrough: 23 points on 9-of-12 shooting and 16 rebounds (six of which came on the offensive glass). Griffin didn't get his usual passing game going, but when you're shooting 70-plus percent for the tournament, you don't need to rely on cutters or shooters. As always, Griffin can and will handle his business. He's the No. 1 draft pick with a bullet, provided news that Ricky Rubio is a direct descendant of Christ or John Lennon doesn't come out between now and June.

Willie Warren -- A less-flattering sendoff for W.W., who scored 18 but shot only 2-of-9 from deep. If Warren's going to be a two-guard in the league, his translated shooting percentages need to improve. It seems more likely he'll become a point guard; in fairness to Warren, he rarely got the opportunity at OU to play lead guard, considering the presence of senior (and Griffin consigliere) Austin Johnson. (Johnson was dreadful across Lawson, by the way.) Jeff Capel has been in the rumor mill, and you wonder if that forces W.W. to keep an open mind about bolting. And remember, Eric Gordon's stock wasn't exactly at its peak this time last year, you know ...

Earl Clark -- Good Earl Clark has been there for most of the Dance. Unfortunately, we saw something closer to Bad Earl Clark most of Sunday. Clark did heat up late in the second half, finishing with 19 points on 17 field goal attempts. But Louisville already trailed substantially by that point, and a few tough shots (the only kind with Earl, sometimes) didn't fall. 19/5/2/1 for Clark.

Terrence Williams -- Clark was mediocre, Williams was straight-up BAD. Five whole points for Williams when Louisville needed him to create desperately. His first basket came on an ill alley-oop to open the second half. Having watched enough Louisville this season (thanks ESPN-Big East partnership!*), I figured this would be the point in which Williams exploded, leading his team to overcome the stingy Spartan resistance. It wasn't so. Michigan State kept resisting. Williams couldn't slide in for putbacks or spring free for deep threes. On defense, the usually stout Williams was handcuffed by Rick Pitino's reliance on a 2-3 zone that failed miserably in the second half. Bad sendoff for Williams, and (if I know NBA scouts) a performance that could cost him five or so slots, fair or not.

* No seriously, thank you. Well worth a dozen Notre Dame games this year to see so much Louisville, Pitt, Syracuse, Villanova and (even) Georgetown.

NCAA Tournament Action

Getty Images

Ty Lawson's Stock Tips Up originally appeared on NCAA Basketball Tournament on Mon, 30 Mar 2009 04:00:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments