09 Mar30 - Big-Time

Volume XIII, No. 21 - 09 Mar 30

Big-Time

While undeniably posting one of the greatest seasons ever by a conference, the BIG EAST hit a pothole in its bid for an undisputed claim to the all-time greatest season by failing to send all three of its #1-seeded teams through to the Final Four. Still, 7 bids overall, 5 Sweet 16 teams (a record), 4 Elite Eight teams (a record), and still with a chance to have two of its teams play for the national championship (accomplished only by the BIG 10 '76, BIG EAST '85 and the BIG 8 '88) is quite an argument in its favor.

[M2]Michigan State turned in the finest single performance of the NCAA tournament so far with its convincing 64-52 win over seemingly invincible [M1]Louisville. UofL had looked scary good thrashing lone "Cinderella" [M12]Arizona @103-64 in front of a supportive Indianapolis crowd. But that was a bad matchup coupled with UofA's quitting competing once it was obvious to them they had no chance. MSU had three guards who could handle the Cardinals' full-court press and got a superb performance from cGoran Suton(19p10r4a), who stretched LVILLE's halfcourt zone with outside jumpers. Without free points off of turnovers, the Cardinals had to rely on an ineffective halfcourt offense that consisted mostly of big men trying to make three-pointers. A shockingly meek loss for the squad that clearly seemed the team to beat just one round before.

In the best game of the NCAA tournament, [E3]Villanova won a thrilling 78-76 win over [E1]Pittsburgh as gScottie Reynolds(15p) hit the game-winning basket on a last-second drive into the lane. PITT, which played all of its previous games too close for comfort but came through with clutch play at the end, couldn't come up with the goods at the end this time. Leading 67-63 with three minutes left, the Panthers turned the ball over on three straight possessions on a trap at halfcourt and two "travel" calls in the frontcourt. The Wildcats' physical defense led the way to two impressive victories. Against [E2]Duke in the previous round, they took away the legs of the Blue Devils, who couldn't hit any jumpshots in a 77-54 drubbing. In the PITT game, the refs were "letting them play", allowing the players to determine the outcome rather than foul calls (which is what you want), but you can't go so far as to allow physical bumps by the defenders to cause turnovers and not make a call (which they did late on the two "travelling" calls). Regardless, the BIG EAST has a representative playing great ball in VU into the Final Four.

[W1]Connecticut came through as the lone BIG EAST #1-seed to actually get through to the Final Four, 82-75 over a surprisingly strong [W3]Missouri team. MIZZOU had shocked [W2]Memphis 102-91 in the previous round, outplaying the Tigers at their own pressing game and shredding their halfcourt defense with pass-and-cut motion offense that was beautiful to watch. MU's freshman gTyreke Evans did score 33p in the loss, but the experiment of putting him at point guard couldn't pass the test against such relentless pressure. UConn, which might have been expected to have trouble against the press having lost a key player in bJerome Dyson, instead got a career game from freshman pKemba Walker, whose 23p5a5r lead the way for the Huskies.

[S1]North Carolina cruised into the Final Four without really being challenged. The Tar Heels were able to comfortably outscore [S4]Gonzaga 98-77 in the Regional semifinals and likewise stayed ahead of [S2]Oklahoma in their 72-60 win (despite 23p16 from OU's cBlake Griffin, whose "showdown" with last year's Player of the Year, cTyler Hansbrough, was a mismatch as cHansbrough battled foul trouble). pTy Lawson played solidly on his ever improving bad toe, averaging 19p7a in the two games.

The BIG EAST's postseason performance is untouchably the best of any conference for this season, for sure (with an NIT semifinalist to boot in [2]Notre Dame). But the BIG 12's top three elite teams performed well with [W3]Missouri's upset win, [M3]Kansas' giving [M2]Michigan everything it could handle before falling 62-67 in the Regional semifinals, and [S2]Oklahoma's living up to its seed as cBlake Griffin posted the same impressive numbers in the postseason that he was able to deliver all during the regular season, confirming his unanimous selection as Player of the Year. In addition, [W9]Texas A&M garnered a first-round upset win. (And [3]Baylor made the NIT semifinals.)
     The BIG 10 not only placed [M2]Michigan State into the Final Four, but [W5]Purdue exceeded its seed in reaching the Sweet 16, as well as [S10]Michigan's and [E12]Wisconsin's coming through with upset wins in Round 1. (And [2]Penn State made the NIT semifinals.)
     Despite its first-round success with 5 out of 6 teams winning, the PAC-10 went 1-for-5 in Round 2, only placing [M12]Arizona into the Sweet 16 courtesy of a win over [M13]Cleveland State. Along with AZ's win over [M5]Utah, it also received a first-round upset from [M10]USC over [M7]Boston College. (But it does have a CBI finalist in Oregon State.)

[S1]UNC's success aside, the ACC was clearly the poorest performer of the expected major player conferences, only placing one team into the Elite Eight and having [E2]Duke, [M4]Wake Forest, [M10]Maryland all get sent home after blowout losses in addition to [E5]Florida State, [S7]Clemson and [M7]Boston Colllege's first-round upset losses.

The SEC's poor regular season got it treated only with Mid-Major status in the postseason with only 3 NCAA invites and just one win from [S8]LSU to show for itself. (And despite the most invites to the NIT (4), the conference was shut out of the semifinals in that as well.)
     CONFERENCE USA ([W2]Memphis), the ATLANTIC 10 ([E4]Xavier) and WEST COAST ([S4]Gonzaga) were able to place their one powerhouse team through to the Sweet 16 (and C-USA has a CBI finalist as well in UTEP). The METRO ATLANTIC ([M9]Siena), SUN BELT ([W12]Western Kentucky) and HORIZON ([M13]Cleveland State) all managed to give the true Mid-Majors hope with first-round splash wins. (The MOUNTAIN WEST was able to get [1]San Diego State through to the NIT semifinals; while the MVC (Bradley) and COLONIAL (Old Dominion) each placed a team in the CIT finals.)

North Carolina and Connecticut are the favorites on paper to meet for the national championship, but Michigan State and Villanova have shown they can beat the toughest opponents (and MSU should have big home-crowd support at Detroit's Ford Field). UNC has displayed the deepest offensive talent, enough bodies in the paint to weather foul trouble and great capability to score from the perimeter. That should be enough for them to outscore Villanova, while UConn's inside dominance is too much for MSU, and then for the Tar Heels to outlast the Huskies behind Most Outstanding Player pTy Lawson.
     (In the NIT, look for crisp San Diego State to prove its worth over Notre Dame in the final. Expect First Brother-In-Law Craig Robinson to get a fairy tale ending to his first season at Oregon State as they defeated UTEP in the CBI. Bradley should trade last year's CBI bronze runner-up status for first-place CIT copper this year against Old Dominion.)

-- Ron

Key games this week:

NCAA

Saturday:

FINAL FOUR @ Detroit, MI /FORD/

• (6:00P): [4/W1]Connecticut v [8/M2]@Michigan St
• (8:30P): [3/S1]N Carolina v [10/E3]Villanova

Monday week:

NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP @ Detroit, MI /FORD/

• (9:00P): [3/S1]NCarolina/[10/E3]Villanova v [4/W1]Connecticut/[8/M2]@MichiganSt

NIT

Tuesday:

Semis @ New York NY /MSG/

• (7:00P): (s1)San Diego St v (a3)Baylor
• (9:00P): (c2)Notre Dame v (f2)Penn St

Thursday:

Final @ New York NY /MSG/

• (7:00P): (s1)SanDiegoSt/(a3)Baylor v (c2)NotreDame/(f2)PennSt

CBI (COLLEGE BASKETBALL INVITATIONAL)
Finals (Best of 3) on-campus

Monday:

• @ (1w)Oregon St v (3s)UTEP

Wednesday:

• @ (3s)UTEP v (1w)Oregon St

(Friday, if necessary):

• (@ (1w)Oregon St v (3s)UTEP)

CIT (COLLEGEINSIDER.COM TOURNAMENT)
Final on-campus

Tuesday:

• @ Bradley v Old Dominion