11 Mar 28 - Muscle And Hustle

Volume XV, No. 21 - 11 Mar 28

Muscle And Hustle

The mantra for the NCAA tournament is normally "Guards Matter". Usually, a good perimeter game trumps a good inside game. Most of the eye-popping uspets come from lower-seeded guard-oriented teams who hit some early threes to gain the lead and then sink their free throws down the stretch to seal the win. For sure, we've got our share of Hustle upsets, but this tournament has been called to allow such physical play in some cases that we also had some Muscle upsets as well.

Things seemed to be going OK in West Regional in Anaheim at the half when [W1]Duke led [W5]Arizona 44-38 with the Wildcats' fDerrick Williams sitting on the bench with foul trouble. But when he returned, he keyed a 55-33 second half domination that let the Blue Devils know they weren't in their cushy Charlotte Pod anymore. xWilliams finished with 32p13r in UofA's 93-77 win. The return of pKyrie Irving(28p) probably threw off Duke's chemistry as ACC Player of the Year bNolan Smith only had 8p5r;3/14fg. The presence of fBrandon Davies wouldn't have made the difference for [SE3]BYU against [SE2]Florida. The physical Gators knocked around pJimmer Fredette -- (bruised his calf, bloodied his chin) -- he finished with 32p5a, but he only shot 11-for-29 (including 3-for-15 on three-pointers). The Cougars had no answer for cAlex Tyus(19p17r) in the lane as UoF prevailed 83-74(OT). [SE8]Butler's hard play hounded [SE4]Wisconsin into 17 straight missed field goals during one stretch as fJon Leuer finished with 3p6r;1/12fg as the Bulldogs advanced 61-54. The Regional Final with [SE2]Florida was rough all around. The Gators' fVernon Macklin(25p5r) had his way in the paint, but Florida's perimeter game was non-existent (3-for-15 on threes). Meanwhile, BU's gShelvin Mack(27p) did what he wanted. The Gators extended to a 10-point lead in the first half and again to an 11-point lead in the second half by pounding it inside, but the Bulldogs fought back. UoF had the last possession in regulation and in overtime, but couldn't hit desperation three-pointers in either case as Butler came through 74-71(OT) in a slugfest to advance to an even-more-improbable-than-last-year second-straight Final Four.

[SW11+b]VCU hustled its way to a 72-71(OT) win over [SW10]Florida State in a competitive (if not pretty) struggle. gBradford Burgess(26p;6/7 3s) scored on a layup on an out-of-bounds play for the game-winner. In the Regional Final, [SW1]Kansas led 6-0 right away scoring point-blank in the post, but that was about all that went right for the Jayhawks. Yes, cMarcus Morris got his (20p16r), but the KU guards were completely outplayed as tJamie Skeen had 26p9r for VCU and Kansas shot 2-for-22 on threes trying to play catchup in VCU's stunning 71-61 victory.

[W2]San Diego State shot itself in the foot with a couple of game-changing technical fouls that keyed runs by superstar gKemba Walker(36p; 14-straight points down the stretch in the second half) as [W3]Connecticut pulled away and then hung on for a 74-67 win. [W5]Arizona's muscle inside saw it jump to a quick 9-1 out of the blocks against UConn, but foul trouble on fDerrick Williams turned the tide to give the Huskies control at the half, 32-25. Another quick Wildcat burst after the break tied things up at 34-34 and, in a game that was tight down the stretch, it was actually freshman gJeremy Lamb(19p) who made the biggest plays to key Connecticut's 65-63 win.

[E4]Kentucky-[E1]Ohio State and [E4]Kentucky-[E2]North Carolina were a couple of elite matchups that the exception rather than the rule for this year's tournament. Against the Buckeyes, it was cJosh Harrelson(17p10r) who counterbalanced cJared Sullinger's 21p16r inside and the two-way play of fDeAndre Liggins(15p6r) who made the biggest difference. For the second time in three games, though; pBrandon Knight stole the show with the game-winning jumper as UK upset OSU @62-60 (in front of a strong Wildcat Nation crowd in Newark, NJ). In the Regional Final against the Tar Heels, the Wildcats were able to keep UNC from pushing the pace and forced them into a halfcourt game. bHarrison Barnes(18p6r) put on a late flurry to tie the game at 67-67 with 3 minutes to go, but pBrandon Knight(22p7r) and then DeAndre Liggins hit big three-pointers to seal UK's @76-69 win.

The four losing teams in the Regional Finals -- Arizona (4/21), Florida (3/15), North Carolina (3/16), Kansas (2/22) -- were a combined 12-for-74 [16%!!!] shooting threes. (Yes, a lot of that is playing catch-up and late desperation, but it still isn't anywhere close to acceptable.) Kentucky's freshman trio was able to make the Final Four when last year's SuperFrosh were not; but that's more a statement on the relative weakness of the competition this year as compared to last year. Butler lost its best player from a year ago and still found a way to make it back to the Final Four. VCU didn't deserve an invitation based on its credentials (and would have been the first team out with last year's 65-team field), but found a way to parlay the negative press into a trip to the Promised Land. Only one of the "One-Man-Gang" teams made it through to Houston, but even that's a measure of the (lack of) quality of this year's competition. Two Mid-Major teams have made the Final Four. Wow.

In the consolation prize tournaments, the story is mixed on depth from below. A MM near-miss team did crash the NIT semis against the BCS also-rans -- that's a good sign. You'd like to see the CBI feature an all-MM final series (but, instead, it's a squatter BCS filler team against an MM opponent). Likewise, you want the CIT final to be all-1BC (but a MM squatter is facing a 1BC opponent):

The NIT completed its second-round and quarterfinal games at campus sites. [s1]Alabama(SEC) advanced to the semis with a @79-64 win over [s2]Miami(Florida). [w1]Colorado(Big 12) stopped [w7]Kent State's run of road upsets with an @81-74 win. [e2]Washington State(Pac-10) won twice at home: @74-64 over [e3]Oklahoma State and then @69-66(OT) over road warrior [e4]Northwestern. Road-tested [m4]Wichita State(Horizon) beat likewise [m6]College of Charleston @82-75. For the semifinals at Madison Square Garden in New York, it's [s1]Alabama vs. [w1]Colorado and [e2]Washington State vs. [m4]Wichita State.

In the CBI, the home team has won all but one first-round game. In the quarters and semis, Oregon(Pac-10) held off Duquesne (@77-75) and then Boise State (@79-71). Creighton(MVC) beat Davidson (@102-92) and then Central Florida (@82-64). For the best-of-3 championship series, Creighton hosts Oregon in the first game on Monday; Oregon hosts the second game on Wednesday, and will also host the rubber-game (if necessary) on Friday.

In the CIT, Santa Clara(WCC) won twice on the road: 95-@91 at conferencemate San Francisco and then 72-@55 at SMU. Meanwhile, Iona(MAAC) handled Buffalo (@78-63) and then came back to win at East Tennessee State (83-@80). Iona hosts Santa Clara (Wednesday) in the final.

My heart says "Kemba", but my head says "Kentucky" . . . (but, then again, the SEC is the only BCS scalp that VCU is missing after running through the Pac-10, Big East, Big 10, ACC and Big 12 so far.)

-- Ron

Key games this week:

NCAA

Saturday:

FINAL FOUR @ Houston TN /RELIANT/

• [W3]Connecticut v [E4]@Kentucky
• [SE8]Butler v [SW11+b]VCU

Monday week:

NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP @ Houston TN /RELIANT/

• [W3]Connecticut/[E4]@Kentucky v [SE8]Butler/[SW11+b]VCU

NIT

Tuesday:

Semis @ New York NY /MSG/
• (s1)Alabama v (w1)Colorado
• (e2)Washington St v (m4)Wichita St

Thursday:

Final @ New York NY /MSG/
• (s1)Alabama/(w1)Colorado v (e2)WashingtonSt/(m4)WichitaSt

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

Monday:

• @ (s)Creighton v (w)Oregon

Wednesday:

• @ (w)Oregon v (s)Creighton

(Friday, if necessary):

• (@ (w)Oregon v (s)Creighton)

CIT (COLLEGEINSIDER.COM TOURNAMENT) Final on-campus

Wednesday:

• @ Iona v Santa Clara