48 Hours of Hoops

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. There is no time of the year better then March Madness. A lot of people think that means the three weekends that consist of the NCAA Tournament, and while those three weekends are so much fun, that’s not it. These first two weeks of March, where the regular season ends, conference tournaments are played and the terms “bubble team”, “lock”, “potential Cinderella” and “early exit” become part of our regular vocabulary, are also a lot of fun. I decided to document all the basketball I watched this weekend, which consisted of both regular season finales and conference tourneys.


SATURDAY

Illinois-Iowa---While all of the analysts and so-called experts say the Fighting Illini are tournament locks, I’m not so sure. While their defense has been very good all season long, the offense is about as bad as any I’ve seen an Illinois team play. Unless Rich McBride is making his 30-foot three pointers or Warren Carter is getting open jumpers on the baseline, they can’t generate any points. I would expect that that the I-L-L need to win at least a game and hopefully more in the Big 10 tourney to become locks. Iowa is in the same boat about their offense, except they will have to either make the Big 10 championship or beat either Ohio State or Wisconsin to make the NCAA’s because of their horrible non-conference record.

Texas-Kansas---I’ve got to imagine that being a Texas Longhorns fan is similar to being a Bears fan. You know every game is going to be a close one that won’t be decided until the last second. And you know that weather your team wins or loses all depends on one guy. Lucky for UT fans, that man isn’t Rex Grossman. Kevin Durant, as I mentioned in the last post, is a real beast, and is the reason the ‘Horns are looking at a number four seed in the tourney. He has reached a level reserved in my book for Michael Jordan, Reggie Miller, Steve Kerr and Ray Allen, where if he misses an open shot you are not only disappointed, but shocked. Even with a man in his face, I expect most of the time Durant will drain the shot. In the first half of this game, he and fellow freshmen DJ Augustin completely took over, and the Longhorns were up by as many as 16 points. But in half number two, Durant twisted an ankle and the Jayhawks went on a big run. KD eventually came back, but it was too little too late. I was very impressed by Kansas’ fight and resiliency and their shooting guard Mario Chalmers, who went five for five from three point ranges. As I said last post, both of these squads are very good and could be Final Four bound and potential national champs.

Michigan State-Wisconsin----I only caught the end of this game because it was being shown at the same time as ILL-IOWA and UT-KU, but those last three and a half minutes where very thrilling. MSU, aka the Fighting Neitzel’s, put up a great fight against an obviously better team in a tough environment. When Drew Neitzel, who was playing with the flu and still played all 40 minutes, did that killer-crossover and nailed a jumper with about a minute left to give the Spartans a one point lead, I though they would be able to sneak out of Madison with a win. But I have to give Chris Rock, errrr, Kameron Taylor credit for making a big time three-pointer with three tics left to give the Badgers the win.

Ohio State-Michigan---As a person who watched teams coached by Tim Floyd, Dick Jauron, and of course Dusty Baker, I know what its like to support a squad that is killed by the person making the decisions. That is why my heart goes out to all the supporters of the maze and blue. While Tommy Amaker didn’t miss a dunk or a free throw in the last minute of the game like his players did, I do blame him for the loss. At the start of the game, he had his Wolverines attacking the Ohio State big men, causing centers Greg Oden and Othello Hunter, as well as forward Ivan Harris into early foul trouble. Yet when those guys went out, and in came reserve forward Matt Terwilliger, Amaker seemed to call off the dogs. Michigan began jacking up threes and ill-advised jumpers, allowing OSU to stick around while three of their key guys sat on the pine. And then of course Oden came back in, scored some key points at the end of the game while Michigan went scoreless for the last 3 minutes and 54 seconds of the game. Game goes to the Buckeyes and hopefully a pink slip goes to Amaker.

Pitt-Marquette----Though I didn’t watch every second of the game, just seeing Pitt center Aaron Gray’s stat-line at the end of the contest was impressive enough for me. I understand Marquette won the game and that the Golden Eagles big men are nothing special, but how’s this for Grey. 18 points on seven of eight shooting from the field, four of five from the free throw line. 13 rebounds, nine on the offensive end. And to top it off, he also blocked five shots. Play like that will go a long way in winning a Big East tournament title and making an NCAA run.

Other Games---I saw bits and pieces of a lot of contests, the most entertaining being the Big South tourney title between Winthrop and VMI. The Eagles (Winthrop) are a very good team, one that some people say would earn an at-large birth even if they didn’t take the conference crown. Thankfully for all the teams on the bubble, VMI couldn’t make enough plays down the stretch, losing 84-81 in a game that went right down to the wire. This game is example one of out probably over a thousand for why I love March so much. A friend and I were screaming at the TV, on the edge of our seats, pulling for two teams that before today we hadn’t watched more then ten minutes of all season long. Yet when you see the passion in these players’ eyes, knowing that this is there National Title, since just making the tournament is a big deal if you play your home games in Rock Hill, South Carolina, you can’t help but become emotionally involved.

UCLA’s loss to Washington, which I saw very little of, was very alarming to me. I though of the Bruins as the most complete team in the land, the only one that had no chance of being blown out. Yet they showed no desire against the Huskies and paid for it, falling 61-51. The other Pac-10 game I saw a bit of was Arizona-Stanford. I really liked Arizona early on, and this game showed me why I was so high on them. When the ‘Cats are sharing the ball and getting to the free throw line (They were 22 of 26 from the charity stripe against the Cardinal), they are very tough to beat. I also am beginning to like the Cardinal. When a team has two solid big men, like Stanford does, they are a tough out come tourney time.

SUNDAY

Kentucky-Florida----The Gators must have seen my last post about them not being realistic title contenders, because they were fired up for this game against their SEC rivals. Kentucky played well in the first half, especially guard Bobby Perry, but the Florida attack was just too much in the second half for the ‘Cats to handle. It may sound strange since he is their most well known player, but I would argue that Joakim Noah is the least important guy in the Gatrors starting lineup. Point guard Taurean Green is the floor leader and the man who runs the show. Big man Al Horford cleans up down low and is a better scorer then Noah. Slasher Cory Brewer is the toughest guy not named Durant or Oden to guard in the country, a 6-9 player who can both post up and hit from downtown. And Lee Humphrey is who I think is Florida’s most dangerous guy, because when he’s raining three pointers, it’s impossible to double-team Horford and Noah in the post or cut off penetration when Green or Brewer drive to the basket.

Creighton-Southern Illinois---This was the first time all season that I had watched the Blue Jays and I came away very impressed with their Missouri Valley title. Their guards, especially point guard Nate Funk, are very good on both the offensive and defensive end. Funk plays kind of like Chris Duhon, a player who looks to pass first and will be aggressive on defense, but still will take and make the open shot. Big man Anthony Tolliver, who finished with 15 points and 13 rebounds, was also very impressive. The Jays could do some damage in the tourney if they face a half-court offensive team. If they go up against a squad who runs up and down, they could have some trouble. SIU is also a team that could go very deep in the tournament, because they can play shutdown defense. If their offense gets on a roll, I see them a tough out.

Duke-North Carolina---I’ve watched UNC a bunch this season and have not seen a better performance by Tyler Hansbrough then I did this afternoon against the Blue Devils. The 26 points, 18 rebounds and one smashed nose were nice, but I really liked his toughness on the defensive end. He and Brandon Wright completely shut down the Duke big men, which is one of the reasons that Josh McRoberts only got off seven shots the whole game. When Hansbrough and Wright are efficient offensively (they were a combined 15 for 24 from the field) and playing good D, the Heels are one of the toughest teams in the nation to contain. For Duke, they can feel good that they got back into the game at the start of the second half, but the Devils need more depth and defensive intensity to make a run to at least the Sweet 16. They (Or I should say Gerald Henderson) need to be smarter and maybe listen more to what Coach K has to say.



Well, that was a great weekend of hoops. And the best part is, this is just the beginning of March Madness. With big contests every day this week, followed by selection Sunday, this ranks as one of the most exciting times of the year.