Sunday, March 29, 2015

Tournament Thoughts: Elite Eight Sunday

His first name is really Lourawls? And he's a Junior? You'll never find -- a name as dumb as that.

The refs missed one when a Louisville player had his hand literally up through the next and hoop, but they didn't call anything.

Both sides victimized by poor free shooting down the stretch of regulation.

Huge mistake on that lane violation, giving Michigan State an extra point. It was absolutely the correct call though.

Terry Rozier following in the great tradition of volume shooters on Louisville. When they're hitting they win games for you, when they're not, they kill you. Somewhere Russ Smith is smiling.

Late-game strategy question: Dawson gets the rebound with 32 seconds left in overtime and a 2-point lead. I think he should have come down with it and forced Louisville to foul. If he misses Louisville gets a great chance to win or tie. Yes, he made it, but that doesn't necessarily make it the most winning long-term strategy.

Terrible possession by Louisville, waste 20 seconds and then throw it away without getting a shot. They would have been better off driving into someone and hoping to get a foul called.

Damn, I wish I had picked Michigan State for the Final Four. I seriously debated it, but chose Northern Iowa instead.

Seventh Final Four since 1999 for Michigan State. If it were Duke or Kentucky it would be impressive but at Michigan State it's amazing.

Two terrible late fouls by Sabonis in the first half. We always talk about that, how those fouls that put you in foul trouble come on the offensive end. And they interrupted a great Gonzaga comeback, aided by some brutal shooting from Duke.

If there's a loose ball and all ten players are equidistant from it, I like Pangos's chances to come away with it.

Adam Morrison in the crowd!



Jim Nantz loves the Bushes.



Not impressed with Wiltjer at all. He's no better than the third best player on the team. And he seems to shy away from contact. He missed a huge layup that would have tied the game at 53, and I think it was because he was worried about Okafor coming over.

Gonzaga completely choked down the stretch of this game, blew every opportunity.

This is what happens when you have a team full of great players. Great game by Matt Jones. Much needed lift.

For all the upsets early, three #1 seeds made the Final Four.

Congrats to the Daminos, Damino and BigKev, maybe their teams will face each other in the final game and the brothers will fight and beat the crap out of each other.

3 comments:

Damino said...

Ha, thanks Paul and yeah if Duke and Wisco make the championship game I'll be way too happy to fight Big Kev. Sounds like he is going to the games in Indy this weekend and I hope the Final 4 lives up to the hype.

I thought Sabonis was awesome but played with way too much unchecked emotion. You're right - his foul trouble killed them and they were dumb fouls (going aggressively over the back for an offensive rebound and basically using the ball to try to punch a Duke player near the hoop). I also agree about Wiltjer in that I was much more fearful of several other players on that team.

Okafor had a pretty unimpressive weekend but I just care that they advanced. Matt Jones has possibly the ugliest shot in college hoops but it was beautiful to my eyes yesterday. Winslow is a beast and I hope his ankle heals for Saturday's game, as they'll surely need him.

Paul said...

Strikes me that if Duke can beat Michigan State and Kentucky wins as expected, Duke will be in the rare position of underdog in the final game. And they would have the change to defeat a juggernaut, same as they did in 1991 against UNLV.

Damino said...

I just want an opportunity to play and beat Kentucky, even if it is a longshot. And I'm rooting like hell for WI to beat them, even if Duke isn't in the title game.

And please don't count out MSU. I don't care that Nate Silver gives them the slimmest odds of cutting down the nets among the 4 remaining teams. They're deep, cohesive, supremely well coached, and peaking at the right time. It would not stun me to see them beat Duke and then the KY/WI winner.