Thursday Night Thoughts

North Carolina is fuckin awesome. But I think Washington State demonstrated the blueprint to beat them (if its possible), they just couldn't execute it for 40 minutes. You need to slow them down to the point where they can't get out on the break, and instead they are rushing shots and passes in an effort to speed the tempo. In order to play that style and beat them though, you need to make a high percentage of your shots and never turn it over.

This Washington State team was a good group that played heady basketball, they were just overmatched by North Carolina.

West Virginia is such a fun team to watch. Larry Brown would love them, they play the right way. This game was one of the most fun of the tournament because both teams were shooting well, passing the ball (all those backcuts by West Virginia), playing a team game. The second half was excellent.

Raftery gave us not one but two "Onions!" in this one.

Did anyone hear Verne Lundquist say "two musketeers have fouled out, one more and you have a novel?" That was one of the worst jokes ever.

Louisville was very impressive. Tennessee's defense and pace forced them into a ton of turnovers but they shot well and played good defense and never really let Tennessee get going. Tennessee doesn't really have any good halfcourt offensive players other than Lofton (who needs help getting his shot), and he did nothing until the second half, when it might have been too late.

I don't think Louisville can stick with Carolina though, unless they hit a ton of 3s. They need Edgar Sosa to play a lot better.

I still refuse to worry about UCLA even though they are in closer games than they should be. I continue to be impressed by Love who can always find a way to score.

Dick Enberg said Tennessee forward Wayne Chism is nicknamed "Weezy" because of his asthma. While he does have asthma, I tend to think the nickname is derived from Lil Wayne, who is called Weezy. Either way, if I were friends with him I'd call him Shirley (I know the spelling is different), to honor a great American, and so he could reply "don't call me Shirley."

Enjoy the best of Bill Raftery from Thursday's action: