A weak second weekend that saw the elimination of America’s most beloved college basketball team and player in a decade (since Gonzaga and Wally Szczerbiak each captured the nation’s imagination in 1999) also sets the stage for a potentially epic Final Four. I’m a little skeptical, mainly because Final Fours tend to be anticlimactic. Let’s look at the last few:
2007 — Florida continued its unimpressive run to the title (people talk about the Gators as one of the best teams of the last 20 years because, of course, they won back-to-back titles. BUT, Florida never dominated a regular season, and I wouldn’t take that team over ‘05 UNC or Illinois, ‘04 UConn, ‘01 Duke, ‘99 UConn or Duke, ‘96-’98 Kentucky, ‘91-’92 Duke, or ‘90-’91 UNLV. That’s 13 teams from the last 19 years. They were good, just not historically good.)
2006 — As bad a Final Four as I can remember, outside of rooting a lot for George Mason (so maybe they matched the Davidson excitement…my bad).
2005 — Some pretty ho-hum semifinals before a very good final between two phenomenal teams. The three championship games that really stand out in my mind (so since about ‘96) are UNC-Illinois, Duke-UConn, and Kentucky-Arizona.
2004 — The last truly great semifinal round with two incredible games. Georgia Tech-Oklahoma State was an excellent appetizer for the Duke-UConn showdown (you can say what you want about Duke choking that away, but UConn was the better team. Hands down.)
2003 — Forgettable semis (Kansas blew out Marquette in one of the most dominating Final Four routs ever and Syracuse beat Texas) before a pretty good final (the score was deceiving, as the ‘Cuse led almost throughout).
2002 – Neither semi was ever that close (Indiana-Oklahoma, Maryland-Kansas), and the final was as ugly as I’ve ever seen.
2001 – Duke-Maryland was an epic semifinal, and the title game did provide some suspense (and a LOT of future NBAers: Battier, Boozer, Dunleavy, Arenas, Jefferson, and I’m sure I’m forgetting someone else from Zona. This, of course, leaves out the two guys who really ran their teams [Jason Williams and Jason Gardner, both not in the league for...umm...different reasons]).
2000 — Quick, name the 2000 Final Four. Michigan State cruised past 8-seed Wisconsin while #5 Florida took care of another 8, North Carolina, before a foregone conclusion of a title game.
The point is, no Final Four since I can remember has provided us with three memorable games. And this year has the potential to do that. Before the Tournament, I picked UCLA and Kansas to be in the final, but you’d have to say those two are the underdogs going into tonight because of the way their opponents have played. Anything can happen, and there are reasons to love and hate both sides.
(Namely:
North Carolina
LOVE: Tyler Hansbrough. Gotta respect the work ethic.
HATE: Tyler Hansbrough. You know, other people try hard, too.
Kansas
LOVE: A team that shares the ball, puts aside its egos, and plays hard on both sides of the floor.
HATE: Bill Self has ruined your bracket so many times before (and don’t forget the time he got Tulsa to the Elite Eight as a 7-seed.)
Memphis
LOVE: When this team plays well…wow. I wasn’t old enough to remember UNLV in the early ’90s, but this is how I conceptualize them.
HATE: John Calipari is as insufferable a coach as any in the nation. I don’t blame John Chaney for threatening to kill him (maybe that’s a bit strong, but we all know Chaney was a little theatrical).
UCLA
LOVE: Ben Howland is probably the best coach without a championship right now (seriously), and this is an old-school team that plays fundamentally sound and gets out and guards you.
HATE: A Kevin Love-Tyler Hansbrough matchup in the finals would break the record for most slobbering comments made by broadcasters ever–that record, of course, was set back during Super Bowl XXXI (Packers over Patriots) by John Madden (and nearly tied by Tony Kornheiser during the Packers-Broncos OT MNF game this year…if it had extended beyond the first play of overtime, we’d've had a new champion).
2 responses so far ↓
» Where’s the Madness? Heard in the Cheap Seats: Sports musings and news from the cheap seats // April 6, 2008 at 8:58 pm |
[...] So what did we learn last night? We learned what I suspected since UNC struggled to beat Duke at the end of the regular season-the Tar Heels do not have the pure scorers needed to get past a team like Kansas. The Achilles Heel (pun intended) of UNC turned out to be its half court offense. Kansas had the athleticism to keep pace with UNC and force them in to a half-court offense. The result? An offense that looked lost and reverted to playing a game of one-on-one every time down the court. Sounds strange that a team averaging close to 100 ppg in the tournament could be doomed by their offensive inabilities-but that was exactly the case. Of course, their apparent disregard of defense didn’t help matters. [...]
Chris Iafolla // April 6, 2008 at 9:24 pm |
Nice work here, keep up the good work.
I landed on your site as I was writing a post of my own about how the Final Four did not live up to the hype. As you so astutely noted above, the Final Four rarely lives up to the hype and last night was no exception. What I think we learned is that as always, solid guard play is the key to deep runs in the tourney. It is no coincidence that the teams with possibly the best guards in the tournament have landed in the championship game. In the end, my hunch is that the Chalmers, Rush and Collins trio will prevail over the dynamic duo of Rose and Douglas-Roberts.