March Madness: The Sweet 16, Day 2 – The ‘Ville Has just Enough; Boeheim’s Boys vs. the Griffin Factor; KU vs. MSU the Enigmatic Match-up; Heels Walk on

In March 2006 UAB defeated Memphis. Sixty-one games later, the Tigers have yet to lose a Conference USA game. But what is most important about that loss just over three years ago is that it was a Mike Anderson-coached UAB team that defeated.The day before Anderson’s Missouri Tigers played Memphis, he showed them a video of the game. One day later his Tigers hit the court and executed Anderson’s game plan flawlessly and defeated John Calipari’s team, 102-91.

Saturday Anderson and crew will be forced back down to earth when they get smacked by Connecticut.

In the “other” Regional final from Thursday night’s Sweet 16 games, Villanova and Pittsburgh will renew their Big East rivalry.

Jay Wright’s team was a mirror of Mike Krzyzewski’s team – except Nova has better talent than does Duke. The result? A 26.7% shooting night for the Blue Devils, 18% from beyond the three-point arc.

The Panthers played quintessential Pittsburgh basketball – rough-and-tumble, full of banging and bruising. And in the end, Xavier, like Duke lacked the athletes to compete with Pitt and fell short of upsetting the Panthers thanks to the first real clutch-shooting point guard in Panthers’ recent history, Levance Fields (I mean, seriously, how do you take that shot down two points with less than a minute left in the game?).

So what of tonight’s games? Well, yesterday I dealt with the two games I thought would garner the most interest, assuming UConn would take care of business and Mizzou would down Memphis. Tonight though, all four games’ outcomes appear to be up in the air.

Appearances, though, are deceiving.

Arizona-Louisville

Before the tourney began I said that if ‘Zona was interested they would make a run. Well, they’ve made their run and now face the top-seeded Cardinal.

The ‘Ville forces 22 turnovers per game but now must face an NBA-ready trio of point guard Nic Wise, small forward-swingman Chase Budinger, and the Wildcats leading scorer power forward Jordan Hill.  This game is going to be tougher than most people might think, but in the end the deeper Louisville squad will produce someone who will grab clutch rebounds, force a turnover at an important moment, or hit a series of key baskets. The combination will get Rick Pitino’s team to the Great Eight.

Syracuse -Oklahoma

In Oklahoma we have a team of outwardly humble, internally confident cool cats, just like their coach, Jeff Capel. In Syracuse we have a team of cocky, snarky, trash-talkers, just like their coach, Jim Boeheim. Capel wants his team to play a variety of defenses, be flexible on the offensive end of the floor, and depends on the Griffin brothers – Blake and Taylor – and a freshman guard to get the job done. Boeheim’s team plays, almost exclusively, a 2-3 zone and loves to run, loves the three ball, and has three guards who can play with anyone in the country.

If Blake and Taylor aren’t dunking, hitting elbow jumpers, smacking shots up into the stands, diving for loose balls, or finishing poster-ready oops, 6’4″ 207-pound guard Willie Warren is hitting clutch shots and playing the bully outside of the lane on both ends of the floor.

Meantime Eric Devendorf, Jonny Flynn, and “Do It All” Paul Harris will be flashing everywhere (and all you hip-hop heads know what “flashing” means). Devendorf plays like a “brother”, while Flynn and Harris are brothers – and like brothers. Devendorf loves the trey but he equally loves to take his defender off the bounce and get into the heart of the defense and make the slick interior pass or make the sick reverse layin. Flynn, though much more controlled than is E.D., is in the same mold as his elder back court mate.

Harris is Boeheim’s jack-of-all-trades and simultaneously the match-up’s wild card. At 6’4″, 230 pounds, Harris is a bull of a player – even more so than the Sooners’ Warren. In fact, Oklahoma has no one to deal with Warren.

But.

Syracuse has no one who can deal with Blake Griffin, who is Tim Duncan if Duncan could jump.

The key to this game will be Boeheim’s ability to game plan to take away Warren and Taylor Griffin and anyone else other than Blake Griffin. And yes. Boeheim is proficient-enough a head coach to pull this thing off. I believe the Orange has enough offense in their big three plus sharp-shooter Andy Rautins and enough defense to upset the Sooners.

However, Capel is no slouch as a game-planner, either. There is no doubt that he has prepared the Sooners to take full advantage of the fact that a zone defense more often than not leaves interior defenders out of position when it comes time to rebound.

Griffin might score over 40 points tonight. The question is, will it be enough to carry his team?

Kansas-Michigan State

These are the two most enigmatic teams in the Sweet 16. The Spartans have had to deal with injuries most of the season, but are now healthy. Kansas is young and while talented, capable of playing flailing, youthful basketball.

In January MSU handled KU with ease. Now the Jayhawks have much more of an identity and make far fewer of those freshman brain fart plays.

Bill Self has himself a potential top 10 draft pick in double-double machine, center Cole Aldridge and arguably the best young guard in the country in Sherron Collins. The two are representative of Self molding this young team in his image.

Tom Izzo’s Spartans are more experienced and like most of Izzo’s teams, pride themselves on tough play and defense. Problem is, MSU doesn’t have many scorers. Guard Kalin Lucas is the team’s leading scorer at 14.6 ppg. The only other Spartan to average in double figures is forward Raymar Morgan (10.7 ppg).

Tonight we will see just how much the baby Jayhawks have grown.

North Carolina-Gonzaga

I’ll save this one for my “Predictions”.

PREDICTIONS

Louisville-Arizona

Louisville has just enough of everything to defeat Arizona. The game might be close for awhile, but look for Pitino’s team to carry the day.

Syracuse-Oklahoma

This is going to be a great game.  Part of me says, when in doubt go with the team with the best player. That would be Oklahoma. However, this year’s version of March Madness has shown me one thing: when in doubt, go with the team in the best conference.

Somehow, some way, Syracuse gets it done.

Michigan State-Kansas

I don’t feel that Izzo’s Spartans have enough offense to score with the Jayhawks. Nor do the Spartans have the overall physical talent of Kansas. What they do possess is a will to win and a team of intelligent players.

But is that enough?

Again, taking the conference, the Big 10 was down this year. So was the Big 12, but the Big 12 was not as bad as what Izzo’s squad dealt with night after night.

KU wins.

North Carolina-Gonzaga

Ty Lawson says he is going to play despite the pain. Look, Ty Lawson is good enough to torch Jeremy Pargo and any other Bulldog to get in his way. The Tar Heels now have a secret weapon who, after he finishes with Gonzaga, will no longer be a secret. He is 6’10′ freshman Ed Davis. Paired with Tyler Hansbrough, the pair is too much ofr Josh Heytfelt, who is the Zags only real interior player. When Davis replaces Hansbrough in the lineup he represents body blow number two to Heytfelt’s stomach.

Gonzaga has improved immeasurably since they were thrashed by Memphis in January. Unfortunately the West Coast Conference does not prepare a team for an elite team from the ACC. Honestly, it is somewhat of a miracle that Gonzaga made it this far, because like Memphis in Conference USA, their only competition in the WCC is between each other during practice.

Sure, Gonzaga has plenty of shooters like Matt Bouldin, Austin Daye, and Micah Downs. Heytfelt is as proficient around the top of the key and out beyond the three-point arc as he is down on the block. But the Bulldogs are not at all consistent enough defensively to deal with the Heels and they do not commit enough players to the interior to aid Heytfelt when the opposition has more than one inside banger. Finally, the WCC isn’t separated from the ACC by a letter, it is separated talent-wise, by miles.

The Tar Heels will run the Bulldogs off the court.