A Few Final Four Thoughts

A few Final Four thoughts:

  • The Davidson bubble was bound to burst at some point, but wasn’t that some kind of run?
  • There was something delightfully retro about watching Stephen Curry and his band of undersized, underappreciated major conference reject brothers taking it the big boys. It reminded me of the ACC and Southern Conference basketball of my 1960s-70s youth before everything got oh-so-complicated and fancy.
  • I loved getting reacquainted with Dell Curry and his lovely wife Sonya this weekend. What a class act. And Christian to boot. It’s not hard to see why their sons are turning out so good.
  • Davidson Coach Bob McKillop was brilliant, but I didn’t quite understand the logic of having Curry bring the ball up court on the final play. He didn’t push it up fast enough and it made him too easy to guard, IMHO. It seemed like it would have been better to have Curry wandering around and rolling off screens which had been an effective tactic all week.
  • How about Memphis actually hitting free throws yesterday? If they can continue to hit like that, they’ll be tough to stop.
  • Speaking of the Tigers, when they’re on, they’re really on (so much for being a “soft” #1 seed). It will be up to Calipari to keep their heads on straight, and they seem to be loose as a goose in a noose right now. A team with a chip on their shoulders and saddled with low expectations can be very dangerous.
  • I had picked UCLA to win it all, but right now I think they’re ripe for the picking.
  • KU has the depth to take it, but will they step up and get past their long tradition of tournament crashes? I have my doubts after watching them yesterday. But come Saturday, I will be yelling “Rock Chalk Jayhawk” for the first time in my life anyway.
  • Note to Kansas player Brandon Rush: Dude, you just barely survived playing a 10 seed. Rather than puffing out your chest and holding out your jersey for all the world to see after Jason Richards missed that last shot, you should have probably dropped to your knees in a prayer of thanks–sorta like your coach.
  • Does anybody else think the college 3-point stripe needs to be moved back? I think it’s way too easy to shoot a trey these days. Moving it back would bring back such delights as the 10-12 foot pull up jumper (practically an extinct species these days and one of the toughest shots to hit) and would make a special talent like Stephen Curry stand out that much more.
  • As for all the hand slapping that goes on during free throws these days (whether they make it or not), please–just stop. It’s just a free throw. There are some that think all the inter-shot kudos may be contributing to the lower FT%s we’re seeing lately and I think they may have a point.
  • As for the U** T******s, GTHC and ABC (ANYBODY But Carolina).

6 Comments

  1. greg

    I just posted my thoughts as well. I noticed Memphis hitting FT’s against Miss State as well as yesterday. That’s supposed to be their primary weakness, so it’s true they’re much more formidable if they’re knocking those down. But I’m still sticking with UCLA over Kansas in the final since that’s they way I picked it.

    And yes, the 3-point line needs to be moved back. But if Duke still doesn’t have a quality big man next year, I’d vote they change it in 2009-10. 🙂

  2. Mike the Eyeguy

    We picked the same final two and winner, so if UCLA wins, good for us. As you know, I’m ABC all the way.

    Good point about waiting a year on moving the line.

    Just curious, did you watch the last play of the KU-Davidson game? What did you think about what they ran? I guess the reasoning was ‘let’s get the ball in Curry’s hands now ’cause we may not be able to later.’ Fair enough.

    Still, he seemed awfully slow bringing the ball up and the extra time and attention needed to take care of the ball seemed to allow the KU dragnet to focus on him all the more. He still almost got one off, and had not Sherron Collins stepped in at the last millisecond, he might have.

  3. cg

    http://www.kansas.com/sports/lutz/story/357635.html

    Looks like much will be made about Roy and his relationship with Kansas. Too bad this will be the focus of the week, and not the game itself – although I understand the media’s need for a story here.

    BTW, Kudos to Davidson, KU was very lucky to come out on top of this one. While Kansas has talent and depth, I think they showed a lack of mental preparedness for the big stage. I hope Coach Self can get them focused for San Antonio and Roy’s boys.

  4. Mike the Eyeguy

    Thanks for the link. I figured that angle would get a lot of play this week. We saw the same thing prior to the Bama-LSU game last fall when the media focused on a extremely vocal ( I would guess minority) of Bengal Tiger Saban-haters. I never understood the Bama hatred for Fran that much either, but I wasn’t “around” then. As for me, if Saban ever brings us #13 and then leaves the next year, I will say “Thank you very much and best wishes.”

    I liked Coach Self’s posture at the end of that game (on his knees). Very appropriate. You guys better play the game of your life come Saturday, ya hear? Rock Chalk Jayhawk.

  5. greg

    here you go…

    http://cbs.sportsline.com/collegebasketball/story/10751882/

    Packed with sketches, portraits and memorabilia, the Downtown Barbershop is a Lawrence landmark and a virtual shrine to Kansas athletics.

    Want to see a picture of the first game played in Allen Fieldhouse? Just take a look there on the wall. Wondering what football helmets were like in the 1950s? There’s one right there.

    Need to go to the bathroom? Then walk over ancient wooden flooring past the row of rickety old stadium seats and do your business in the Roy Room.

    A couple of feet from the toilet seat is where Roy Williams ‘ sketch hangs. It was moved there in 2003, the day Williams left for North Carolina and went, in a matter of minutes, from being beloved in this basketball-crazed community to being reviled.

    “We figured if Roy had stuck around, they would have named a building after him,” said John Amyx, owner of the Downtown Barbershop. “So we decided to name a room after him. That seemed to be the best place to see his picture, too.”

  6. Mike the Eyeguy

    Ouch.

    Well, it’s like ol’ Roy says, “It’s about the players, not the coaches.”

    Yeah right.

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