MVN - Most Valuable Network

NCAA Tourney recap

Jayhawks slay Tigers for the title

Kansas was down by nine with a little over two minutes to go. Memphis appeared to be in complete control. With 1:23 left in the game and nursing a six point lead, Joey Dorsey committed his fifth foul. His night was over and it all went downhill from there.

Chris Douglas-Roberts went 0-for-3 from the line down the stretch. Even then, Derrick Rose had a chance to ice the game with two free throws. He missed one, giving Kansas a chance to tie with a three pointer.

By now, you know the rest.

Sharron Collins brings the ball across midcourt. He dives to the right as Derrick Rose attempts to commit the foul. Mario Chalmers emerges with the ball at the top of the key.

He rises up.

Nothing but net, the score is tied at 63!

Robert Dozier’s half court heave at the buzzer is way too strong and the game went into overtime.

Without Dorsey in the overtime season, Kansas went back to getting the ball inside. They outscored Memphis 12-5 and won the game, 75-68. It was a great comeback to celebrate the 20th anniversity of the school’s last championship.

Memphis’ achilles heel all season was poor free throw shooting. Douglas-Roberts and Rose were all but automatic all tournament long. It was bound to catch up with them.

For Kansas, Chalmers three pointer stole the show. He finished with 18 points and four steals. His defense was outstanding all game long.

One of the keys to the game for Kansas was to stay in front of their man and prevent the dribble penetration that keys Memphis’ offense. For large stretches of the game, Derrick Rose was silent. He finished with 18 points, but most of it came in a four and a half minute stretch from the 8:30 mark to the 4 minute mark in the second half. During that time, it was a 10-2 run for Memphis in which Rose scored all ten of those points. Other than that run, Kansas had Rose contained. Sharron Collins did a great job on him.

The other key was to contain Joey Dorsey on the glass. Dorsey only grabbed two rebounds before he fouled out in regulation. He was saddled with foul trouble all game as Kansas went to their advantage inside early and often.

Robert Dozier stepped up with 11 points and 10 rebounds for Memphis, but Darrell Arthur more than matched him with a team-high 20 points and 10 boards. Darnell Jackson added eight points and eight rebounds for the Jayhawks.

Chris Douglas-Roberts led all scorers with 22 points. After going 6-f0r-6 from the line, his 0-for-3 performance in the clutch took away from what was an otherwise sterling performance. CDR blew his chance.

Another key to the Kansas victory was that they held Memphis to 6-for-22 from three. Derrick Rose only hit 1-for-6. Kansas outshot Memphis from the field, 53% to 40%.

I don’t know about you, but listening to Billy Packer rattle on about missed calls, good officiating, tired big men, Derrick Rose needing to be a ballhog and everybody going over everyone’s back on every rebound was enough to make me stick my head in a toilet and take a drink. His diagraming of the box and one defense coming out of a timeout was the most predictable telestrator moment in the history of sports. Sorry, Mike Fratello.

I think the networks should switch it up and make a trade. CBS sends Billy Packer and Clark Kellogg along with the rights to “One Shining Moment” to NBC for John Madden, Tiki Barber and 10 turkey legs. The trade is consummated by Howie Mandel on Deal or No Deal. Makes perfect sense when you think about it.

Did anybody notice how slippery the floor was in San Antonio? Brandon Rush was dropping like flies and Sharron Collins slipped out of bounds late in the game when Memphis was in a foul situation. Somebody on Memphis fell at some point, and I know UCLA had the same problem, but they are insignificant at this point. Only the Jayhawks matter right now.

If somebody has their shoes turn into ice skates, I propose there be an interference called on the hardwood. Or maybe they can call a foul on the floor. No, I’m not talking about a non-shooting situation. The floor would actually be credited with the foul. What happens when the floor gets in foul trouble? I guess they don’t have towel boys in Texas.

I enjoyed this game immensely. The first reason is because the team I was rooting for won. I can’t stand Memphis, mainly because I can’t stand Coach Calipari. He’s too cocky and strikes me as a sore loser. In the postgame interview, he whined about how the refs reversed the call of crediting Rose with a three at the 4:04 mark in the second half. Rose’s entire left foot was over the line when he rose up for that shot. The refs looked at a monitor during the timeout and corrected the call. Now, if Cal was on the other sideline, well…

I just think that all college coaches have questionable ethics. Leave one school and join another. Those contracts aren’t worth the paper they are written on.

Yet, players have to sit out a year if they transfer? Why don’t the coaches? I digress…

Rose will go pro now and perhaps Darrell Arthur will follow Julian Wright’s steps in declaring early for the draft. Now that the championship is over, we’ll be talking about the draft for the next few months and I can’t wait! Jerryd Bayliss and Eric Gordon have already made their intentions known to enter the draft. Guys like Earl Clark, Derrick Caracter and Ron Steele are just getting their names out there. Clark might actually have a shot to get drafted, but Caracter and Steele need to have a solid college season before going pro.

There will be plenty more time to talk about the draft though. This is Kansas night. The Jayhawks depth proved too much for the Tigers and Kansas prevailed in the end. It was one of the best finals ever played and one that lived up to expectations. Congratulations, Kansas. You are the NCAA champion!

MVN Memphis | MVN Kansas

Jayhawks jump out on Heels and hold on

With 27 minutes to go in the game, Billy Packer proclaimed, “This one is over.” The Jayhawks led 40-12 and utterly dominated in every facet of the game.

Somebody forgot to tell Packer that the Heels still had Tyler Hansbrough, Wayne Ellington and Danny Green.

North Carolina rallied and with 11 minutes to go in the game, cut the lead down to four. It was 54-50 Kansas. With five minutes to go, it was 67-61. That’s when Kansas put the game away, scoring the next 13 points to take a 80-61 lead. The final score was 84-66.

Kansas took control of the game early and control of the game late to dominate the Tar Heels.

Wayne Ellington only made 1-for-9 from three. He finished with a team high 18 points. Tyler Hansbrough had 17 points and nine rebounds. Danny Green came off the bench for 15 points, but also had 5 turnovers. He only played 21 minutes, despite being North Carolina’s best scorer and shot blocker.

Meanwhile, they had no answer for Brandon Rush. Rush had 25 points while hitting 9-for-10 inside the arc. Their best bet was letting him shoot the three ball, where he’s converted 43% percent this year. On this night, he was only 2-for-7. He also grabbed seven boards.

Rush was the best player on the floor. He was considered a borderline first round pick last summer. He’s crossed the border now.

The way that Kansas exploited the Tar Heels was with their depth in the paint and on the perimeter. Sasha Kaun and Cole Aldrich came off the bench and played some big minutes to wear down Tyler Hansbrough. With Darnell Jackson and Darrell Arthur as the starters, they can keep the bigs fresh and dominate over Memphis bigs Joey Dorsey, Robert Dozier and Shawn Taggert.

What a rush for Kansas! They advance to play Memphis for the championship. It will be up to Mario Chalmers to slow down Chris Douglas-Roberts. Brandon Rush will have to exploit Antonio Anderson. It should be a classic battle. We’re looking forward to it.

MVN North Carolina | MVN Kansas

Darren Collison Choked; Derrick Rose Dominated

I hate to take anything away from the Memphis Tigers in their domination over UCLA in advancing to the championship game. They deserved this win and obviously proved that they were the better team. The criticism of a soft conference schedule, combined with the fact that the top competition was supposed to win the close games against the Tigers due to their poor foul shooting, hasn’t stuck. They rose to the occasion and showed why they only lost once in a close game to Tennessee. They are playing their best ball at just the right time.

However, I can’t help but come away with major disappointment in Bruins point guard Darren Collison. I’ve been in his corner since they lost to Florida last year in the Final Four. I stuck with him when people would give opponents the edge in the marquee point guard matchups. I felt he could hold his own against any point guard in the country. On this night, I was wrong.

Derrick Rose is a great player. We all knew this coming in. However, I expected Collison to at least put up a fight.

He finished 1-for-9 shooting and scored two points. He fouled out with three minutes left on a ridiculous reach from behind just past halfcourt. It was obvious that he was intimidated matching up with the physical Rose and Collison never got his head in the game. He finished with five turnovers as well.

He went from being a mid-to-late first round pick to a second round pick in one night. His backcourt mate, Russell Westbrook, showed why many feel that he will be the better pro. His 22 points paced the Bruins and his efforts keep his team close until the end.

Derrick Rose had 25 points, nine rebounds and four assists. Chris Douglas-Roberts had 28 points and a ferocious left handed jam on a backdoor feed from Rose. It was the epitome of the Tigers breaking the will of the Bruins. Even though Joey Dorsey didn’t score, his 15 rebounds led all performers and Kevin Love was held to 12 points and nine boards.

Love couldn’t pick up his teammates, mainly because they failed to get him the ball in the post where he could operate. When your point guard lets you down, the whole team suffers. UCLA never got into their game plan, while Memphis executed theirs with precision.

Rose is definitely a franchise player who will thrive in the NBA. Darren Collison is a role player. Kevin Love wasn’t nearly as dominant without his teammates looking for him. Joey Dorsey could become a Ben Wallace-type player in the next level. For Lakers Library’s Ed Ziti, that is worthy of a mid-first round pick.

There’s no one playing better than Chris Douglas-Roberts right now. How will they fair against Kansas? They’ve stopped Davidson’s Stephen Curry, North Carolina’s Wayne Ellington and Ty Lawson, and now will face the Tigers for the championship.

You have to give the Tigers the edge coming in with Derrick Rose setting the tone. Kansas had mental lapses against North Carolina after building up that 28 point lead early in the game. They can’t afford to let up against Memphis. It should be a good one. Stay tuned!

MVN UCLA | MVN Memphis

Stephen Curry on Conan O’Brien

In case you missed it, Davidson’s Stephen Curry aired on Late Night with Conan O’Brien Friday night. He became the sensation of the tournament, nearly carrying the Wildcats to the Final Four. Davidson fell just short against Kansas and the season was over.

After scoring 40, 30 and 33 points against Gonzaga, Georgetown and Wisconsin, he struggled against the versatile perimeter defenders of the Jayhawks and finished with 25 points. It took 25 shots for him to reach his point total, only making nine of those. He finished 4-for-16 from beyond the arc. With the team down by two, they put the ball in Curry’s hands.

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April Fool’s Joke: The NIT (Battle of the Bubble)

On April 1st, four teams descended on Madison Square Garden to determine the champion. Ohio State and Florida where hoping to meet in a rematch of the title game. However, we’re talking about the Not In Tournament, otherwise known as the NIT.

For the second year in a row, Syracuse made a run in this tournament. They came one game short of this final four as they lost to the Massachusetts Minutemen for the second time at home this year. Ironically, Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim is one of the advocates to expand the field of 65 in the tournament that counts to 96 teams. When you combine the 32 team field of the NIT and get rid of the 64-65 play in game, there’s your 96.

The best team to miss out on an at-large bid in the NCAA tournament arguable was Missouri Valley Conference runner-ups, Illinois State. They couldn’t get by the Dayton Flyers in the second round of the NIT. Dayton was another team on the bubble, but two Philadelphia area conference rivals made a run in the Atlantic-10 tournament and found themselves facing each other for the conference championship. Temple punched their ticket with the automatic bid and St. Joe’s snuck in with one of the last at-large bids.

The final at-large bid in the NCAA tournament went to Villanova. Their win over Syracuse in the first round of the Big East tournament gave them the edge over the Orange. Nova made good on their opportunity, getting to the Sweet Sixteen before bowing out to Final Four bound Kansas.

It was a Philadelphia story on the fate of the bubble teams, which two teams getting in as 12 seeds and St. Joe’s securing a 11 seed. Looking back in retrospect, it seems like the right decisions were made by the committee. The best argument for who should have received an at-large bid is winning the NIT.

The four teams that traveled to New York were Mississippi, Ohio State, Florida and UMass. Ohio State jumped all over Mississippi to advance to the NIT title game. UMass came from behind to prevent Florida from facing the team they defeated in the championship last year.

In the Ohio State-Mississippi game, the Buckeyes led 44-20 at the half. It was a balanced attack that ran the Rebels out of the tournament. Two guys scored 17 and two guys added 16. Jamar Butler and David Lighty, holdovers from last year’s team, led the way. For Mississippi, Dwayne Curtis had 12 points and 15 boards and freshman guard Chris Warren led all scorers with 19 points.

In the UMass-Florida matchup, the Gators found themselves with a 36-27 point lead at the half. The Minutemen forced the tempo in the second half and put up 51 points in the second half to cruise to a 12 point victory. They also did it with great balance. Four players scored at least 16 points. Marreese Speights had 16 points and 18 boards for Florida.

Thursday night, UMass and Ohio State squared off for bragging rights. While the Minutemen jumped out to a 41-36 lead in the first half, the Buckeyes beat them at their own game. OSU put up 56 points on UMass in the second half.

Buckeyes point guard Jamar Butler had 19 points and 8 assists while maintained the balanced attack that carried Ohio State’s postseason efforts. Three teammates scored 17 or better, while David Lighty was held to single-digits. Butler had a statement for the NCAA selection committee following the big win:

“This is what happens when you put an NCAA tournament team in the NIT. Write that down and send that to the committee.”

UMass had a great season and nothing to be ashamed of. Nobody expected them to compete this season, but point guard Chris Lowe, shooting guard Gary Forbes and head coach Travis Ford turned the program around and built some great momentum heading into next season. They should challenge Xavier for the top echelon of Atlantic 10 teams next year. Between Mullins and McGuirk’s Bob McGovern puts it in perspective for UMass fans.

As for Butler’s statement, I’d like to incorporate some of Boeheim’s thoughts on the matter and consider this: the NIT champion should play the NCAA tournament champion in the ultimate Cinderella game. All the money could go to Coaches vs. Cancer. It would combine all the excitement of the early round upsets with the drama of a championship game. Think about it. How awesome would it be if the NIT team upset the NCAA champs to be crowned the best team in the nation?

Talk about wrecking your brackets!

I love March Madness. Even though I jokingly slam the NIT, I pay a little bit of attention to it. I didn’t fill out an NIT bracket this year, but I have in years past. I love to see how the teams who had their bubbles pop respond when they all play one another.

Here’s to hoping that the selection committee hears the Butler’s words. I suggest taking a charitable stance. With the NIT playing for a chance at the NCAA champion, it would mean more than just bragging rights.

The official Final Four commences this weekend. UCLA v. Memphis & North Carolina v. Kansas play on Saturday, with the championship game on Monday. Stay tuned to Basketball University for all the Final Four action!

Sweet 16 and elite 8 results, and as the coaching wheel turns

History lies in the hands of the Jayhawks

All four number one seeds have never gone to the Final Four in the same season. On Saturday night, UCLA and North Carolina both punched their tickets. Memphis now joins them after an 18 point victory over Texas. Now they all await the fourth top seed, Kansas.

Their task isn’t too difficult, right? They have the easiest game. All they have to do is brush off the 10th seed Cinderella team, Davidson. No problem.

Not so fast. Why will this Kansas team fare any better against Davidson than the 2006 Connecticut Huskies did against George Mason in the Elite 8? Mason’s seed was even lower at 13. Those Huskies had at least as much talent as these Jayhawks, losing 5 players to the NBA draft including 4 in the first round. Both Cinderella’s took down top quality competition to get to this point. The 2006 Mason team upset both Michigan State and North Carolina. This Davidson team took out Georgetown and routed Wisconsin. This is in no way an easy game for Kansas.

While they likely will not run away with this game, they do have two things in their favor that UConn’s 2006 team did not have. Pressure and history. Now of course that Connecticut team felt pressure, they were playing for a spot in the Final Four, but folding under pressure was not their problem. They overlooked the Patriots. Kansas will not overlook Davidson. They know that the other three number one seeds are in the Final Four and that they are one win away from making history. Connecticut did not feel that pressure and they played with no fire or emotion until late in the second half when they realized that they were about to lose. Duke had already gone out in the sweet 16 and the other two top seeds, Memphis and Villanova, also fell in the Elite 8. The extra incentives of making history and matching the other top seeds should prevent the Jayhawks from making that same mistake. The other thing that will prevent Kansas from making the same mistake is simply the knowledge of what happened to Connecticut.

Led by Stephen Curry, Davidson is a very talented team that does not need to be overlooked in order to spring the upset.  They should hang right with Kansas the whole way through a very exciting game.