Day after Tournament Talk

We had a wealth of great, down-to-the-wire NCAA Tournament games last night. Before we briefly get into the nuts and bolts of it, let's talk about Memphis. The Tigers handled Bradley by 16 points, finally putting away a Braves team that upset Kansas and Pittsburgh. Bradley had a good run, but they ran into a sharp-shooting and intensely focused Memphis team. Duke's run also ended. After receiving the overall No. 1 seed in the Tournament -- for reasons I still don't understand -- the Blue Devils lost to a superior LSU squad. The Tigers are large along the backline. They can alter and block shots, which cut down on Shelden Williams' and Greg Paulus' effectiveness. In the front court, LSU is long and agile. The Tigers were able to keep Duke's guards in front of them -- although with guys like Paulus and Redick, that's not a difficult task. Specifically, the Tigers disrupted Redick's rythym. And if Redick ain't scoring, the Devils ain't winning. Duke was finally exposed. The Blue Devils were never a dominant team. They beat up on a weak ACC. Maryland was awful. Wake Forest was worse. N.C. State was inconsistent. North Carolina was bad for half the season. The only consistently good team in the ACC this year outside of Duke was Boston College, and the Eagles should've beaten Duke ealier this year, but the refs blew that game and Duke escapted Boston College with a victory. LSU put away a Duke team that was fortunate to get as far as the Sweet Sixteen.

Texas led West Virginia by 12 at halftime, but the Mountaineers began sinking 3-pointers in the second half. So many, in fact, that they took the lead briefly. The Longhorns were nursing a three-point lead with less than 20 seconds left. But Kevin Pittsnogle nailed a three with five ticks remaining to tie the game. Texas didn't call a timeout, came down the floor and hit a clutch 3-pointer with time expiring to win the game by three points. Frankly, I never thought the game would be so close, but the 3-pointer is truly the great equalizer, and it kept West Virginia in the game.

The biggest shocker of the night, though, was the UCLA-Gonzaga game. The Zags had a nine point lead with about three and a half minutes left, but UCLA closed the game on an 11-0 run to win by two points. Gonzaga held a one-point lead late after UCLA free throws. The Zags inbounded the ball to Adam Morrison. He passed the ball out of the double team across the court to JP Batista. Shortly thereafter, Batista was stripped of the ball, and UCLA convered the turnover into two points. A crushing loss for a Gonzaga team that led by 13 at halftime. Even though Gonzaga dominated most of the game, I still think the better team won.

So, on Saturday, Memphis will face UCLA and LSU will take on Texas. I think the Tigers continue their dominance and beat UCLA for the second time this year. The Bruins didn't look strong last night, and I think Memphis will overwhelm them early. LSU is a formidable team, but they don't shoot 3-pointers like West Virginia. Texas is strong inside, and LaMarcus Aldridge should handle Glen Davis. The Longhorns win it, setting up a Texas-Memphis Final Four.