Opening Round

In the words of Larry David, the first week of games in the NCAA tournament have been 'pretty, pretty good.'  I'd like to espouse on the entire week - NC State beating Xavier, the other 12 seeds ALL winning, etc. - but of course my twin poles* are Carolina's scintillating win and Duke's equally scintillating loss.

As a basketball game the UNC-Providence tilt was a great one. Both teams made shots and made plays all game. It's not unusual to see ugly games this time of year, with games that are filled with mistakes and missed shots; this was not one of those. Both teams played hard and played well.

For my money, despite my love for Marcus Paige and as great as he was late, this game was won by Brice Johnson.  He competed on both ends of the floor, and in this one his defense matched his always reliable offense. Brice did it all well.  He hit his array of half hooks and put backs, and made two big free throws down the stretch.

On D, he had two massive blocked shots after Bryce "Second coming of Harold The Show Arceneaux" Cotton had willed Providence to a 5 point lead.  And Johnson excelled throughout in executing one of THE cornerstones of Carolina basketball - the wall on defense.  Carolina started playing Cotton to drive, and on the times we did stop him it was often Johnson providing the back line defense.

As great as Cotton was Johnson turned out to be the best Bryce/Brice on the floor.

For a few minutes there thanks to Cotton and Mercer Carolina fans had to confront reliving two of the worst days in our hoops history - the loss to Arceneaux and Weber State in the first round in 1999, and 1979's Black Friday when the Tar Heels and the Devils both lost in the first round.** 

It was a head-scratching display by the Devils, as an ACC team coached by a Hall of Famer looked nervous and scared down the stretch. Conversely, Mercer looked confident and consistently made shots and plays. The body language from Rodney Hood after he was called for traveling said it all.  

This Devils team was weak at the point and down low all season, and both flaws were certainly exposed by the Bears. When Quinn Cook is the brains of the operation, you are in trouble. 

That is probably an overly harsh assessment of Cook.*** Hood and Jabari Parker both played nervously and badly, and when that happens this Devils team is going to lose, simple as that.

Still, kudos to Krzyzewski for his classy visit to the Mercer locker room to congratulate the Bears on their win. It takes a confident and centered man to do that, and I'm sure the players and staff from Mercer were touched by his words and visit.  A very Dean-like mover from a blue Devil.

Some more March Madness Musings
    
I still love Carolina's chances to win 5 more games. They had to play tough and smart to beat Providence, and did.  GO HEELS!

If the Heels don't win it all I hope that Virginia does. If the Hoos do not, I would happily root for Wichita State, where Eddie Fogler used to coach. Their coach, Greg Marshall, seems far too happy with himself (the greatest sin to the ancient Greeks) but it would be a great story.

Here are my round of 32 picks BTW: 
Florida - Pitt will give them a game though, thanks to their new-found offense
Stephen F Austin - riding a winning streak AND the mojo of that four-point play
Syracuse - Dayton will run out of gas
Kansas - Ho hum; Stanford can't hang with Jayhawks
Virginia - Scare from Coastal Carolina will make them better
Michigan State - Ho hum
Carolina - Marcus Paige is GOD
Villanova - No comment on this game
Arizona - See Villanova comment
ND State - These guys our pretty good, SD State untested
Creighton - A little bit better than Baylor
Wisconsin - Much better than Oregon
Wichita State - Chip on their shoulder leads them to win over Kentucky blue bloods
Louisville - They are much better than the team they are playing
Mercer - Call them butter because they are on a roll!
Michigan - This will be a great game that the Wolverines will win late          

*  I can not believe the CBS play-by-play guy used the word 'pollack' to describe Gonzaga's Polish-born center - and to do so while calling the game with Mike GMINSKI! Kudos to the G-man, who is one of the best color commentators in America, for immediately calling him out.

** Who knows, if this was 2019 maybe we would have lost. Or Carolina fans should play 19 in the lottery?

*** I think it's safe to say that Cook easily joins Laettner, Wojo, and Redick on the list of most loathesome Devils of all time.  That guys loves himself and his fellow right-wing boobs from Durham WAY too much, and thus he makes that dubious list.

GO HEELS!

First Half

So far so good for the Heels.   As predicted, Carolina got off to a great start and led by as many as 17 behind Wayne Ellington and Tyler Hansbrough and Ty Lawson.  Late in the half North Carolina got a little sloppy and left some shots on the rim, allowing Villanova to close to within nine.

Offensively, the Heels are getting whatever they want.  Davis and Zeller left a few shots on the rim, and the refs decided to swallow their whistles late in the half to keep Hansbrough off the line.  But the Heels are getting the shots they want.  

Defensively the Heels were a little loose.   Look for that to tighten up in the final 20, and look for Lawson to take charge.  But bottom line, I think Carolina's talent will overwhelm the Wildcats in the final 10 minutes.  This game is being played at Carolina's pace, a pace Villanova will not be able to keep up with for much longer.

GO HEELS!

A godly Sunday

Did you know that if you do a Google search for the phrase "Danny Green Is God" this website is the first - and last I checked only - site that pops up? 

I hope that phrase turns into a few more hits, and after today I wouldn't be surprised.  Danny Green dominated the first half against Oklahoma as the Heels cruised to a 72-60 win.   Where to start in reviewing Green's game?  He hit threes, drove to the basket, played great help defense.  

But for me two plays stand out. One was his offensive rebound and put back against the Griffin twins.  He simply out muscled and out willed both brothers on that play.  I predicted that Hansbrough would out will Griffin; on that play Green did. Two, I loved his little pull up 8 footer with about three minutes left when Oklahoma was flirting with a comeback.  Instead of launching a three - as he did three years ago in the regional final against Georgetown - Green put the ball on the floor and sank an easier shot.  A smart play that was the final nail in this win.

And what a win.  For the second game in a row Carolina calmly dismantled a foe that on paper was supposed to be a challenge. But today Carolina was never really threatened.  The Heels jumped out to an early lead behind Green and Tyler Hansbrough - and did not look back as they moved on to their second Final Four in a row, third in five years, ninth in the last eighteen.

The second half started much like the first, but instead of Green it was Ellington hitting two shots, Lawson hitting from three and driving the lane, and Deon Thompson getting and making great looks.   The rout was on and the lead eventually grew to 21 points before some sloppy play made the game look closer than it was.  The Heels dominated.

In fact, the domination was so complete that it made me wonder if Oklahoma was actually any good.  Other than Blake Griffin, who is incredibly agile, the Sooners looked like a high school team against the Heels.  One good player and that's it.

I'm surprised Jeff Capel (Fayetteville South View High, and Duke) didn't call a few timeouts to tell his team to stop shooting so many threes.  Oklahoma had absolutely NO offense other than Griffin.  So let me know, why did folks think Oklahoma was any good?

Then again, he is a Dookie so I shouldn't have expected much.  And I went to Smith, not Southview.

But the other story here is how good Carolina's defense was.  They effectively doubled Griffin, particularly in the first half when Hansbrough was on the floor.  For a guy who got his 22 and 12, his play was a non-factor on the final outcome.

Chalk up another dominant win for the Heels.  A dominant win where Hansbrough was in foul trouble, Ellington broke his streak of more than 20 double-figure games after finishing with only 9 points, where our fifth option on offense is our third leading scorer.   That's how good this team is.   I like our chances next weekend.

A FEW MORE NOTES

• Today's game was a battle of the last two states to hold the designation of "The Worst and Most Embarrassing Senate Delegation."  The title had resided with my home state for six years when we had Jesse Helms and Lauch Faircloth "representing" the Tar Heel State.  But now Oklahoma wins that title hands down with Tom Coburn and James Inhofe representing the Sooner State in the Senate.
• The referees really stunk in this game.  They called too many ticky-tack fouls against both teams, and as a result the game had absolutely no flow or pace.
• Louisville, the overall number one seed, looked as bad as Oklahoma today in choking to Michigan State.  They were completely out-classed by a Spartans team that was not intimated.  The Cardinals looked tight and nervous and were playing not to lose.  They cracked under the stress of making the Final Four and the pressure from Michigan State's defense.  
• That game was also a testament to Tom Izzo, who wins every season yet seems underrated.
• One of the most shocking parts of today's game was the commentary of usually off-base Clark Kellogg.  Kellogg was on the money 3 times today: calling out Capel and Oklahoma for being too reliant on Griffin for all their offense; comparing Danny Green to all the wonderful things baking soda can do (for baking, cleaning, as an air freshener, etc.);  and for pointed out that while Griffin was enjoying his home run trot after a freak-nasty dunk Ty Lawson had raced to the other end of the floor for two points.

That play summed up the game.   Griffin had some nice dunks, but the Sooners had nothing else.   A motivated and balanced Carolina team played a great game - especially on defense - and are on their way to the Final Four.  

Oh yeah, and Danny Green is god!