At this point in the tourney, the Moutain West has just as many teams left as the Little East does. Luckily, Marquette played Syracuse in the round of 32, or we could be looking at one Little East team left in the Sweet 16. How could this happen?
Well let's look at some of the matchups. First round, Nova vs. George Mason. George Mason was a Cinderella team a few years ago, and hales from the Colonial Athletic Association, which features teams like VCU ('Rella team of this year?) and Old Dominion (bubble team). Nova was tanking toward the end of the season (see post below) and seemed to be losing the steam that they had gained during great Big East regular season play.
West Virginia vs. Kentucky. Ok, so Kentucky was a Final Four team last year (I know, WV was also) with a great coach in Calipari. West Virginia was the 6th ranked BE team going in to the tourney at the Garden and they got a 4 seed in the tourney. This was a great game, but I think everyone knew, going into this game, that Kentucky was the better team.
G'Town vs. VCU. VCU is the 'Rella team this year, hands down. The CAA is an overlooked conference that causes matchup problems, and most of the time, teams overlook these smaller, "inferior" schools. George Mason, Old Dominion and, now, VCU would argue against that "inferior" lable. VCU loses in the Elite 8 against a strong Kansas team and validates a great season.
UCONN vs. Cincy....Much like Cuse vs. Marquette, it's a good thing that 2 Big East teams played each other here, or we might be looking at 1 BE team in the Sweet 16. Or could we? More on that later. Not much to say here. UCONN was hot going in and Cincy was cold. UCONN in the Final Four and could possibly upset Duke (hopefully) to get into the 'Ship.
Pitt vs. Butler. Ok, Butler was one shot away from an OT session in the 'Ship last year. Nough said.
St. John's vs. Zaga. This one surprised me. St. John's was playing great and everyone said that they would be a tough matchup. But why, oh why, did I not see Zaga winning. They always play great in the tourney. Every year. I guess I was blinded by the hype.
Louisville vs. Moorehead St. To the Mountain West conference, congratulations are in order. Moorehead St had one of the best big men in the tourney (by far the best rebounder) and you could see that in the Richmond game. Faried had 12 points and 17 rebounds against 'Ville, giving Moorehead a 6 bound advantage, overall in that game. A 1 point game with a 6 rebound advantage. I'll take the rebounding edge all day to win.
Notre Dame vs. Florida State. Another shocker, but a lot of people were saying, before the tourney, that Florida State was going to cause problems for a lot of teams. St. shot 72%, 18-25, from the stripe and enjoyed a slight edge on the boards (3). Pair that with 12-19 from the strip for ND and 30% shooting from the field and you can see that St. just outplayed ND. Notre Dame also shot too much from the outside and was a putrid 23.3% from 3 point land. Suprising? Look at the stats.
Cuse vs. Marquette. We let that one slip. Jardine was non-existent, (weird) but so was Jackson. That part shocked me. Final game of a good career (I think he may get drafted in the 2nd round) and you aren't calling for the ball every possession in the second half? Dion Waters played great. But in order for us to take that next step, we need Triche to step up, Jardine to dish more and shoot less and Melo is going to have to come a long way before next year, because we are losing a very good big man in Jackson. Oh well, another disappointment for Cuse fans this year.
No comments:
Post a Comment