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Recent Blog Posts |
Living Dangerously
That blue-collar approach is a staple of the Ben Howland-era in Westwood. Whether the offense is clicking on all cylinders or stuck in neutral, Bruins denizens know they'll get an all-out commitment to defense every game. Defense has spearheaded many comebacks for UCLA in the past, including the famous Gus-Johnson-just-had-a-heart-attack win over Adam Morrison and Gonzaga. This season, UCLA has found itself trailing in the second half time and time again, only to bottle up their opponent and score just enough to win. The big question is this: Can the Bruins get away with 35 minutes of sluggish offense against a team like North Carolina or Kansas, and expect the defense to bail them out? It's debatable. UCLA has made the Final Four in each of the past two seasons, only to get knocked out by the same loaded Florida team. No one squad owns as much talent and experience as the Gators did last season. But the fact remains that the Bruins still have to prove they can beat a truly elite team when the stakes are at their highest. The one ace in the hole that UCLA has now that it didn't in the past two seasons is a dominant big man. Kevin Love has been every bit as great as advertised for the Bruins, providing everything from stout rebounding to a shot-blocking threat, inside and outside scoring, and the best outlet pass in the country. Point guard Darren Collison proved to be the offensive star for the Bruins, scoring 21 points, including two straight running lay-ups to win the game. But just before those possessions, Love dazzled the highly partisan Anaheim crowd with two tough, contested fallaway jumpers, one to create the first tie of the second half, the second to give UCLA its first lead. Just before those two sequences, CBS color commentator Jay Bilas and I were competing to see who could yell loudest over the Bruins' repeated inability/refusal to feed a wide-open Love in the post. Get the ball to Love more often and maybe the Bruins won't need a miraculous 20 minutes of defense to score a last-second win over a second-tier Big 12 team, let alone stand a chance against the Jayhawks or Tar Heels. Meanwhile, CBS announcer and ball of excitement Gus Johnson finally got to unleash the beast a bit in Denver, as Pittsburgh and Michigan State delivered an entertaining game for about 38 minutes. The two teams swung back and forth through most of the game, before Spartans guards Drew Neitzel and Kalin Lucas took over. In one stretch of just over two minutes, Neitzel hit back-to-back shots, nailing two threes and a long two to extend Michigan State's lead. Lucas did the rest, taking Levance Fields and anyone else who tried to guard him off the dribble. The pair combined for 40 of Michigan State's 65 points, as the Spartans won by 11. If the Spartans get Memphis next round, look for the Tigers' athletic perimeter defenders to shut down Neitzel and Lucas and win handily. But if Mississippi State can knock off Memphis, which is highly possible, it's anyone's guess who'd move on to the Elite Eight from there. By Jonah Keri | Sun, 23 Mar 2008 at 12:26 AM | Permalink Another Contender for Best Game of the Tourney
Stanford prevailed 82-81, though if basketball were counted in fractions, it would've been closer than that. The Cardinal jumped out to an early lead in this one, only to have Marquette's explosive three-guard combination of Dominic James, Wesley Matthews, and Jerel McNeal (more on him in a minute) come right back. Up one in the latter stages of the first half, the Stanford coach, Trent Johnson, got whistled for two straight technical fouls, leaving the Cardinal without their head man and giving the Eagles valuable free points. Up six at halftime, the most notable stat was Marquette's 23-15 rebounding edge, a shocker given Stanford's imposing Lopez twins, Brook and Robin. The Cardinal would come back to tie it, as the Lopezes scored 13 of Stanford's first 19 second-half points and forced Marquette into several tough, contested shots that the Eagles couldn't convert. But after Stanford grabbed a six-point lead, fill-in head coach Doug Oliver tried to give the Lopezes a rest. That allowed Marquette to storm back with seven straight points, all courtesy of offensive rebounds by Marquette's high-jumping guards. Even when the twins returned, James, Matthews, and McNeal drove hard to the rim and scored repeatedly, as the Eagles' big men forced Brook and Robin away from the rim. Back and forth the game went in that vein, with Marquette's guards scoring on nearly every possession, only to have Brook Lopez respond with a post-up move and bucket on the right block. McNeal, averaging 21 points a game over his last six contests, started taking over, grabbing steals, blocking an Anthony Goods three-point try late in the game, and scoring almost every time he touched it. But Robin Lopez hit one of two free throws with less than 10 seconds left, sending the game to overtime. These are my (partial) notes from that point on: -- McNeal with the steal after Marq misses, then hits the THREE!!! Giving Brook Lopez the post, easy layup again, 75-74 Stanford McNeal another 3!!! (has 27) Johnson a 3! Stanford by 1 James hits 1 of 2 to tie it Brook Lopez gets it again, then goes left to score…80-78 Stanford (only 2 pts in first half for Lopez, 26 since then) McNeal goes around two screens, another THREE!!!!! WOW!!!! 81-80 Marq Lopez finally misses, McNeal the rebound McNeal misses LONG three (bad shot), B. Lopez rebounds Brook misses, Robin misses tip Marq up 1 with 1 min left McNeal…7 pts 3/6 first half; 23 pts 10/17 in 2nd half/OT McNeal misses, but gets own rebound! Milk clock… Timeout Marq McNeal misses! Stanford…timeout Lob to Lopez from Johnson on right block again…scores again!!! 82-81, Stanford wins! -- Thirty points for Brook, 18 for Robin, 30 for McNeal. Euphoria for college hoops fans on a Saturday night. Meanwhile, Kansas routed UNLV (no surprise), while Washington State pounded Notre Dame 61-41. That score was a big surprise. Used to scoring in the 80s, the Irish couldn't do anything against the stiff Cougars defense. Wazzou hounded Notre Dame star Luke Harangody into 3 for 17 shooting and the Irish shot less than 25% for the game. Didn't expect Harangody to struggle that much, though we did predict that the Wazzou coach, Tony Bennett, would gameplan well against Notre Dame and pull out a win. The Cougars might not be able to overcome all of North Carolina's athletes in a Sweet 16 match-up. But it says here that Washington State's clamp-down defense and hyper-efficient offense (think Wisconsin, but guard-oriented) will still make the Tar Heels look bad at times should they meet on Thursday. By Jonah Keri | Sat, 22 Mar 2008 at 10:04 PM | Permalink Raining Threes
Purdue jumped on the Musketeers early, leading by eight more than eight minutes into the first half. Xavier's star senior point guard, Drew Lavender, was being outplayed and Purdue was hitting jumpers from all angles. But the Musketeers came roaring back on a 13-2 run, grabbing the lead at halftime. The Boilermakers showed their mettle, reeling off an 11-0 run midway through the second half to go from 10 down to up one. In the process, the Big-10 defensive player of the year, Chris Kramer, drew a fourth foul on Xavier's leading score,r Josh Duncan, putting the Musketeers in a bind. What Xavier did from there spoke volumes about the team's chances heading into next week. Swingman B.J. Raymond, normally a threat from outside, got in the lane and scored, plus a foul, to put Xavier back up three. Lavender, by now playing well after his slow start, scored on a running lay-up that typified the problems opposing guards have in containing him. After a Purdue miss, Lavender backed the play out, dribbled the shotclock down, spun, and dished to C.J. Anderson, who canned a 10-foot push shot right as the shotclock expired. Xavier led by six, and would never again give up their advantage, earning an 80-74 win. Five Xavier players averaged double-figure points this season, four of them juniors or seniors. A sixth, senior Stanley Burrell, averaged 9.8 points a game and established himself as one of the toughest and most versatile defenders in the country, able to clamp down on every position from point guards to power forwards. At 6-foot-9, 240 pounds, Duncan can dunk on people in traffic or step out and hit threes. Lavender joins Memphis's Derrick Rose as the toughest point guards to guard left in the brackets. This team has depth, experience and skill at every position. Don't let their Atlantic-10 roots fool you. Xavier can play with anyone, and just might present the toughest challenge that UCLA will see in the entire tournament. Meanwhile, Wisconsin got 25 from Trevon Hughes in a 72-55 rout over Kansas State. The significance of the sophomore guard's breakout performance extends far beyond sending Michael Beasley home to wait for the NBA lottery. In combining long-distance prowess (4 of 9 threes) with the ability to take defenders off the dribble, Hughes gave Wisconsin an athletic, all-around threat against the Wildcats that the team appeared to be lacking with Alando Tucker lost to graduation. It's all well and good to admire Bo Ryan's crisp, motion offense and Wisconsin's legion of corn-fed big men. But to even have a shot against the likes of Georgetown, they need someone who can go one-on-one when a play breaks down or late in a game. In matching his career high while on the big stage, Hughes gave a hint that he might be that guy. On the other hand, if Stephen Curry goes off for 40 again and Davidson takes down the Hoyas, all bets are off. By Jonah Keri | Sat, 22 Mar 2008 at 8:10 PM | Permalink Anatomy of a Duke Loss
--Kyle Singler's foul trouble killed Duke. With DeMarcus Nelson laying an egg for the second straight game (3 for 17, eight points combined in the two games), Duke needed a second player to complement Gerald Henderson and score in the lane. When Singler picked up his fourth foul, Duke was forced to fall back on jacking long three-pointers, which proved to be a disaster. The Blue Devils made just five of 22 from a distance, largely because West Virginia knew it didn't have to respect anyone other than Henderson (and at times, Jon Scheyer) inside 15 feet. --Joe Alexander was a difference maker. He put up too many shots (22 of them), possibly to make up for Butler's absence for much of the game. But he contributed in many other ways. In one second-half sequence, Alexander swatted away a Duke lay-up try, then after Scheyer tied the game at 40, Alexander canned a three, then swatted another Duke shot from close in. He also dished several different Mountaineer teammates for baskets off backdoor cuts, emulating Belmont's offensive approach by using his 6-foot-8 frame to pass over the defense from 20 feet away. Alexander gives West Virginia a chance against Purdue or Xavier next round. If Alex Ruoff and company can make more threes than they did against Duke (the Mountaineers went 0 for 6 from behind the arc in the first half), this team may not be done yet. By Jonah Keri | Sat, 22 Mar 2008 at 5:23 PM | Permalink Another Knockout in Tampa
The Wildcats adjusted to Clemson's press. Then they started dominating the bigger Tigers inside on offense, and clamping down on defense. Clemson big man bookends James Mays and Trevor Booker both fouled out, Scottie Reynolds pulled off his usual heroics (a game-high 21 points), and 'Nova nabbed a 75-69 win. We should have seen this coming. Partly because Clemson has let so many opportunities slip through their fingers this season, most notably against ACC rival North Carolina. But the more obvious reason was geographical: Clemson was the no. 5 seed and Villanova the no. 12. And there was no way a higher seed was winning any game all day in Tampa. In fact, the Tampa site became the first to witness a clean sweep of four upsets in one day, with Villanova joining Siena, Western Kentucky and San Diego in the winner's circle. Villanova will now face Siena with a Sweet 16 berth on the line, meaning some combination of two 12 seeds, two 13 seeds or one of each will play on next week. Meanwhile, Louisville and Memphis both rolled in their games against low seeds. The Cardinals could face an easier match-up in Oklahoma than Memphis gets with no. 8 Mississippi State. As for Indiana-Arkansas, Eric Gordon laid an egg, ensuring that the Hoosiers would complete their late-season collapse after the Kelvin Sampson scandal — from Final Four contender to out of the tournament. Averaging more than 21 points a game during the season, Gordon froze up against the Hogs, at one point losing his confidence so badly that he didn't shoot for more than nine minutes. The freshman finished an atrocious 3 for 15 from the field with eight points, wasting big efforts by D.J. White (22 points) and Armon Bassett (21 points) and sending Arkansas on to the second round. Talent has never been the Hogs' problem, with Patrick Beverley, Sonny Weems, Darian Townes, and Gary Ervin all capable of taking over a game and Steven Hill among the best shotblockers in college basketball history. But they'll need a consistent, 40-minute effort to hang with North Carolina, something that Arkansas has rarely done this season. Three key match-ups for tomorrow: Kansas State vs. Wisconsin: The often undisciplined but supremely talented Wildcats and their freshman stars Michael Beasley and Bill Walker battle the disciplined and experienced but athletically limited Badgers. Impossible to call, though a win by no. 11 K-State is very possible. Marquette vs. Stanford: An even bigger contrast, as the Eagles send their great guard troika of Dominic James, Jerel McNeal, and Wesley Matthews up against Stanford twin towers of Brook and Robin Lopez. Look for Marquette to push the tempo and fluster Brook Lopez with different looks, enough to get the Eagles into the Sweet 16. Notre Dame vs. Washington State: Wazzou doesn't have an answer for Irish bruiser Luke Harangody. But Tony Bennett is a master planner who'll exploit mismatches for his own squad. Look for the Cougars to clamp down on the rest of Notre Dame's scorers and get enough from their dynamic backcourt of Derrick Low and Kyle Weaver to salvage some Pac-10 pride after first-round losses for USC and Arizona and a possible second-round exit by Stanford. See you back in this space tomorrow, starting with West Virginia-Duke at 2 p.m. ET. By Jonah Keri | Sat, 22 Mar 2008 at 1:19 AM | Permalink Three Reasons Mississippi State Could Give Memphis a Run for Its Money
2) They play defense. Mississippi State is one of four teams this year to hold all their opponents under 50% shooting from the field; the Bulldogs held Oregon to just 34%. That effective defense comes from several sources. Six-foot-nine jumping jack Jarvis Varnado led the nation in blocked shots with 4.6 a game, swatting four Ducks shots today. Jamont Gordon is a versatile defender, with the quickness to guard speedy perimeter players and the strength to compete down low. He drew a late charge on 6'6", 220-pound Malik Hairston to help seal the win over Oregon. The rest of the Bulldogs play smart D, guarding the three-pointer well (the Ducks missed 15 straight threes in the second half, partly because they simply went cold, but also thanks largely to a strong effort by Mississippi State). With Varnado in the paint to curb penetration by Memphis' star point guard Derrick Rose and the rest of the defense fanning out to guard against threes, Mississippi State could give Memphis fits in the half-court set. 3) Gordon can hurt you in so many ways. His shot didn't fall against the Ducks, as Gordon bricked 12 of 14 attempts from the field. Recognizing that, he focused on other aspects of his game, snaring 11 rebounds and dishing out nine assists. He's very good at slicing through an opponent's defense and dishing for lay-ups and open threes. Even more importantly, Gordon's strong with the ball and likely won't get flustered against Memphis' full-court pressure defense. If Gordon and fellow guards Ben Hansbrough and Barry Stewart don't give up the orange, Memphis could be forced into a slower-paced game, which would favor the Bulldogs. Mississippi State put all those positive traits to work against Oregon, rallying from down 13 early in the second half to win 76-69 — a 20-point swing. Despite hailing from the SEC, the Bulldogs didn't get much national attention this season. But they're for real and they could give no. 1 seed Memphis a big challenge on Sunday. Elsewhere, North Carolina thrashed Mount St. Mary's, while Oklahoma held St. Joseph's to 22 first-half points, then hung on for the win. Carolina remains an odds-on bet to go far in the tournament, while Oklahoma's likely to be overmatched assuming the Sooners meet Louisville in the second round. The biggest "upset" was no. 13 Siena crushing no. 4 Vanderbilt 83-62. The Saints' dual threat of Kenny Hasbrouck (deadly off the bounce with 30 points) and Tay Fisher (6 for 6 from the field, all threes) torched the Vandy defense. Then again, we saw this coming, predicting Vandy to bow out early for the exact reasons they lost to Siena — a leaky defense (Siena shot 56.5%) and iffy point guard play (Alex Gordon shot just 2 for 8 and netted zero assists). By Jonah Keri | Fri, 21 Mar 2008 at 11:49 PM | Permalink Two in Tampa: A Fan's Dream
No. 13 seed San Diego provided the heroics this time, knocking no. 4 UConn out of the tournament in a thrilling 70-69 overtime win. With Western Kentucky pulling out a 101-99 win for the ages earlier, no. 12 will battle no. 13 for a ticket to the Sweet 16 (and likely match-up with UCLA) in the West. So many angles to cover in this game. Here were the biggies for me: — Brando kept hammering on UConn's lethargic offensive play in the first half, noting that their big guys weren't getting involved. The reason for this was simple, though: When the Huskies lost point guard and team leader A.J. Price to a knee injury midway through the first half, it completely changed the team's offense. The loss of Price meant UConn lost its best dribble penetrator, its best passer and best perimeter-scoring threat all at once. With Price out, San Diego was able to pack things in on defense, limiting Hasheem Thabeet, Stanley Robinson, and Jeff Adrien offensively. Thabeet and Adrien eventually got theirs later in the game, but San Diego's early cushion gave them the chance to spring the upset in the first place. Craig Austrie and Doug Wiggins just aren't as good as Price at running the offense, and it showed. — Jerome Dyson almost won it for UConn anyway. Dyson repeatedly used his quickness to take defenders off the dribble and get to the rim and the foul line, spearheading Connecticut's second-half comeback. It was a great performance by the former starter, following his suspension earlier this year by Coach Jim Calhoun. It's really tough to be right in this business, so might as well speak up on the rare occasion when something clicks. Like these two columns by some hack (that would be me) about Dyson being crucial for UConn's chances. — Hasheem Thabeet is going to have his problems in the NBA. Gyno Pomare is a solid college player, to be sure. But thanks largely to Thabeet's slow reaction time and lack of mobility, Pomare looked like Bill Walton circa 1973, draining 10 of 12 shots from the field for 22 points and carrying the Toreros throughout much of the game. Pomare's favorite play was to screen out high for one of San Diego's guards, then flair out to the elbow 15 feet away, catch and shoot. He did this about 7,812 times. Everyone in the arena knew it was coming. And Thabeet couldn't do anything to stop it. Later, Rob Jones hit a crucial basket in overtime while drawing a foul on Thabeet, driving right into the big man and neutralizing his shot-blocking ability. Connecticut's 7-foot-3 big man is a lot better than he used to be, but he's still very much a work in progress. — San Diego won this game because it kept finding different options. Pomare carried the load through much of the first half. When his scoring cooled and he eventually got into foul trouble, Brandon Johnson hit some big shots, going for 18 points, albeit on erratic 7-for-19 shooting. Johnson's line-drive jumper in overtime while playing on one leg after a late injury was especially inspiring. When Johnson could barely move, then fouled out himself, Jones hit some big buckets, going for 14 points and six rebounds for the day. Finally, after Dyson hit two big free throws to give UConn the lead with less than 10 seconds left, San Diego called a time out — and turned the play over to their fourth option, sophomore guard De'Jon Johnson, an anemic 1 for 9 from the field at that point. Johnson caught the inbounds pass, dribbled to a spot a step inside the three-point, then fired a fall-away jumper over Robinson's outstretched long arm … and nailed it. Texas, Butler, and Georgetown all rolled to easy victories, cementing all three teams' positions as tough outs in this tournament. Luckily, this is March, where an up-and-down team from the West Coast Conference can blaze through its conference tournament, then knock out one of the biggest traditional powers in college basketball. By Jonah Keri | Fri, 21 Mar 2008 at 6:58 PM | Permalink Early GamesJessie Sapp's going to have a lot of nightmares tomorrow.
Assuming Georgetown beats UMBC later today, Sapp—or backcourt mates Jonathan Wallace, Austin Freeman, or another Hoya—will have to guard Davidson phenom Stephen Curry in a second-round match-up on Sunday. Given the carnage that Curry inflicted on Gonzaga today, it can't be an assignment anyone's cherishing. Curry scored 40 points, including an amazing 30 in the second half, as Davidson rallied from 11 down to knock off Gonzaga 82-76. Curry was unconscious behind the three-point line, sticking 8 of 11 from a distance. But what made the performance by the Wildcats' little assassin was the many ways he torched the Bulldogs. Early on, Curry ran out a step ahead of Gonzaga defenders, draining long-range bombs with a sliver of daylight. When Steven Gray and others tried overplaying him, Curry used their aggression against them, executing mini-backdoor cuts back to the three-point line, then swishing shots with his flawless catch-and-shoot motion. When Gonzaga trotted out aggressive match-up zones and other schemes to try and prevent the three, Curry would give an up-fake, then hit pull-up jumpers two steps closer. Another time, two Zags crowded him, so Curry went backdoor again, pulled up from eight feet, absorbed the contact, and hit the shot, and-one. Oh and he did it left-handed. When an individual player gets hot in the tournament, he can carry a team beyond expectations. We've seen it with Carmelo Anthony lifting Syracuse to a surprise national title as a freshman. We've seen it with stars on mid-major teams, such as when Harold "The Show" Arceneaux almost single-handedly knocked out defending national champion North Carolina in the first round of the 1999 tournament. Davidson has an able floor general in Jason Richards, an undersized big man in Andrew Lovedale who plays much bigger than he is, and a cast of able role players. But Curry's the man who gave Davidson its first tournament win in 39 years today. And he could be the one who gives them an even bigger win on Sunday. Other quickie thoughts from the first set of games: --Tennessee eventually took care of American 72-57. But the Eagles hung in the game much longer than anyone expected, at one point tying the game 40-40 in the second half. American dominated Tennessee on the offensive glass, while the Vols struggled for most of the game from beyond the arc. Tennessee's as good as any team in America when they're scoring on the break and forcing turnovers off their pressure defense. But the Vols' lack of inside beef could pose an interesting challenge against some bigger teams. A potential Elite Eight match-up with North Carolina and their trio of Tyler Hansbrough, Deon Thompson, and Alex Stepheson would present a huge test. --Jack McClinton was every bit as good as Stephen Curry for Miami. He's also the reason the otherwise outmanned Hurricanes have a puncher's chance in any game. The junior guard scored 38 points, propelling Miami to a 78-64 over St. Mary's. No one other 'Cane even scored in double figures. --If there's a better game in this tournament than Western Kentucky vs. Drake, I can't wait to watch it. As deadly as Drake's army of three-point bombers are, Western Kentucky absorbed every blow and came back firing. After blowing a late second-half lead and trailing in overtime, the Hilltoppers faced a one-point deficit with 5.7 seconds left. With everyone in the gym expecting Tyrone Brazelton—who already had 33 points—to take the shot, he instead dropped a pass to Ty Rogers, who drained a 25-foot rainbow at the buzzer to win it for Western Kentucky. Buckle up folks. The Madness is here. By Jonah Keri | Fri, 21 Mar 2008 at 3:40 PM | Permalink 
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