Checking in with the Tourney Blog by Luke Winn

Regular Final Four Blog readers will know that we have a blog crush on the SportsIllustrated.com blog by Luke Winn, called the Tourney Blog. So, as a Wednesday tradition holds, we’re going to send you there, across the vast reaches of the internet to a much more colorful blog, with lots of musings and lots of rankings and a lot more viewers. The Tourney Blog is talking about the Kansas National Championship today, and Luke also mystifies us with a Top 10 ranking for the start of next season. While ranking teams right now is a little problematic, there is a huge rush to put together any kind of consensus about what teams will be good next season as soon as possible. You can find top 10 and top 25 lists everywhere right now. We require order, darnit!

In other news… Gonzaga point guard Jeremy Pargo has declared that he is eligible for the NBA Draft. However, he has purposely not hired an agent because doing so would bean that he gives up his NCAA eligibility. All Pargo is saying is that he’s interested in going pro. If this were politics, he’d be launching an exploratory committee to see if there is any interest in him. Good decision, Pargo. If the waters are cold, stay in Gonzaga and take another trip to the Dance.

To get NCAA basketball tickets, go to StubHub.com.

Permalink - Posted in General on April 16, 2008 - Post a comment

Early Entries to the Draft; Drake Coach off to Providence

The word on the street is that Kansas State’s Michael Beasley has declared himself eligible for the NBA Draft. There are eleven days left before the early entry deadline, and already there are a lot of top players out there who have decided to go pro… in sports. Beasley s going to top a lot of lists as the No. 1 pick in the NBA Draft. He lead the NCAA in scoring, is 6-10, long, athletic, can score from anywhere and can play decent enough defense for a gig on a lottery team. Who wouldn’t want a player like that on your favorite NBA team next season?

In other news… The Associated Press Coach of the Year, Drakes’ Keno Davis, has been hired at Providence. Obviously this coach is the hottest man on the sideline other than Bill Self right now, but we’re unsure why he would want to leave Drake for Providence. He coached Drake to its first NCAA Tournament appearance since the ‘70s in his rookie year. While that’s wonderful, perhaps more experience is needed- both for Providence to hire him, and for Drake to get more miles out of a potentially awesome coach. Coaches change schools so quickly nowadays…

To get NCAA basketball tickets, go to StubHub.com.

Permalink - Posted in General on April 15, 2008 - Post a comment

Coaching Changes, Coaching Un-Changes

“Bill Self, you just won the National Championship, one of the greatest title games in NCAA hoops history, what are you going to do next?” Stay home, apparently. Bill Self has decided to stay at his new “home” at Kansas despite practically being handed the keys to his old home in Oklahoma, his alma mater. Self was a player for the Cowboys, grew up in the state and was an assistant coach at Oklahoma in his younger coaching days. But despite the fact that he would have returned there as a hero, he decided to decline the invitation in order to stay with the Kansas Jayhawks. Good move? You be the judge. There is no end to the opinions on this one.

In other news… Stanford’s old coach Trent Johnson is going to be the new sideline pacer in Baton Rouge. After completing an 80-48 record while with the Cardinal, Johnson has decided to take a gig with the LSU Tigers, a team that was a national champion just a few years back, but one that has fallen off a bit since then. Will he be able to right the ship for LSU?

To get NCAA basketball tickets, go to StubHub.com.

Permalink - Posted in General on April 14, 2008 - Post a comment

Ridiculously Early Top 25 by Gary Parrish

Normally we here at the Final Four Blog think that Gary Parrish is a bit too corny for our blood. He’s dramatic, uses those annoying one sentence, sometimes one word or one-syllable lines like sports writers do to all the time… but anyways. We have to give credit where credit is due. Garry Parrish did something really cool the other day. He came out with a top 25 list, titled Ridiculously Early Top 25 (and one) for 2008-09. You know what? This is a good list. Very cocky, and very self-aware. Nicely done, Gary. You came through.

So what does his list look like? Well, you’ll see some of the usual suspects up at the top, but there are a few surprises. For example, UCLA is supposed to lose Kevin Love and Darren Collison to the NBA draft. Heck, most people (including Parrish) think that Russell and Westbrook are gone before the next season as well. However, Parrish ranks UCLA at No. 5. No matter how many Final Fours they’ve been to in the past century, if your team gets gutted like that, it will be tough to recover. This isn’t like simply losing Jordan Farmar or something.

To get NCAA basketball tickets, go to StubHub.com.

Permalink - Posted in General on April 11, 2008 - Post a comment

Basketball-Prospectus Looks back at their Predictions

We haven’t given you a link from Basketball-Prospectus in a while, right? Just kidding. You’re going to have to sit through another blog about how these guys rule. Anyways, the page we’re directing you to is titles “Looking Back.” It chronicles the best and worst prediction that he made about the college basketball season of 2007-’08. He made some real stinkers, but he was also pretty spot on for some of them.
For example, Gasaway predicted that Oregon would be sent to the NIT, and that Seton Hall would only lose 3 Big East games. Well, those were pretty far off base. However, you have to admit that these predictions were pretty good:

  • Mississippi State would win the SEC West.
  • Louisville is the best team in the Big East – Well, they made it farthest in the tourney.
  • Wisconsin will win the Big Ten
  • Bill Self is no more cursed than the Red Sox or Eli Manning

To get NCAA basketball tickets, go to StubHub.com.

Permalink - Posted in General on April 10, 2008 - Post a comment

Rush Wont Rush NBA Decision, But Will UCLA Love the Draft?

Will Brandon Rush, one of the biggest stars on the new Kansas Jayhawks national championship team, go pro? Apparently he is not letting people in on the decision quite yet. He’s declared himself eligible two times before, but this year, he’s making his loyal fans wait for his decision. Last May he tore his something or other, then decided to return to the college game for another year. Good decision, we think. See how well the national champion Gators cleaned up in the draft last year? Rush’ stock definitely rose with the additional year.

But will Darren Collison and Kevin Love go pro as well? UCLA’s most famous players might end up in the NBA Draft. Apparently they told their coach Ben Howland of their decisions, but the official word has not come for either of these players. Sources say that they both will eventually try to go pro, though.

So what do you guys think? Do you think Rush, Love and Collison should stay another year in the college game? Or do you think they should test the draft waters? We here at the Final Four Blog would really like to see these amazing players back in the NCAA for another year at least, but then again, we’re not in their huge shoes. The temptation of NBA cash is probably pretty hard to overcome, but we are not fans of One And Done, Love. Not fans.

To get NCAA basketball tickets, go to StubHub.com.

Permalink - Posted in General on April 9, 2008 - Post a comment

Jayhawks Have More than One Shining Moment

The Final Four Blog has been harping on free throw shooting or the past six months or so. We knew (we just knew) that a good team like Memphis would feel the pain of their pitiful free throw shooting at some point in the tournament, and now they finally did- on the biggest stage in the sport, no less.

With less than two minutes to go and a nine point lead, the Jayhawks sent the Tigers to the line time after time after time. But instead of sealing a national title victory, practically every Memphis player missed free throws in the closing seconds, leaving the door wide open for a game-tying three right before the end of regulation. Kansas took the lead early in overtime, carried their momentum over and never looked back.

Lesson learned, Final Four Blog readers: practice your free throws. You can read a CBS article about the collapse of the Memphis Tigers here, or you can instead give the Jayhawks credit for a perfectly executed comeback. I choose the later. To celebrate Kansas and all the glory that is the NCAA Tournament, make sure you watch “One Shining Moment” by Luthor Vandros, one of the best traditions in all of sports.

To get NCAA basketball tickets go to StubHub.com.

Permalink - Posted in General on April 8, 2008 - Post a comment

Memphis vs. Kansas for the National Championship Tonight!

The field of 65 (or more like the field of 400 and something) comes down to two teams, who will play for the national championship tonight in the Alamodome. The Memphis Tigers versus the Kansas Jayhawks. Both teams entered the tournament as the No. 1 seed in their region. Both teams play balanced, high-energy, highly entertaining hoops. Kansas has the tradition, while Memphis is hoping to earn their first national title in men’s basketball.

Clearly a Tiger would beat a Jayhawk in a fight between the two animals. The only animal that the Jayhawk would have a shot against is, of course, a jay. Or a rodent. That’s probably why Vegas has Memphis as the winner by 2 points, as of 10:45 this morning.

Hopefully you all have tickets to see this thing go down live at the Alamodome in San Antonio. It should be a good one, or, at least we’re hoping that it makes up for the way the Final Four games went. Kansas went to town on UNC early, then let the Tar Heels almost taste a comeback before turning it on in the final stretch to win. UCLA’ Darren Collison had a rough game versus Memphis’ Derrick Rose, and the Bruins were not even close by the time the final buzzer sounded.

To get NCAA basketball tickets, go to StubHub.com.

Permalink - Posted in General on April 7, 2008 - Post a comment

Predicting Kansas-North Carolina

Kansas 85, North Carolina 82

Kansas is the picture of balance, whereas the Tar Heels are weighted heavily on the huge shoulders of Psycho-T and Lawson. So do you go with the two best payers on the court, or the best overall team? Some will say that great players take over in the crunch, and that Tyler Hansbrough will have a huge game, winning it for Roy Williams’ Tar Heels. Others, though, see how even the best players can succumb to the pressure sometimes. Stephen Curry, as good as he is, was finally beaten by the fact that the rest of his team could not compete with Kansas. So, we’re at a bit of a draw here. Like the UCLA-Memphis matchup, we’re going to let the stats so the talking.

Kansas is a horrible free throw shooting team, though not nearly as horrible as Memphis. North Carolina, however, hits 75.3% from the line, well above average. But here’s where we zag when you think we’re going to zig: North Carolina loses because the refs let them play. Instead, it comes down to turnovers. While both teams are well above the mean in terms of offensive turnover percentage, defensively, the Jayhawks are much better at stealing the ball. Kansas’ defensive turnover rate is 25.8 (24th in the country), whereas the Tar Heels’ is 22.1 (139th).

To get NCAA basketball tickets, go to StubHub.com.

Permalink - Posted in General on April 4, 2008 - Post a comment

Alright– Time for Final Four Predictions

uCLA fans

(photo by Malingering)

We know that you loyal Final Four Blog readers have been waiting all season long for this moment. A blog named the Final Four Blog cannot back down when confronted with the task of predicting a winner for the Final Four games, right? So, without much further ado, today we will give our take on the Memphis-UCLA game. Tomorrow is Kansas-UNC.

UCLA 73, Memphis 71

Memphis was able to defeat Texas, but only because Memphis could cancel out the guard play of the Longhorns, plus put up a considerable inside game with Dorsey. The problem with the Tigers playing UCLA is that the Bruins have a much more diversified attack. Kevin Love usually acts as the hub of the offense, and if Darren Collison can’t stay in front of Derrick Rose, then I’m not sure who can. Love cancels out Dorsey. Collison cancels out Rose. And a Moute-Westbrook cancels out Douglas-Roberts. What you’re left with is a great game that should go back and forth the whole time.

We hate to continue to harp on this free throw thing, but back in the day we were predicting that Memphis would go down because they couldn’t hit FTs from the beginning. We’re sticking with our guns. Memphis shoots 58.7% from the line (good for 335th best in college basketball). By comparison, UCLA is the 18th best FT shooting team in the country at 75.1%. At some point, this is going to be a factor. Promise.

To get NCAA basketball tickets, go to StubHub.com.

Permalink - Posted in General on April 3, 2008 - Post a comment


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