I've said it before, there is nothing like the excitement of the NCAA tournament. The one and done format gives any team a chance to win on any day. Add to that the fact that the kids play their hearts out and make mistakes means it usually makes for exciting finishes.
Connecticut is headed to the Final Four and I give them credit for shaking off the fiasco around recruiting allegations and the accompanying distractions and focusing on the task at hand. When Jim Calhoun's Huskies are placed in the Western Regional it seems like it's an automatic ticket to the Final Four. This will be UConn's third trip to the Final Four, and in every instance, they came out of the western bracket.
The Huskies did a great job of controlling the tempo of the game, particularly in the second half. When the game involves up tempo frenetic paced teams like Memphis and Missouri, there usually comes a point in the game where their constant pressure wears an opponent down and mistakes, bad shots and turnovers start occurring with increasing regularity. The high pressure team usually forces this to happen late in the game and it always seems to come just when they wrestle the lead from the opponent. But Connecticut did a great job of scoring against Missouri's "94 feet of hell" game after Mizzou took the lead and that forced Missouri to slow down as they could not force UConn turnovers. Suddenly with the Huskies scoring, Mizzou needed to score to keep pace, and as they started to value the ball more, the pace of the game naturally slowed down.
Connecticut Freshman guard Kemba Walker was outstanding coming off the bench to handle the pressure in a ball handling roll and his 23 points were one of the keys to the Huskies making reservations for Detroit.
Villanova has crashed the party in Detroit and not to break my arm patting myself on the back but there it was in writing, I had Villanova in my Final Four. Don't believe me? Go back and check the archives. I'm not feeling so good about the Oklahoma pick right now as I figured North Carolina may have been watching from the sidelines by now but it has been the exact opposite as the Tarheels have looked impressive. I still like the Louisville Cardinals but their match up with Michigan State will be much like the UConn vs. Missouri game. It will be interesting to see if the Spartans can handle Louisville's "pick you up when you get off the bus" pressure.
Scottie Reynolds made a great play to win the game for the Villanova Wildcats and while it was not as exciting in these eyes as the Christian Laettner shot, or the Danny Ainge coast to coast rush, the Tyus Edney one man foray or even Bryce Drew's last second shot for Butler, it will be remembered by many for what it was, a big time play to win a game (maybe I'm becoming an old curmudgeon).
For the record, since 1979 'Nova now has the most wins by a lowered seeded team in tournament games. Last night's win means they have now chalked up a victory 15 times as the lower seeded team in a tourney game.
The Wildcats were not getting great point guard play as even though Reynolds was named the East Regions Most Outstanding Player, he was a combined 9/26 in the two games in the regional finals in Boston. Corey Fisher was only 1/7 from the floor as well but what Reynolds did was rescue head coach Jay Wright from a whack of "what were you thinking questions". An NBA coach would have been second guessed to the end of time for the decision to go throw the ball long on the inbound play leading by two points. The turnover and a subsequent foul allowing Lavance Fields to tie the game on the free throw line would have been ageless fodder for the couch potato coaches in front of their TV sets had Villanova lost the game.
Villanova was 22 of 23 from the line and you would think that all they had to do was inbound the ball to a good foul shooter and make free throws to salt the game away. Instead a decision was made, be it by Wright or Reggie Reading, the player throwing the ball in, to look for the home run. See what I mean about mistakes being made that keep it exciting?
