Kentucky & UCLA Win Big On National Signing Day
The top two high school basketball players in the country picked which school they would attend in one night in a 90-minute ESPNU special. Sound familiar? Center Nerlens Noel and wing Shabazz Muhammad made their choices on national television Wednesday night and changed the course of the next college basketball season.
Noel is expected to be one of the top picks in the 2013 NBA draft and chose the most proven man in the business to get him there: Kentucky and head coach John Calipari. Noel is a refined 6-10 big man from just outside Boston and is attending the Tilton prep school in New Hampshire. Noel also had Georgetown and Syracuse as the finalists for his talents.
Noel helps the defending champs reload after losing Anthony Davis, Michael-Kidd Gilchrist, Terrence Jones and Marquis Teague to the NBA. The Wildcats will also bring in top-15 recruits Alex Poythress and Archie Goodwin and Calipari will again have a tremendously young and talented roster to defend the national title with. The addition of Noel gives UK ESPN’s top ranked recruiting class for the fourth straight year.
Muhammad decided to head west, choosing UCLA over Kentucky, Duke, UNLV and others. A tremendous athlete, Muhammad is the highest rated recruit to choose UCLA since Kevin Love in 2007.
Muhammad, a small forward from Bishop Gorman high school in Las Vegas, will lead an incredibly talented incoming class for Ben Howland’s Bruins that includes top-five wing Kyle Anderson and top-50 forward Jordan Adams. UCLA will immediately be favored to win a watered down Pac 12 conference and they’ll be a top 15 team.
Muhammad’s decision could have to do with the brand wars. While Kentucky and Duke are sponsored by Nike, UCLA is an Adidas team. Muhammad’s sister, Asia, is on the WTA women’s tennis tour and is sponsored by Adidas. So Muhammad stayed loyal to the brand and chose UCLA.
NCAA Basketball National Championship Preview
Anthony Davis and Thomas Robinson are two of the top interior defenders in the country. Needless to say, scoring in the painted area in tonight’s NCAA National Championship Game between Kentucky and Kansas (9:23 p.m. Eastern, CBS) will be extremely hard to do.
The Wildcats boasts a tremendous amount of talent, but the Jayhawks have proven their mettle in tough, hard-fought contests against heavyweights North Carolina and Ohio State. Kentucky didn’t put Louisville away in the second half on Saturday, and Kansas overcame a 13-point deficit on Saturday to buck the Buckeyes. One advantage Kansas could have is at the point guard position, and Tyshaun Taylor’s experience has to fare better than Marcus Teague for KU to win this game.
Elijah Johnson will have the unenviable task to lock horns with the uber-skilled Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and experienced three-point specialist, and well seasoned senior, Darius Miller. This is likely were Kentucky will show the biggest advantage, and Kansas will have to combat that by controlling the tempo and winning the rebounding battle and points in the paint. The combination of Robinson and Jeff Withey will have to, somehow, overcome Davis and Terrence Jones inside. It’s doable, but is a seemingly Herculean task.
For Kansas to pull the upset, the need to get into the fast break and work the ball inside. They settled for far too many perimeter jump shots in the first half on Saturday and quickly found themselves in a double-digit hole. Kentucky has the sheer talent to bury any team at any time. Kansas has to keep this close throughout. It remains to be seen how Kentucky will fare in a late game situation when they’re really in danger of losing. They were up to the task against Louisville to some extent in the Final Four, but fell to Vanderbilt in a similar spot in the SEC Championship Game.
It’s going to be a close game throughout, and perhaps the most magical March Madness moment was saved for the grandest stage of them all on the first Monday in April.
NCAA Basketball Final Four Preview
After eliminating 64 teams over the previous two-plus weeks, we’ve determined the regional champions and have moved on to Saturday’s Final Four in New Orleans. The evening of semifinals at the Superdome features an awesome and historic rivalry and a fantastic, evenly matched game I’ve been looking forward to all week with dynamically talented players. If you’re still reading this, you probably want to hear about the games. So here they are.
Kentucky vs Louisville- The Rivalry
Very few things are constant in this world. One of those things are Kentucky and Louisville playing each other in heated basketball games each season representing one of the three or four greatest rivalries in college basketball. Rick Pitino has a history in both schools and the teams genuinely dislike each other. Both teams have a rich championship tradition, with the Cardinals playing second fiddle to the iconic UK Wildcats. You could read Dave Kindred for the rest of the rivalry story, let’s dive into the matchup.
Kentucky is the more athletic team with better players and more talent and handled Indiana and Baylor last weekend with relative ease to win the South region and make their way to the Big Easy. AP Player of the Year Anthony Davis will be a load to handle inside, and the unenviable task will fall on Gorgui Deng and Chase Behanen to handle who averaged a double-double and 4.6 blocks per contest.
Louisville possesses a good deal of balance in the backcourt, and the experience of Peyton Siva at point guard need to be an advantage for the Cardinals against UK’s Marquis Teague. If it’s not, the trio of Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Terrence Jones and Doron Lamb will be too much for Louisville. Kyle Kuric, Russ Smith and Chris Smith have to have tremendous games for the Wildcats not to run away with this one. Tip-off is at 6:09 p.m. eastern on CBS.
Kansas-Ohio State- The Game
Boy are these teams evenly matched and well coached. How many coaches other than Kansas’ Bill Self would unleash a triangle and two defense to hold North Carolina to 20 second half points in an Elite Eight win in the Midwest Region final? Thad Matta’s defense last Saturday held the deep and potent Syracuse offense in check and led the Buckeyes to the East Region crown and a trip to NOLA.
The battle begins inside with two of the top three or four players in the country: Thomas Robinson of Kansas and Jared Sullinger of Ohio State. The war will be mainly waged inside, but a great individual matchup will be found at point guard, where the dynamic Tyshaun Taylor will go up against defensive stalwart Aaron Craft. How will Ohio State deal with an emerging star in big man Jeff Withey? How will the Jayhawks combat DeShaun Thomas and Willie Buford on the wings? Can Elijah Johnson step up his game for Kansas?
Expect an absolutely spectacular game of basketball on Saturday evening at approximately 8:49 p.m. eastern on CBS.
Pitino Guides Louisville Through Troubled Waters & Into The Final Four
Not many thought Louisville could ably sustain the loss of Mike Marra, who tore his ACL two games into the season in early November, but many underestimated and overlooked Rick Pitino’s Cardinals in a stacked Big East that featured the defending champion UConn Huskies, the fast charging Syracuse Orange and a slew of big name programs.
But Pitino knew that he had a talented roster filled with quality depth and that only time could bring a talented team together to gain each other’s trust and form a cohesive group. Pitino leaned on his experienced players, and Peyton Siva, Kyle Kuric and Chris Smith responded in kind by becoming the team leaders. As the season progressed, other supporting cogs emerged that would make this Louisville outfit a special one.
Sophomore Russ Smith ended up finishing second on the team in scoring. Out of seemingly nowhere, sophomore Giorgui Deng emerged as one of the top defensive big men in the country, averaging nine rebounds and over three blocks a game. Freshman Chane Behanan emerged as a big time glue guy for the Cards, averaging nine points and over seven boards per contest while shooting 51.3 percent from the field.
It took some growing pains for Louisville to emerge as, ultimately, the most successful Big East team of the 2011-2012 campaign. To end December and begin the new year, they dropped four of five, including a 90-59 embarrassment against the lowly Providence Friars, who Pitino coached 25 years ago to the Final Four. After a 12-0 start, Louisville was off to a 1-3 start in Big East Conference play.
To end February and begin March, they lost three of four to fall to 22-9 and have their status as a legit tournament team in doubt. Louisville hasn’t lost since, winning eight in a row to win the Big East Tournament title and the NCAA West region behind extremely strong and stout defense. They allowed fewer than 70 points in all but one contest, giving up 71 in an easy win over Marquette in the Big East quarterfinals.
That same Marquette team fell short in the Sweet 16 to Florida, who ended up being Louisville’s Elite Eight opponent on Saturday afternoon in Phoenix. To get to the regional final, it took the team’s best defensive performance against an excellently coached Michigan State team. The Spartans just scored 18 first half points and shot 28.6 percent from the field as the Cardinals cruised to a 57-44 win. Behanen was sensational, scoring 15 points on 6-10 shooting to go with nine rebounds. Deng dominated inside, grabbing nine rebounds and blocking seven shots.
Against Florida, Louisville again had its growing pains. They trailed 41-33 at the half and 60-49 with just 10:12 left in the contest. Underclassmen Behanen and Russ Smith took control of the game leading the Cards to a 23-8 run to close out the game. Behanen scored the go-ahead bucket, two of his 17 points, with 1:08 left and Pitino and Louisville emerged with a 72-68 comeback triumph and an unlikely trip to New Orleans as the fourth seeded champions of the West region.
“What happens is, you can’t lose confidence,” Pitino said. “I kept telling our guys we’re going to the Final Four. Win the Big East tournament, we’re going to the Final Four. And they did.”
A coach who believed in his players the whole way through has been rewarded, and the way he built his club this season is without question the best coaching job anyone has done in the country this season. After losing to Providence by over 30, Pinito’s Cardinals are two wins away from a national championship.
Sweet 16 Players To Watch- East & West Regions
East Region
Syracuse- Wisconsin plays extremely well inside, rebounds very well and likes to play at a slow, Big 10 style pace. That makes the Orange’s interior players, most notably Rakeem Christmas, will play a crucial role against the Badgers.
Wisconsin- A major key to beating a 2-3 zone like Syracuse’s, besides rebounding, is shooting the ball well from three. Everyone knows about leading scorer Jordan Taylor, but Ben Brust shot .385 from three this season and the 6-1 guard scored 11 points in Saturday’s win over Vanderbilt.
Ohio State- Everyone will be talking about the Jared Sullinger-Yancy Gates matchup inside, but it’ll be point guard Aaron Craft that will have to keep Cashmere Wright in check. The Buckeyes’ offensive players will get theirs, but strong defense will advance OSU to Saturday.
Cincinnati- The Bearcats are at their best when Sean Kilpatrick is taking on the brunt of the scoring load. He had 18 points on Sunday against Florida State and the offense runs a lot more smoothly when Kilpatrick gets his touches and slashes to the rim.
West Region
Michigan State- Louisville is a tough team inside with Gorgui Deng, but the Spartans are going to need strong defense to combat Kyle Kuric, Russ Smith and Peyton Siva in the backcourt. The defense of players like Keith Appling and Brandon Dawson is what’s going to win this game for Tom Izzo’s group.
Louisville- Michigan State runs through Draymond Green. When he’s not on his game, the Spartans aren’t nearly as good. They’re going to need Gorgui Deng to neutralize Green inside in order to have a chance at pulling the upset for Rick Pitino.
Marquette- The guards in this game with Florida match up evenly. The advantage for the Golden Eagles? Big East POY Jae Crowder. He gives Marquette that dynamic wing performer the Gators just do not have. He could be the x-factor.
Florida- The guards in this game with Marquette match up evenly. The advantage for the Gators? Bruising big man Patric Young. He gives Florida that size and strength down low the Golden Eagles just do not have. He could be the x-factor. See what I did there?
