Gophers vs. Louisville Preview

Well here we go.  Nothing like hitting the ground running someone said once probably.  Friday brings the coolest opener the Gophers have ever participated in when they take on #8 Louisville in Puerto Rico.

Louisville has basically turned into a basketball machine and this year should be more of the same, but there are some questions, particularly in the back court.  Russdiculous is gone and he was basically the team's rock (not to mention leading scorer at 18.2 per game), and Luke Hancock is gone from the back court as well and he was the team's third leading scorer (12.3ppg) is gone as well.  Those two hit 138 threes between the two of them last season, almost half the Cardinals' total.

Chris Jones is back though, and he's a nearly perfect guard for a Rick Pitino team.  He's absurdly quick, and if the Gophers play a lot of zone he's going to absolutely murder them by getting into the lane over and over - you watch.  He also ended up with the 8th best steal rate in the country, so he could wreck some shit, particularly against a Gopher team that struggles taking care of the ball.  Wayne Blackshear returns as well and should jump into Hancock's role as wing bomber.

Then there's the newcomers who can help fill in - PG Quentin Snider and wing Shaqquan Aaron.  Snider was ranked by ESPN as the #5 incoming point guard for 2014 (he also briefly may have considered the Gophers).  He's going to be ridiculous by the time he leaves Louisville, hopefully he'll be shaky given that it's his first game.  When he gets his feat under him he and Jones could be the next Napier/Boatright or Smith/Siva back court with two 1.5's rather than a true 1 or 2.  Aaron is a big guard who was genetically engineered for the fast break.  I read one possible issue is he's so used to having the ball in his hands from his high school days he may struggle moving without the ball in a new role.  Hopefully he'll stand around a lot and do mostly nothing. [NOTE:  looks like he'll do nothing.  Nailed it.]

In the paint the Gophers will probably get physically murdered by Montrezl Harrell who could have gone to the NBA and right now I wish he would have.  He's an absolute monster at 6-8, 240 lbs. of pure muscle who averaged 14 points and 8.5 rebounds per game last year while shooting north of 60%.  He doesn't exactly have a jump shot, but when you look like Mr. Sandman you don't need one.

This is basically him.

The Gophers who have the size to check him are Eliason, Walker, and Martin (though I would be hesitant to use the freshman on him much), but next to Harrell Louisville can roll out 6-10 Mangok Mathiang or any one of a trio of talented freshmen in 6-10 Chinanu Onuaku (#9 center in the class per ESPN), 7-1 Anas Mahmoud (#12 center and possibly almost a Gopher), or 7-2 Matz Stockman (the #19 center), not to mention 6-9 freshman Jaylen Johnson (#24 PF).  Granted these guys mostly freshmen and unproven (Mathiang played about 15 minutes per game last year), but as Benjamin Franklin once said you can't teach size, and somebody is going to have to handle a very tall man.  Assuming Pitino (the good one) wants to avoid playing Eliason and Walker together that means either Joey King or Martin will have to guard Harrell or a gigantic center, depending on how he wants to split it.  This is a thing I am not looking forward to, as I'm pretty sure Harrell could dunk over King without actually noticing he was there.

Basically Louisville has the size advantage and the speed advantage (the Gophers are getting better, but they aren't there yet), and their pressing, attacking defense causes a whole boat load of turnovers (#2 in the country last year) while the Gophers, despite an experienced back court, were a turnover machine last season.  But I still think our favorite team has a chance.  Louisville has a solid foundation in Jones and Harrell, but they're folding in a lot of new pieces this year while the Gophers are relatively stable.  In order to run the kind of system both Pitinos like you need good communication and a good grasp of where to go and where to be, especially against another team who is willing and able to run and gun, or you end up out of position and giving up easy shots in transition (remember the lay-up line that was Arkansas last year?).  The Gophers best hope is probably to run with Louisville and hope they're better prepared than the Cardinals.

Will it happen?  Although it's possible I don't see it.  The two teams want to play the same way, but one team has the better athletes, more size, the better coach (FOR NOW!), and simply fit the system better.  The Gophers only advantage is more continuity, but much of that is negated by Pitino Sr's coaching, because he's still one of the best.  I keep picturing that Arkansas game I mentioned above, but I keep seeing the Gophers as the Gophers, not as Arkansas.

Louisville 88, Minnesota 74.

[note: just learned Shaqquan Aaron is not eligible as of yet for Louisville.  This changes nothing, except for how this preview now looks stupid like your face and your mom.]

Gopher Hoops 2014 Recruiting Update

With all the hoopla surrounding not getting any of Minnesota's Big 3 for 2014 plus the season in full swing, recruiting for 2014 seems to have taken a back seat.  The Gophers, however, still have a scholarship for 2014, and may end up with more than just the one given college basketball players proclivity for transferring out and what not [EDIT: and right on cue, news breaks that Wally Ellenson is leaving the team to concentrate on track.  Good move for the kid, and won't change anything for the Gophers other than giving them another open scholarship for next season. I'm happy].  Currently there are four names to pay attention to, and I'm going to touch on each of them briefly.

6-6 SF Djuan Piper, Washington.  Piper is the #188 player in the class according to 247sports (the #43 small forward) and the #26 SF by ESPN.  Piper sounds like he's basically narrowed his list to just the Gophers and his hometown Huskies, and visited Minnesota to attend the Indiana game.  He had nothing but glowing things to say about his visit, calling the game "probably the craziest game I've ever attended" which can only be a positive.  Piper is your typical hyper athletic wing who excels in a wide open transition game, and his size and ability point to him having the potential to be a defensive stopper in college.  He still has plans to visit Washington, Gonzaga, and Texas A&M and by many accounts the Huskies are going to be tough to beat for his services, but based on his reaction to the visit here he is actually at 60% to be a Gopher on 247sports crystal ball.

6-5 SF Kobe Eubanks, Florida.  Eubanks is the #191 player in the class at 247 (#45 SF) and the #23 shooting guard by ESPN (SF, SG whatever, he's a wing).  Eubanks is a pure scorer, both driving to the rim and with an excellent outside shot.   From what I've read Piper is the better all around prospect and may have more overall potential, but Eubanks is already the kind of player who can score at the college level and I'd be thrilled to get either of them.  Eubanks recruitment sounds like it is wide open right now with Pitt in the lead, so the Gophers have their work cut out for them but they're solidly in the mix.  Interesting how there are a handful of Shaquille's in college ball, and now we have a Kobe.  We can't be too many years from an influx of Lebrons.

6-9 PF Abdoulaye Gueye, Alabama.  Gueye is ranked #284 overall by 247sports and the #76 PF, and I can't find him at ESPN and they kind of suck with recruiting info anyway.  I can't find a scouting report on him but based on what I recall reading in the past he's a bit of a project, but a solid athlete with good size who could be a good fit in Pitino's system eventually.  He visited Minnesota at the same time Piper was here and took in the Indiana game so that can only help.  247's crystal ball has him at 80% Gophers with UAB the main competition and Auburn and involved as well.  To be honest, Gueye would be a consolation prize among the four guys I'm talking about.

7-2 Anas Osama Mahmoud, Florida.  Mahmound ranks as the #162 player in the class by 247, and the #14 center, while ESPN puts him as their 69th overall player in the class and #9 center.  Mahmoud is a recent import from Egypt, and he's absolutely burst onto the recruiting scene late here with teams like Louisville and Florida involved.  Simply put, he's kind of a big deal.  Despite being 7-2 he only weights 190 or 205, depending on which site you look at, but by all accounts despite being newish to basketball he's extremely skilled with great defensive instincts, a decent perimeter game, and good passing ability.  He would be a huge get. Louisville already has three big men signed for 2014, including their own 7-2 import from I think the Netherlands, so there are some theories out there that the elder Pitino is steering Mahmoud to his son.  No clue on that one, but Mahmoud is visiting the U this week so hopefully the younger Pitino can lock him down (also just visited Georgia Tech).  This would be a huge, huge get for the Gophers.  Pun not intended but I kind of like so we're gonna run with it.


Those are really the only four names circulating, so the Gophers should probably get at least one of them or hope a grad transfer or something decides the Gophers are cool, otherwise I guess we're banking a scholarship.  For my money, I'd rank them Mahmoud, Piper, Eubanks, Gueye, and I'd love to get two and then just figure it out from there. 

NFL draft blog

I'm going to be paying halfway attention the the NFL draft tonight - only halfway because Mama W would kill me if I tried to make her watch the whole thing and also because I would end up bored out of my mind - so I figured I might as well put down some thoughts while I wait for the Vikes to make a terrible pick sometime after my bed time.

-  So far I've already heard the Donkey Kong Sue is a "great gap penetrator."  That was followed by me giggling for about twenty minutes.

-  We just had pick 5, safety Eric Berry to Kansas City.  I'm still on the channel and I heard him compared to Kenny Easley and Ronnie Lott in teh same sentence.  I think maybe everybody should calm down.

-  Are the Twins ever going to sweep?  Yeah, yeah, it's early and all that jazz, but this lack of a killer instinct popping up already isn't exactly my most favorite thing ever (that would either be Spicy Garlic wings from BW3 or Audrina Patridge.  No wait, my daughter.  I meant my daughter).  That's the third time now they've won the first two games of a series and then lost the third one with the opportunity to sweep, and I know I'm not the only one who noticed because I got an email from Snacks about it and I heard Barreiro talking about it on the radio.  Also that's four straight games where Rauch hasn't picked up a save.  How is he supposed to beat the record (is it K-Rod's now, or still Thigpen?) at this pace?  And how is he supposed to win us our fantasy league as the SOD?  I'm very irritated with the hometown 9 right now.

-  I did get to check out Target Field earlier this week, however, and I can say that all the praise you've been hearing is accurate, and might even be underselling it.  It's a great, great place to watch a ballgame, there's great food and plenty of places to get it, and there are bars and booze kiosks everywhere.  Honestly, my first reaction is that it is PERFECT.  They could have just given us any old outdoor park and people would sing its praises, but they really nailed it.  I could easily just live there happily.

-  I'm not exactly sure why people are talking about the Vikings getting Claussen at pick 30.  If he does start to slide into the 20s, some team with an early second rounder is going to trade up to leap frog the Vikes and get him.  I'm not even sure I really want him.  Not sure about Tebow either.  I think Snacks summed it up pretty well in this email he sent me earlier today,  

"I don’t know that I would be that much more excited about Claussen than I would about Tebow though.  I don’t think Claussen’s a sure thing.  Plus the newest reports all talk about his giant ego and other makeup issues (so he’s basically the anti-Tebow:  less doubt about ability and more doubt about makeup – this might be the first time I’m favoring the guy with the better makeup over the guy with the arguably better talent in my life.  Although I read something about Tebow being a virgin and that’s just silly.  I judge him negatively for that and view it as a character flaw.)"

Makes a lot of sense.

-  Naturally, the Raiders have to go off the board.  I won't pretend to know anything about the guy they took, but I know from reading that he was more of a mid-late teens kind of guy according to most of mock drafts and all that I looked at.  Which amounted to one.

-  Spiller to the Bills, huh?  Interesting.  I've heard two different scouting reports, one of which called him the next Chris Johnson, the other which said he's more of a Reggie Bush.  I don't think you can get much more separation than that.  That's like if you're out of town and the concierge tells you he can send a girl up to your room, and she'll either remind you of Megan Fox or Tony Siragusa.

-  If you're a big enough nerd, you might have heard that Marquis Teague, a class of 2011 point guard who is ranked as the #2 overall prospect by Rivals, committed to Kentucky today.  That shouldn't be a huge surprise given that he's the top point guard for the class and Calipari has a pretty good legacy (Derrick Rose, Tyreke Evans, John Wall, Brandon Knight) so it's practically a tradition, but one guy who is really seeing things suddenly fall apart is Rick Pitino.  Teague's father played for Pitino a long time ago, Pitino had been recruiting Teague two solid years before Calipari came into the picture, Pitino hired Teague's high school coach as an assistant, and Teague was essentially all but committed to play at Louisville last summer.  Combine this loss with top 10 recruit Michael Chandler's decision to de-commit from the Ville and the loss of Jeremy Tyler to play overseas last year after having committed to play for Pitino, not to mention all the personal crap going on, and it feels like Pitino is taking the program down.  Down, down, down.   

-  Chargers trade up to take Ryan Mathews out of Fresno and no relation to Cory.  I predict he will be the first pick in many, many fantasy keeper leagues this year.  Welcome to Bustville.  Population = you.

-  This is a lot more entertaining that I remember the draft being in the past.  When Mama W gets home and makes me change the channel I'm actually going to be kind of bummed out.  Oh well.  Booze always kills those feelings of sadness.  That Nic Cage guy had it right in that Las Vegas movie.

-  So the NCAA Tournament is expanding to 68 teams, which I think is awesome if they don't make the four play-in games between the 8 worst teams, thus essentially eliminating four conferences from the "real" tournament right away.  They need to make the play-in games between the last 8 at-large teams in order to grab the four twelve seeds.  They could make a whole day of it, one game each at like noon, 3, 6, and 9pm and call it Bubble Tuesday^TM. That's got a magical ring to it. I'm glad I thought of it and came up with it all on my own and Bogart didn't come up with this idea five years ago at all, no matter what he tells you.  Remember, all lawyers are liars.  Just watch Liar Liar.

-  I'M JOSE CANSECOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

-  Good god is New York State of Mind or whatever it's called overplayed at every single sporting event that has anything remotely related to New York.  It's gotten to the point where it's almost as irritating as the wave or Chris Berman.

-  Mort, who is starting to look suspiciously like a cross of John Madden and Pat Summerall, tells us that if the 49ers don't take Claussen at 17 he's going to fall to the end of the first round.  I can see Arizona taking him at #26, but other than that if he doesn't go at 16 to Tennessee (he will) or the 9ers at 17 there's nobody else who needs a QB.  But again, it's almost certain somebody would trade up to jump the Vikes to get him.  I'm now dreading the almost certainty that they're going to draft Tebow, although I'm strangely titillated at the thought as well.

-  Derrick Morgan is also the name of a character on the pretty good CBS show Criminal Minds.  Good show.  When Inigo Montoya left I thought it was going to go downhill, but the Voice of Fat Tony has been even better.  Plus, both A.J. Cook and Paget Brewster?  Rawr.

-  Claussen officially slips past the 49ers.  Let the games begin.  I'm finding myself hoping he slips all the way down to the Vikings.  Who knew?

-  They just showed a trailer for a movie called "The Losers."  I missed most of it, but I'm assuming it's about the readers of this blog.  Zing.

-  The talking heads on ESPN want us to know that this is the year the Texans finally break through.  Yep, for the fourth year in a row, THIS is the Texans year.

-  Interesting.  They sent a reporter to the house of each of the three borderline first-round QBs:  Erin Andrews to Jimmy Claussen's house, some other nubile young blond to Colt McCoy's house, and Jeremy Schapp to Tebow's house.  I wonder if they planned to send a chick to all three, but when the girl got to Tebow's house he was like "Begone foul temptress!  The sight of thine flesh offends God, and brings a plague of demons uponest the earth!  Thou art banished from my home!  Go forth and pray for forgiveness, vile strumpet, for the stain of the devil's sin is upon your bosom!"

-  Denver takes Demaryius Thomas over Dez Bryant because they are so afraid of a little attitude from their wideouts since they had to ship out Brandon Marshall.  Seriously, you need swagger from your receivers if you want them to be good.  Name one good receiver who wasn't cocky?  You kind of want to say Marvin Harrison, but then you have to remember he shot a bunch of holes in people with a fat-ass handgun, so you can't really go there, can you?  Case closed.

-  This is really going to suck if the Packers take Dez Bryant here.

-  Good.  This Beluga kid was a possible top 10 pick so it sucks the Pack got a steal, but I really didn't want them to get Bryant.  Remember how Randy Moss lit up the Pack his rookie year?  It would have been the same thing.

-  Mountain Dew or Crab Juice?

-  Dez to the Cowboys.  This is either an absolutely perfect match or it's going to be a complete and total disaster.  There is no in-between.  You hear me?  There is no in-between.  Honestly, what a great pick.  This is going to go down with the Vikes' pick of Moss as one of the great first round steals of all-time.  I love this guy.  I think his downside is Chad Johnson.  Yes, downside.  Which means his upside is Jesus.

-  Tebow to Denver?  How odd.  I mean, it's clear to anybody with a brain that Orton isn't exactly the answer, but didn't they just trade for Brady Quinn?  What, exactly, are they doing?  I kind of feel like that McDaniels guy thinks he's a lot smarter than he really is.  Like he's trying to be all creative and innovative and live up to Bill Belichick's example, but this feels like a waste of a pick to me.  Maybe they'll make him a fullback.

-  Some nerd is interviewing Tebow right now and I desperately wish I was watching the actual TV coverage instead of a silent internet feed, but instead we are now watching the Office so I can't complain.  And Pam or Erin has become a legitimate question at this point.  I think I secretly wished the Vikings got Tebow.  My god, the jokes.  God I hope the Vikings draft a super religious virgin.

-  Holy crap this god interview is going on forever.  I wonder god what Tegod is saying?  I wonder if he god referenced god at all, or if it was god about football questions about god adn how he thinks he can god make an impact on the god field as a god quarterback god god.

-  Arizona takes a non-Claussen, which means there are three picks before the Vikes and Claussen is on the board and I'm officially really hoping he ends up a Viking.  Seriously, he could have been a top 10 pick and they can get him at 30?  And he lines up to take over for Favre perfectly.  I really hope this happens.

-  Damn, the Pats have this pick, and they're the kings of trading down, so I fully expect somebody to jump up grab Claussen right here.

-  Nope, they keep it and take somebody something.  Neither Miami or the Jets need a QB, so it's either a trade or they got a shot at Claussen.  They have to take him, don't they?  The guy could have been a top 10 pick and nobody would have batted an eye, and now he can be had at 30?  And it's a position of need?  God, they have to do it, right?  This would be a steal.  I'm actually excited.

-  By the way, how much did Tebow and all his ding-dong friends look like they belonged on Jersey Shore?  But with more bibles and probably more working out.  And also likely more suppressed longingly gay looks.

I'm going to miss the jokes so much.

-  Miami and the Jets both pass on Claussen, so he's just sitting there for the Vikings.  They better take him.  There is zero reason not to.

-  And they trade the pick to the Lions.  That's super boring, although I guess it makes tomorrow more interesting.  Oh, and with that I'm bored and going to stop typing.

Here's What's Going to Happen: Midwest Region

Before I get started with this, I just want to say I fully expect this tournament to be one of the most unpredictable in years, and it wouldn't surprise me at all to see zero #1 seeds in the Final Four - well, it would surprise me, but not shock me. That being said, I'm sure my picks will suck hard, but so will yours jackass.


FIRST ROUND

#1 Louisville over #16 Alabama St/Morehead St: Naturally.

#8 Ohio State over #9 Siena: It seems weird to me to be picking the Buckeyes here after I pimped Siena all year, but I don't feel right picking the Saints. They had a good year, but not a great one, and although they played a whole bunch of good teams, they never beat anybody, although they did play Kansas tough. They aren't a good defensive team, which hurts in the NCAAs, but they do have good guard play, which helps. I just think Ohio State is starting to peak at the right time, and their guards can handle Siena's.

#5 Utah over #12 Arizona. Picking Arizona is the trendy upset pick this year, but I'm not buying it. While I really think Budinger, Wise, and Hill are really an excellent trio for Arizona, there's a reason why they were #62 in the RPI while Utah is #9, and they are #39 on KenPom while Utah is #25. Need more? How about Arizona is 132nd in defensive efficiency - just seven tournament teams are worse. They also allow opponents to shoot almost 36% from three, one of the worse marks in the country. Utah, yep, you guessed it; white boys shoot 38%, one of the better marks in the country. So go ahead and pick your trendy upset - you'll be wrong.

#4 Wake Forest over #13 Cleveland State. There are two schools of thought here. The first is that Wake Forest, who was once ranked as the #1 team in the country, is much better than a four seed and is a sleeper final four contender. The other is that Cleveland State and their super slow tempo and solid defense will be troubling for a team like Wake, who is a bit overrated thanks to their hot start and is horrible at taking care of the ball (200th in turnover %) and whose best player and point guard sports a 1-1 Ast/TO ratio. I am closer to camp #2 than camp #1, but I can't quite pull the trigger on an upset here.

#6 West Virginia over #11 Dayton. I really like West Virginia this year, despite Huggy Bear's track record of early round flameouts. And as much as I liked the A-10 this year, there's no way I can pick Dayton to beat the #8 team in the country according to KenPom. Oh, yeah, WVU is the #8 team in the country using Ken's ratings. I KNEW they were that good.

#3 Kansas over #14 North Dakota State. Give it up Bison fans, give it up. You're going to get destroyed. Almost a home game? What do you think it will be for Kansas? Do you really think Sherron Collins will let precious little gnome/elf/leprechaun Ben Woodside go off? Can those weak little girly armed sissy boys NDSU calls forwards handle Aldrich? Give me a break, nerds.

#7 BC over #10 USC. Looking at stats, I should probably be picking USC here. They are better defensively, and even though the Trojans turn it over way too much, BC doesn't force any turnovers. So the Trojans should probably be the pick. But how can I pick against big-game Tyrese Rice, as a senior in his last chance to shine? I looked, and in his junior and senior seasons he always played well in big games. This is another chance.

#2 Michigan State over #15 Robert Morris. Meh. Robert Morris isn't good enough to make this even remotely interesting.

SECOND ROUND

#1 Louisville over #8 Ohio State. Ohio State might be peaking at the right time, but so is Louisville, and the Cards are infinitely better than the Buckeyes. Yes, infinitely. Seriously, there isn't a single position where the Bucks have an advantage, except possibly backup center. Even OSU's best player, Evan Turner, can't compare to Earl Clark or Terrence Williams - whichever one you want to call the small forward.

#4 Wake over #5 Utah. Probably the toughest pick for me of the entire bracket. I really don't think Wake is that bad, and I think Utah is better than most think. Plus, Wake's strength is their athleticism, and Utah hasn't had much trouble with athletic teams (beat LSU and hung right with Cal). However Wake is better than either of those teams. And Wake's weakness is turnovers, but Utah sucks at forcing them. In the end, the matchup just favors Wake too much and hurts Utah, but I think overall Utah is every bit as good as Wake.

#6 West Virginia over #3 Kansas. There's no doubt Kansas has been super impressive this year, especially with all the talent they lost from last year's team. However, I think it's been a bit of a mirage due to the Big Twelve being down this year. The only good teams the Jayhawks beat in non-conference were Washington and Tennessee, a couple of pretty overrated teams themselves. This could go the other way if they can't stop Aldrich, but I'm going with the Mountaineers.

#2 Michigan State over #7 BC. I mentioned that it was tough to bet against Tyrese Rice, but when he has to go up against Kalin Lucas it's actually not that tough at all.

SWEET SIXTEEN

#1 Louisville over #4 Wake. Here's where I can finally pick against Wake, who should consider themselves fortunate for the draw they got. Remember how the Demon Deacons turn it over too much? Well, the Cardinals are the first team they are going to play who are good at forcing turnovers. Beyond that, they are the second best defensive team in the country according to defensive efficiency (behind Memphis-who played an easier schedule). The Deacs are a quality defensive unit themselves, but struggle against good offensive teams - which the Cards are.

#6 West Virginia over #2 Michigan State. Yep, that's right. Guess how many teams rank in the top 15 in both offensive and defensive efficiency? Two. Gonzaga and WVU, and Gonzaga has the added bonus of playing in a poor conference to pad their stats. And we aren't just stats-related here, believe it or not, the Mountaineers are a really good team. They get scoring from four players, with a healthy mix of inside and out. They're very athletic, but don't turn it over much. Although there's no seven footer here, they have good size including a 6-6 shooting guard. Everybody rebounds, and they do it really well, particularly on the offensive end. Remember this name: Devin Ebanks. He will be this year's Derrick Rose - but without the final four appearance, because...

ELITE 8

#1 Louisville over #6 West Virginia. So pretty much everything I said about West Virginia applies to Louisville, except they're much better in every facet of the game. The biggest difference here will be the fact that WVU doesn't shoot the ball well, and Louisville is one of the best in the world at not letting people shoot the ball well. The opposite applies, but I can't take a Bobby Huggins team any further, especially when they run up against Rick Pitino. Louisville swept WVU in the regular season, but only by a total of nine points so expect this one to be a war, with the Cards pulling it out in the end.

UNC, UCLA move on

Thoughts whilst watching the Great 8 games Saturday night:

UCLA/Xavier

- Wow, both Xavier and UCLA are absolutely great defensive teams. Their fundamentals are tremendous. Double teams, step outs on screens, rotations, getting back to your man - both teams are near flawless. After having Wisconsin's defensive prowess shoved down our Big Ten throats year after year by the announcers, I think both these teams are better. The Badgers are still good, as long as they aren't playing Stephen Curry, but UCLA and X are great.

- That being said, neither one of these teams can shoot here in the first half. Granted, it's tough to get easy shots against these two teams, but even when they are open, nothing is going down, and I can't remember seeing so many shots hit nothing but backboard, by both teams. It's like watching a Gopher scrimmage or something.

- Billy Raftery has made it pretty clear he's a big UCLA guy. He talks about Love and Collison like Madden talks about Urlacher and Favre. It's got to be uncomfortable for Vern Lundquist, having to sit there while Raftery gets a little chubby going every few minutes. Dude, gross.

- UCLA up 33-24 at half. I don't think Xavier is being outplayed that badly, they're just not hitting anything from the outside. Half of their points are off layups and dunks, which they're getting with more ease than UCLA so far. If they can start hitting shots, keep UCLA off the O boards, and find a way to control Love, they can still take this. Of course, easier said than done. UCLA is a 1 seed for a reason. CJ Anderson needs to stop being a woman too, he should be able to score on Shipp all day.

- Winona State won the D-II basketball title. Again. That's like 3 straight years they've been really, really good. I think it's time to make them D-I. If they had been D-I the last few years, I'd probably have been driving down there to watch them instead of having to watch the Gophers.

- UCLA decides to be the UCLA that kicked ass most of the year, and runs out with a 15-4 run to start the second half to go up 20 and turn this into a game that fits in with last nights games - a total blowout. Oof. Was really not expecting this.

- Man, Xavier showing some energy, outhustling UCLA, getting good shots, and nothing going down at all. The difference in the game today has been UCLA making open shots and Xavier missing everything.

- Truly did not expect this kind of whooping, as UCLA heads back to the final four with a 76-57 destruction. Wow. This is the UCLA team that lead me to pick them to win the whole thing.

LOUISVILLE/NORTH CAROLINA

- Rick Pitino has made the Elite 8 in 8 out of the 13 NCAA tournaments he's coached in. That is fairly ridiculous. I really hope he doesn't take the Indiana job (rumored).

- Seriously. Have you ever seen Tyler Hansbrough with his mouth closed? I'll answer for you. No, you haven't.

- Louisville is actually pretty good at not allowing offensive rebounds, but Carolina is killing them, even with Hansbrough on the bench. Combine that with the fact that Carolina is pretty much getting to the rim whenever they want, and they're really lucky to only be down 3.

- As a Louisville fan, let me just say this is disgusting. Cardinals playing zero defense, and even if they manage to make the Heels miss they give up second chances. The press is leading to nothing but easy Heels' baskets, and Pitino is making a huge mistake leaving it on. And on offense, it's basically nothing but 1-on-1 basketball. Horrible.

- When Hansbrough mans up on the perimeter against Earl Clark or Terence Williams, why the eff don't those guys just drive on him? Makes zero sense. Zero.

- Here's something I wrote earlier today, "Louisville likes to press, but they don't turn cause a lot of turnovers and the Heels don't commit many, particularly Lawson who only has 2 TOs in the entire tournament. If the press doesn't create turnovers, it will create easy opportunities for UNC, and make the game more uptempo." HEY PITINO IT'S NOT WORKING CALL THE DAMN THING OFF ALREADY YOU STUPID DAGO WOP.

- Hey, Earl Clark just got the ball at the top of the key with Hansbrough on him, and blew right passed him for an easy layup. Will ya look at that.

- Carolina leads 44-32 at half, and they're kicking the piss out of Louisville. There's been all of one good game this whole set of games so far. I'm counting on you, tomorrow. Please don't let Kansas blow the crap out of Davidson. I'm not really seeing anyway the Memphis/Texas game is a blowout, so maybe we'll at least have that one.

- Louisville looking a little better, cutting it to four. I'm not impressed.

- So the Cardinals tie it up, and then follow up with: Hansbrough layup, Louisville travel, UNC miss, Louisville travel, Hansbrough wide open jumper, Louisville missed front end of 1-and-1. This is how games get away from teams, even after a great run. Just being stupid.

- I've decided I truly, truly hate Hansbrough and UNC in general, and I've always hated Roy Williams. I can't believe I'm going to have to root for Kansas.

- Ah well. Louisville is only losing Padgett and Palacios, and they have a good class coming in. They'll be back.