Thoughts on tonight's games

Memphis - UCLA
Holy cow. Memphis is REALLY good. Rose and CDR are dominant guards. They are tall - they would also be long if they were laying on the floor, but most of the time they are upright, and as a result tall. Please make a note. They are quick. They have decided to make free throws. Dorsey is a great eraser in the middle. They are quick and attack defensively, so someone's always helping when they do make mistakes.

I got really tired of Billy Packer harping on UCLA not getting the ball inside to Kevin Love. He was NEVER open. The reason he wasn't getting the ball was Memphis played great D. During one of these tirades, Chris Douglas-Roberts drove down the baseline and just posterized him.

Another point CONSTANTLY mentioned was the three thirty win seasons by Ben Howland. Which has been done three times, by Adolph Rupp, Calipari and Howland. I decided to see how close Wooden came to that mark. He coached 31 games three times, and that was the most. Memphis will play it's 40th game Monday night.

Kansas - UNC
The Jayhawks played unbelievably well the first 15 minutes, outscoring the Tarheels 40-12. In the next 14 minutes, they were outscored 38-14 to play a 28 point lead down to 4 points. Kansas completely disrespected Tyler Hansbrough, and scored at will inside. Hansbrough is not a shot blocker, and seemed helpless to help on the interior. I hadn't really set and watched Hansbrough for an entire game. I think he will be very successful in a European league.

For the 'consensus National Player of the Year', the line was 17 pts, 9 rebs, 1 assist. To go back to a previous post, Beasley, with a lot less talent around him, went for 39 pts, 11 rebs, 3 blocked shots in a loss at Lawrence, and 25 pts, 6 boards, 2 assists and 1 block in a win over Kansas in Manhattan. On Saturday night, Hansbrough played like the 3rd best oversized Caucasian on the floor, behind Cole Aldrich and Sasha Kaun. Cole Aldrich - who the !#@$!@$ is Cole Aldrich? - blocked 4 shots in 16 minutes. Hansbrough blocked 3 shots cumulatively in the last eight games comprising the ACC and NCAA tournaments.

Thoughts on the Final
Memphis, to me, is playing better. Kansas has more depth. Memphis seems to be tougher. I think it will be a entertaining game. I don't think Kansas has the guards overall to match up with Derrick Rose and CDR. I think it will be an entertaining game, and I can't wait to watch it. Bobby Knight made the point that Kansas played well the first 15 minutes; Memphis has been playing like that the last three games for 40 minutes.