Memphis-UCLA: UCLA wants to play fierce, hands-on, cutter-bumping man-to-man. Memphis wants to beat you off the dribble and get to the rim. As somebody once said, you can’t always get what you want.
So the hard truth is the refs are going to have a lot to do with this one. One reason to pick UCLA might be that even if Memphis gets the whistles it needs, it can only cash them in by making foul shots, which as we know the Tigers aren’t good at.
The monster matchup, of course, is among the point guards, UCLA junior Darren Collison and Memphis freshman Derrick Rose. Collison has been more like a freshman, wildly erratic, doing things like fouling out with four points, as he did in the Elite Eight game with Xavier. Collison is a very physical defender so, again, officiating will be an issue.
Rose, on the other hand, seems unaturally cool, maybe even to a fault, although he’s been brilliant in the tournament and gotten better as it went on. (The two star freshmen here, Rose and Kevin Love, are so poised that it’s almost like the NCAAs are beneath their pay grade.)
UCLA isn’t as good as Florida of 06 and 07, but its season path, seasoned nucleus and emphasis on D reminds me of the Gators.
UCLA 66, Memphis 61.
Kansas-North Carolina: All season long I’ve been impressed Kansas’ unselfishness, not only its willingless to share the ball but its ability to do so. They can all pass, and they know how to find each other.
Witness the Villanova game, in which the Wildcats tried some perimeter traps and chased the ball around some to disrupt the Jayhawks. It bothered Kansas once in a while, but for the most part they just went over the top. Lob, dunk, etc.
With all that in mind, it was amazing how guardable Kansas looked against Davidson. Davidson played pretty straight man, switching a lot (which should have created mismatches given Kansas’ overall size and athleticism). One criticism of Kansas has been that it lacks a go-to-scorer, and maybe that showed up here. It could be that the Jayhawks needed, and lacked, a guy to just get the ball and clear everybody out and go to it.
Anyway, Kansas’ stock fell, for me, against Davidson. Carolina’s stock keeps going up. The Tar Heels seem to have caught up with Roy Williams’ vision- you don’t get intensity from playing fast, you get to play fast from intensity. I can’t believe how much they’ve improved defensively.
And they have Psycho T.
North Carolina 88, Kansas 75.
