Sunday, April 1, 2007

Final Four down to 2

So, the Final Two is just as I predicted, Florida and Ohio State. If I were an Ohio State fan, I might hope that Oden and Conley suck it up and the lose, so next year they will both come back with the addition of their 7 foot McDonald's All-American freshman. If OSU wins, I'm thinking that both of them leave and sign with Mike Conley Sr. Florida should win this game though, since Oden should have trouble with a poor-man's Garnett and Elton Brand (Noah and Horford). Of course, OSU showed against GTown that they didn't need Oden to win. Despite all the big names, this game might be decided more by the swingmen and the shooters. Butler and Lewis for OSU, and Green and Humphrey for Florida should have more of an impact then they realize. I never can tell if these guys make it easier down low for Oden, Noah, and Horford, or if the shooterse make it easier for the guys down low. Anyways, I picked Florida at the beginning of the tournament, and I'm sticking to it.
Lets have a recap of Saturday nights Games though.
Roy Hibbert did not dominate as much as he should have. I didn't think he'd do that well against Oden because I believe Oden is Bill Russell incarnate with 2 inches of height, and more offensive skill, but when Oden got 2 quick fouls, I felt that while Hibbert did get a lot of easy buckets, he could have got more. They should have made it more of an effort to give him the ball. Do you think 6-8 Twilliger or 6-9 Hunter would do anything against a guy who's 7-2? Green, the Big East player of the year, and likely top 10 pick, had 9 points on 5 shots, which is great if you're a role player, but for a star player, I want him taking at least 15 shots. Another problem with Georgetown is that while Wallace played well, Summers stunk up the place, and the bench provided 0 points. I've heard talks that both Hibbert and Green might return, and while I don't know if either of them will need it because they'll be drafted at the 8th and 12th picks right now, I can see how the allure of one more year of college ball for a prestigious degree at Georgetown University might be enticing. Georgetown's stars might also want to come back to "prove something", because they just seemed to play half-hearted. I think the fact that they were down at half with Oden having played very little made them believe that they had no shot. Whatever the case was, I would just go to the NBA for both of them, but staying would be cool too, no wrong choice here. If Green stays, I'd try to be more assertive at the end of games like Law was, and if Hibbert stays, I'd try to beef up a bit so I don't have to wear a silly t-shirt.
For the Florida game, I knew from the beginning that UCLA was going to lose. UCLA is the type of team that will have trouble against teams with 2 good big men (Washington, UNC, Florida), and it showed early. Having Afflalo get two quick cheap fouls didn't help out at all either. Florida only won by 10, but it seemed like a whole lot more. Chris Richard, a big man any team would love to have starting for them except for maybe UNC and of course Florida, was 7 for 7 with 16 points off the bench. Mbah a Moute, UCLA's best "big man" on the other hand fouled out in just 19 minutes of play. I don't want to blame the refs, but the calls did seem a bit one sided. I mean, how do 2 of your 4 best players foul out in 19 and 22 minutes combined? Of course it probably wouldn't have mattered. Noah and Horford with their 28 rebounds outrebounded UCLA by 3 as it is, and Brewer made 4 of 5 from 3 land to complement Humphrie's 4 for 8 and make up for Green's 1 for 7.
Anyways, Monday's game should be exciting, but I might miss tipoff because the M's game might overlap, and who wouldn't want to see Felix dominate opening day against the hated A's (hated only because their management is so much better than ours, and because they smoked us last year head to head and record comparison)

1 comment:

The MixRaptor said...

Yeah, I had Florida and Ohio State too, with Florida winning it all. I don't think Oden is a Russell incarnate. He may have the talent, but not even close to the tenacity, and you can only blame so much of that on age.