After Thursday night's disappointment (which I will cover later in separate blog entries, including my open letter to Coach Pearl and thoughts about next year), I decided to take Friday night off from basketball and have a lovely date with my beautiful wife Martha.
Who am I kidding? I was watching the Davidson game on the bar TV behind her head the whole time. I remember something she said about neglecting her needs and spending too much time on basketball, but I was too engrossed with Stephen Curry to pay much attention.
I recorded the Memphis/Michigan State game for breakfast viewing this morning and quickly got over my Louisville hangover.
(Now, before you accuse me of band-wagoning or Brutus-esque behavior, I have degrees from both The University of Tennessee and The University of Memphis. On February 23rd, I was 100% Volunteer. The other 364 days of the year, I pull for the Tigers too.)
If you missed the 1st half of last night's Sweet Sixteen game, you missed the most impressive half of basketball I (and Dick Vitale, who said what I was already thinking) have witnessed all year. Memphis was flat-out unstoppable. They were efficient on offense, dynamic in the open floor and everywhere on defense.
Derrick Rose flew by defenders like he was on roller skates. Chris Douglas-Roberts kept going to his 7-iron (my name for a shot you always know is going to be good) floater in the lane. Sean Taggert looked like an NBA post player with his array of moves. Joey Dorsey was a beast who stayed out of foul trouble.
Long story short - Memphis 50 Michigan State 20 at the half.
I was all settled in with my large cup of coffee and bowl of cereal for a morning of Memphis Madness, but barely got a Corn Pop in my mouth before the Tigers were up double digits. Michigan State, known for dominating the boards, got whipped by the Memphis bigs. Drew Neitzal was shut down and taunted by Joey Dorsey the entire half.
Suddenly, I'm excited about the tournament again. The Vols definitely got short-changed with a #2 seed, Butler in the 2nd Round, and generally no national respect (which they justified with their performance against Louisville). The only team getting any less respect has been Memphis:
"They play in a weak conference."
"They cannot make free throws."
"They are not efficient enough on offense."
It has been all UNC, UCLA and Kansas talk, but Memphis IS the most talented, deep team in the country. Derrick Rose might be the best player left in the tournament - that includes Kevin Love, Tyler Hansbrough, Stephen Curry, and D.J. Augustine. John Calipari has his team clicking at the right time.
The state of Tennessee has been the home of the best college basketball all year and still has a chance of capturing a National Championship if Memphis plays anywhere close to the way it did last night.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment