Cats and Dogs (Beck)

I've ended my hiatus, and in the meantime we had a couple blow-outs yesterday and two barnburners today. Let's get dirty.

Recapping Thursday, #3-seeds laid down the hammer: Villanova trounced Duke 77-54 and Missouri bushwhacked Memphis 102-91. Both #1-seeds won: UConn's was easy over Purdue, but Pittsburgh survived Xavier 60-55.

On Friday, Louisville took a dump on Arizona's chest, winning 103-64; Oklahoma dispatched of Syracuse 84-71 with little effort; and the Tar Heels slapped the taste out of Gonzaga's mouth, taking it 98-77. The closest game of the day was #3-seed Kansas versus #2-seed Michigan State, but the Spartans played tight defense late and made their free-throws, winning it 67-62.

And my, oh my, what we saw today. #3-seed Missouri Tigers -- after a surprise upset over Memphis, whom many had going to the Final Four in their brackets, if not winning the title -- squared off against the #1-seed UConn Huskies in the desert of Glendale, Arizona. Missouri hung tough throughout, down 6 points at the half, but having led at points in the half. They were only down three with under two minutes to play, but the Huskies were led by 6'1" freshman Kemba Walker's circus shot and then A.J. Price's clutch shot at the end to extend the lead, one that the Tigers couldn't overcome. Walker was the king of the day, scoring 23 points in 25 minutes off the bench, and Jim Calhoun is in the Final Four for the third time is in career. The last two times the Huskies went to the Final Four, they won national championships.

But the thrilling game of the day was definitely the one in Boston, Massachusetts, pitting #3-seed Villanova against #1-seed Pittsburgh, a re-match of two Big East powerhouses. The Wildcats played the Panthers earlier in the season, a game in which DeJuan Blair only played 23 minutes with foul trouble and Villanova won by 10 points. This game would be much closer, although it didn't start out like that: Villanova was up big at the beginning, but the Panthers scratched and clawed their way back and were up 2 at the break. The game was played like anticipated: very physical. The Cats racked up 24 fouls: three players with four (Reggie Redding, Shane Clark, and Dante Cunningham) and three players with three (Scottie Reynolds, Corey Fisher, and Dwayne Anderson). Guard Brad Wanamaker for Pitt was the only player to foul out. That being said, this game was tight throughout, and the two stars for Pitt showed: DeJuan Blair had 20 points and 10 rebounds, and Sam Young had 28 points and 7 rebounds. That being said, the Panthers didn't get too much help from their other star -- Levance Fields, 10 points on 2-9 FG -- or any of their role players. Villanova was led in scoring by Dwayne Anderson with 17, but the star of the day was my man Scottie Reynolds and his 15 points. I told you to watch him, because what did he do with the game tied at 76 and 5.5 seconds left to play? He took the ball coast-to-coast, drove into the lane, arguably drew a foul, and made a clutch lay-up with 0.5 seconds left to play. The Cats took it home and made the Final Four for the first time since 1985, when they went on to upset Patrick Ewing and the Georgetown Hoyas for a national championship as a #8-seed.

The fact is, Pittsburgh won close games in the three rounds before this against lesser teams than Villanova. On the other hand, Villanova had trouble in the first round against American and then cruised to huge wins over UCLA and Duke. Pitt won games ugly, but you had to know it was going to catch up to them at some point. You wear your own team down with such highly-contested games because your star players have to play huge minutes and must be on top of their games throughout. This far into the tournament, your team's fatigue will show and all that luck in the previous three games will run out. That all caught up with Pittsburgh, and they are the first #1-seed to fall in the 2009 Tournament.

I have to talk my shit again as I reiterate my pick of Villanova over Pittsburgh to go into the Final Four. Call me Nostradamus.

And tomorrow, we've got the Battle of the Paisans, pairing Tom Izzo and #2-seed Michigan State against Rick Pitino and his #1-seed Louisville Cardinals. Look for Louisville to take this one and keep the Spartans from reaching Detroit. In the other game, as I also predicted, Tyler Hansbrough and UNC will take on Blake Griffin and Oklahoma. Ty Lawson is definitely back, and while his injury is probably turf-toe and will take months to fully heal, he'll play on it and have the same amount of success that he's had in the last two rounds against LSU and Gonzaga. The Tar Heels will take it, as long as Sooners' head coach Capel doesn't send a thug into the game with the sole purpose of stepping on Lawson's toe.

This will set up match-ups between Louisville-UConn and UNC-Villanova in Detroit. It's amazing how good the Big East is this year, already sending two teams to the Final Four and probably three after tomorrow, but I still have my money on UNC bringing home the championship, which, in my mind, nullifies anything the Big East may have accomplished so far.

Hook 'em, Tar Heels.


- Beck