That Wasn't Even That Fun (Beck)

Talk about two anticlimactic Elite Eight games after two of the most exciting games yesterday that I've ever seen in my life.

While it was almost a chore to watch, it was still a surprise to see Tom Izzo's Michigan State Spartans upset Rick Pitino's #1-seed Louisville Cardinals. After the Cards laid the smack down on Arizona in their last game, it looked like they had hit their stride and put those two shaky games against Morehead State and Siena behind them. Truth be told, the Cardinals looked utterly inept against the Spartans, and the same team from the first two rounds showed up against better competition. If anything, the Cardinals might be able to blame Arizona: the Wildcats played so poorly and were so easily out-matched that the Cardinals probably had a bloated ego and thought all their games would be that easy. They came out strong and built an early lead, but the Spartans clawed their back behind Goran Suton, the Bosnian Bombardier, and his 17 points in the first half. At the end of the opening stanza, the Spartans actually led 30-27. However, the second-half was a different story: the Spartans' defense smothered the Cardinals and they kept them at arm's-length the rest of the way, taking it 64-52. The Cardinals should be ashamed of themselves for packing it in like they did: they were down 10 points with 10 minutes to play, and after that they didn't even look they wanted to be out there. No heart, no effort, and no W. Terrence Williams, the leading-scorer for the Cardinals, only had 5 points on 1-7 FG, and their #2 leading-scorer, Samardo Samuels, scored a goose-egg on 0-7 FG. The #1-overall-seed in the NCAA tournament will watch the Final Four from home. Meanwhile, the Spartans will head to Detroit. To this day, no player whose stayed for four years under Tom Izzo HASN'T made the Final four. That's amazing.

In the other game, the North Carolina Tar Heels went up 7-0 early over the Oklahoma Sooners and never looked back. They were up 32-23 at the half, built their lead up to 20 at one point in the second half, and the closest the Sooners got was within 9 points. In the end, UNC took it 72-60.

The game that was supposed to feature last year's Naismith Player of the Year Tyler Hansbrough versus this year's Naismith Blake Griffin was a dud. Blake Griffin had lots of the rebounds in the first half but couldn't score, and Hansbrough suffered from early foul trouble and scored a grand total of 4 points in the first half. Griffin took over the second half and finished with 23 points and 16 rebounds, but the rest of his team looked terrible. The Sooners never had a deep bench, and it was exposed today. Plus, the Sooners finished the game shooting 2-19 from 3-point range, starting off 0-15 until a few minutes left in the second half. Meanwhile, the Tar Heels were balanced as always: Danny Green scored 14 of his 18 in the first half, and then Ty Lawson scored 15 of his 19 in the second half. Deon Thompson added 10 and Wayne Ellington had 9. It wasn't very interesting to watch, unless you were like me and had UNC picked in their brackets and loved to see them win it easily.

So the Final Four is set after two #1-seeds fall. On Saturday, Michigan State will face UConn and Villanova will take on UNC. The Big East is still impressive with two of their teams in their Final Four, even though their regular-season and tournament champion Louisville Cardinals won't be joining them. Villanova takes the cake for most exciting game of the tournament, but I don't think they can match up with UNC. This is the third time in 6 years that UNC head coach Roy Williams has made it to the Final Four, and the Tar Heels have won their NCAA-tournament-record 100th game. Hansbrough, as much as I think he's a tool, has unfinished business and wants to win the title, and I think that from here on out he can match up against any teams' big man and Ty Lawson is easily the most-talented guard remaining. I love Scottie Reynolds, but Ty Lawson plays the point better than Reynolds and will get his team moving better than Reynolds will.

In the other game, Michigan State will play the Final Four a mere 90 miles away from their campus in East Lansing against UConn. There is some precedent here: when UConn won both of their national championships they came out of the Western region in the bracket, as they have done this year. Michigan State fulfilled the Izzo-Promise as I mentioned earlier, and they will indubitably have the most fans in attendance for any of their games in Detroit. Suton will face Thabeet down low and Kalin Lucas will face AJ Price at the point, and Calhoun will square off against Izzo. I like UConn in this game, but if I've learned anything, it's that casting aside Michigan State bites me in the ass. That being said, the Huskies chomp the Spartans, and will face the Tar Heels in the final.

From there, it will be anybody's game.


- Beck