Thoughts on the NCAA Tourney

1. If you don’t start with Stephen Curry, you’ve been watching the NIT. The diminutive Davidson shooting guard not only single-handedly carried his team into the Elite 8, but did so against three perennial powerhouses. He dropped 40 and 30 points, respectively, against Gonzaga and Georgetown, then poured in 33 more against a Wisconsin defense hailed as one of the nations best. Michael Flowers tried as he could to contain Curry, but all Dell’s son needs is an inch between the ball’s release point and a defender’s hand. And eventually, he found the inch.
From a fan’s standpoint, this was about as entertaining as anything sports-related I’ve seen in a while. The Giants victory was shocking and the NBA has been riveting. Curry is something entirely different; he is just enjoyable to watch. It’s a pleasure watching the fair-faced sophomore. He never complains about calls, never shows up opponents, and always defers credit to his teammates. It’s not something you see everyday.

2. Memphis reminds me a lot of the Giants in their Super Bowl run. Obviously there are many differences, and I’m not trying to say that Memphis is the same sort of underdog as the Giants. The similarity I see is that each team had a glaring weakness that was not exploited nearly enough by their opponents.
The Giants had one of the most unreliable kickers in the NFL, and contenders almost always rely on their kicker at one time or another during a season and playoffs. Well, Laurence Tynes was not asked to kick one clutch field goal during the regular season. Then the playoffs came around and his time came against the Packers in the NFC Championship, and what happened? He blew, pretty badly too, two potential game-winning field goals. If not for the overtime collapse of Brett Favre and the tremendous, if not unwarranted, confidence of Tom Coughlin in Tynes, the Giants may be remembered as a great team that was one kicker away from a Super Bowl berth.
The Tigers, meanwhile, are one of the worst free throw shooting teams in the country, but as long as they blow-out teams – or at least have a large enough lead that a few missed free throws down the stretch won’t cost them, like it almost did against Mississippi State – their weakness will not be exploited. For both the Giants and the Tigers, capitalizing on these mistakes involve opponents staying close until the end, a task easier said than done, but when a team does manage to keep the margins slim, those weaknesses will begin to show. The Giants managed to escape what seemed like their ultimate destiny; that is, losing at the foot of their kicker. The question is, Will the Tigers manage to do the same and escape what seems like their destiny?
I say probably not. Blowing out Texas is one thing, and a pretty impressive feat at that. But the Longhorns are not UCLA, and Rick Barnes is not Ben Howland. My guess is, the Memphis-UCLA Final Four game will come down to free-throw shooting and the Bruins will take advantage.

3. Derrick Rose is the best prospect in the nation right now. Not only does he mesmerize every game, but he does so in limited opportunities. He is not the team’s go-to-guy, that title belongs to CDR. What is asked to do though as their point guard is direct the team and take his shots when they come, in the flow of the game. It’s one thing to standout, like Beasley and even Curry, when you are the team. It’s another to put up the staggering, triple-double-threatening numbers of Rose on a limited amount of shots.
He is a terrific rebounder and passer, and always seems in control when he has the ball. He ought to be the first pick.