With freshmen- and
sophomore-dominated rosters, the LSU and UCLA teams looked to be capable of
making strong runs at the Final Four.
And that’s what they’ve done,
successfully, at least year before most – at least those who don’t reside in
Baton Rouge,
La., and
Westwood,
Calif. – thought it was likely to
happen.
John Brady’s Tigers and
Ben Howland’s Bruins played national championship-caliber defense
Saturday during the respective regional championship victories over
Texas (in
Atlanta) and
Memphis (in
Oakland).
The teams will hook up in the RCA
Dome next Saturday afternoon in one of the Final Four semifinals and will taking
different travel routes to
Indianapolis.
But the method used in extending
their seasons another week were remarkable comparable, at least from a defensive
standpoint.
Their defenses all but enveloped
potent frontcourts while pressuring jump shooters and rendering transition
offenses negligible.
LSU generated much more in the way
of offensive productivity during its 70-60 overtime victory over the Longhorns
than did UCLA in its 50-45, ugly-as-all-get-out victory over top-seed
Memphis.
And that was due to the performance
of post players Glen Davis (26 points) and Tyrus Thomas (21), who
dominated a frontcourt that included the Big 12’s Player of the Year (P.J. Tucker) and the possible first choice in the next NBA Draft (LaMarcus
Aldridge).
Needless to say, the
preparation-obsessed Howland and his staff are probably already getting
bleary-eyed squinting at game footage of the Tigers while trying to fashion a
scheme to keep Davis and Thomas from doing to the Bruins what they did to
Texas Saturday and Duke two
evenings before.
As for LSU’s preparation for the
Bruins’ offense . . . well, if Saturday was a barometer, that wouldn’t seem to
be much of a problem.
Other than center Ryan Hollins (six of seven from the
field), UCLA’s starters were a combined three of 25 from the field.
Once again, that was 22 misses in
25 attempts with the only shots to sink being two first-half 3-pointers by Arron Afflalo and a jumper along the
right baseline late in the game by his backcourt mate, Jordan Farmar.
But Garrett Temple, who did
a solid job on Duke All-America J.J. Redick (three of 18 from the field),
and the Tigers’ only senior starter, Darrel Mitchell, will undoubtedly
draw the assignments on Afflalo and Farmar,
respectively.
And how easily could we be talking about a
different pair of teams representing the Atlanta and Oakland regions in Indy next
Saturday?
Very
easily.
Remember, LSU needed a 3-pointer
from Darrel Mitchell to edge Texas
A&M, 58-57, in a second-round game in
Jacksonville.
And the Bruins trailed by as many
as 14 points in the second half Thursday night before scoring the final 11
points to edge Gonzaga, 73-71, in the most stunning comeback of the
tournament.
Scout.com’s All-Regional
teams:
ATLANTA
MVP: Glen Davis
(LSU)
The others: Tyrus Thomas and
Garrett Temple (both LSU); Kenton Paulino
(Texas); Shelden Williams (Duke); Kevin Pittsnogle (West
Virginia).
OAKLAND
MVP: Ryan Hollins
(UCLA)
The others: Arron Afflalo
and Luc Richard Mbah a Moute (both UCLA); Adam Morrison (Gonzaga);
Rodney Carney and Darius Washington (both
Memphis).
A look at Sunday’s other regional
finals:
All times
Eastern
WASHINGTON,
D.C.
REGION
No. 1
Connecticut (30-3)
vs. No. 11 George Mason (26-7), 2:40
p.m.
Things to consider: The
Patriots, in wins over Michigan State,
North Carolina and
Wichita
State, have played as well as any of
the teams that played on Saturday or Sunday. As for the top-seeded Huskies,
they’ve played just well enough to pull away from
Albany, hold off
Kentucky and rally to edge
Washington in overtime. A few
weeks ago, someone wrote – come to think of it, that “someone” was me – that
Coach Jim Calhoun’s Huskies have the largest margin for error of any team
in the country. And that point was illustrated succinctly during each of their
NCAA Tournament victories. But “just well enough” might not be good enough
against a George Mason team that plays better half-court defense and will take
better care of the basketball than did the Washington Huskies during their loss
to
Connecticut.
Frank’s Spin: It’s about
time that the Huskies put together something close to a solid effort on both
ends of the floor. If they pick Sunday to do it, they’ll be playing in
Indianapolis
Saturday.
MINNEAPOLIS
REGION
No. 1 Villanova (28-4) vs. No. 3
Florida (30-6),
5:05
p.m.
Things to consider: Randy Foye,
Kyle Lowry and Will Sheridan saved the day --- more specifically, the
season --- for the region’s top seed in its overtime victory over
Boston
College Friday. The Wildcats, after a
slow start, did a pretty solid job of defending the Eagles’ half-court offense.
But the Gators, with 6-11 Joakim Noah, 6-8 Al Horford and 6-7
Corey Brewer, will present the same kind of matchup problems that Texas
(in non-conference play) and Big East opponents Connecticut, Georgetown and
Pittsburgh did. Of course, those matchup “problems” will work two ways when the
Gators defend the quick and always-attacking Wildcats straight
up.
Frank’s Spin: Assuming they
can keep Noah from dominating play – which South Alabama,
Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Georgetown
couldn’t come close to doing – the Wildcats will hook up with
Connecticut for the third time
this season in
Indianapolis.
Inducted into the USBWA Hall of Fame last April, Frank Burlison is Scout.com’s national basketball expert and is also a columnist for the Long Beach Press-Telegram. He can be reached at frank.burlison@presstelegram.com.
Read more of Burlison’s pieces at www.frankhoops.com.