Kansas’ three guard attack proved to be more explosive than Villanova’s as the Jayhawks jumped to a 19 point halftime lead and coasted home 72-57. Mario Chalmers, who was cut by Villanova coach Jay Wright this summer when trying out for one of the ABA-USA teams, showed him what he missed out on as he scored 14 points and was perfect 6-6 from the line.
The Jayhawks defense shut down the Wildcats and held them to 36% from the field and only 3-17 from behind the arc. If Kansas can shut down Stephen Curry and Jason Richards like they shut down Scottie Reynolds nad Dante Cuningham, then Bill Self will be making his first trip to the final four. I know Kansas fans are already dreaming about a rematch with former coach Roy Williams.
With all of the talk about how poorly Memphis shoots free throws, it might not matter if they keep jumping to leads and showing the great depth like tonight as they dismantled Michigan State. I don’t kow if I have ever seen a Tom Izzo coached team look so out of whack in the tournament. In a game in which I thought the Spartans would foul the Tigers into submission, it never materialized. They just couldn’t catch them.
Memphis was able to keep it fast paced from the opening tip. Calipari likes to talk about his new offense “Dribble Drive Motion.” On paper it is simply drive and kick. On the court with five future NBA players who have bought in and are unselfish it is devastating. Michigan State had no answer as they fell behind 50-20 at halftime. With leads like the Tigers have had, free throw shooting won’t be an issue. Oh and by the way, all you naysayers who say they can’t win because of poor free throw shooting, they shot 26-35 from the line. Not too bad.
John Calipari has created a potential monster at Memphis. This is the third year in a row they have reached the Elite Eight. Now to really earn his money they need to get to the Final Four. If they can do that, they can become what UNLV was in the Tark era. A team that is above the level of their league. (Quick, name me three other teams in Conference USA. That’s my point.)
My money is on Memphis against Texas. Although, the Longhorns have athletes to contend with Memphis and a home court advantage. Those two things should keep the game close for a while.
Sidenote: I said at the beginning of the tournament that it was teams that made a large number of threes or late threes will prosper the most. Xavier and Davidson are two examples of that theory.
NAIA note: Oklahoma City won it’s second consecutive national championship in Kansas City this week. What is even more amazing is that head coach Ray Harper has been to the national championship game (NAIA and NCAA Division II) 9 out of his 12 years as a head coach. He now has multiple national championships at two different schools. He is the only coach who can make that claim. And if you don’t believe how good of a coach he is, just ask Bruce Pearl. When Pearl was at Southern Indiana, Harper’s Kentucky Wesleyan teams owned them.
