The Final Four kicked of yesterday, and the two semifinal games were snoozers, completely unrepresentative of this year’s tournament. Defense reigned supreme in both games, with Florida shutting down George Mason’s three-point shooting (2-11) and containing the Patriots’ interior players (23 points from Jai Lewis and Will Thomas on 9-25 shooting). The Gators were on fire from behind the arc, going 12-25 from long distance, en route to a 73-58 victory over this year’s Cinderellas.
I thought the under (121) would be a good bet in the second game, and as I watched both teams struggle scoring in the second half, I was kicking myself for not placing a wager. The final score had the Bruins on top, 59-45. UCLA shut down LSU’s inside game, forcing Glen Davis into 5-17 shooting. Davis also missed six of his 10 free throws, which didn’t help. UCLA’s defense is becoming stuff of legend, but their offense showed up in the first half as they scored 39 points against a good LSU defense, giving them a 15-point halftime lead. Freshman Luc Richard Mbah a Moute had a great game, scoring 17 points and grabbing 9 rebounds in the win.
The Florida / UCLA title game is set for 9:21 pm (ET) on Monday. Stay tuned for a preview of the game.
