Author: John Paulsen (Page 297 of 937)
I’m going to pretend I work for ESPN and answer the questions that the Worldwide Leader asked its college basketball writers.
What are you most looking forward to Saturday?
Seeing just what kind of crowd Butler is able to draw and whether or not it helps Bulldogs beat Michigan State. Final Four crowds are notoriously corporate and laid back, so if the Butler faithful (and the newly converted) can create some real home court atmosphere, it will make things tough for Michigan State. I’ll also be watching how the Bulldogs handle playing in a dome; they’re used to playing in smaller gyms and fieldhouses in the Horizon League.
At the end of the day, whose performance will we be talking about?
There are a long list of possibilities, but Nolan Smith is playing excellent basketball of late. He’s the only Duke guard that will be able to get into the lane and create his own shot, and his floater will be very useful against West Virginia’s zone. And for all of the talk of Jon Scheyer’s “clutch-ness,” Smith isn’t afraid to take the big shot either.
Butler-Michigan State: Who wins and why?
Despite the Spartans’ experience, I think the Bulldogs win a tight one. They’ve already beat two teams (Syracuse, K-State) that are better than Michigan State, so they appear to be the better team. The question is — can they put all the distractions and the sheer magnitude of the game behind them and just play ball? I think they can.
Duke-West Virginia: Who wins and why?
I have a feeling this game will be nip-and-tuck the entire way with the Blue Devils pulling away at the end with a big three and excellent free throw shooting. Even though it was a 2-3, Baylor’s zone will get Duke ready to face the Mountaineers’ 1-3-1. I don’t expect West Virginia to continue to shoot the three like they did against Kentucky — Duke is excellent at guarding the arc.
Be sure to check back around tip-off — I’ll be tweeting during both games.
In a piece for GQ, Charles P. Pierce skewered the idea of tournament expansion.
And let’s not be naive. This is going to happen, and it’s going to happen on ESPN. (For reasons too arcane for anyone except business-school dweebs and broadcast executives, the NCAA can opt out of its ludicrous 11-year, $6 billion broadcast deal with CBS after this year’s tournament.) It’s going to happen despite the fact that the idea has been universally scorned everywhere outside of the NCAA itself and the fraternity of basketball coaches, who see it as a way to keep some of their less-than-competent brethren employed by fudging the measurement of success that making the tournament has become. In a way, it is very similar to the endless debates about campaign-finance reform. The reason we don’t have campaign-finance reform is that the people who least want it are the same people who will have to vote to enact it. The reason we are going to have a ninety-six-team NCAA tournament field despite all the huffing and blowing against it is that the only people who really want it are the people perfectly positioned to make it happen. And all they have to do is ride out the rage until the first ball goes up in the first game of the first revamped tournament. Then, they’re home free.
What we have tipping off on Saturday, then, is the last real NCAA tournament.
He goes on to pick Butler over West Virginia in the final.
“Two of our main goals heading into this season were to sign Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol to contract extensions,” continued [Lakers GM Mitch] Kupchak. “With the signing of Pau earlier this season and the signing of Kobe today, we were able to accomplish those goals, helping to keep the core of this team intact for the foreseeable future and in turn help to ensure the franchise’s continued success over the years to come.”
No salary information is available, but I’m sure he’s going to make the maximum.
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