Category: March Madness (Page 17 of 56)

      Butler, Duke to meet on Monday

      April 3, 2010 /

      The Butler/MSU game was tied at halftime and tight the whole way, but Butler managed a late lead against the Spartans and held on to win. The Bulldogs shot just 31% from the field, but outscored Michigan State by seven at the free throw line and forced 16 turnovers, which offset the poor accuracy from the field. Butler held on to win, 52-50.

      Gordon Hayward led the Bulldogs with 19 points and nine rebounds. Butler played the stretch without Shelvin Mack and Matt Howard, who were sidelined with leg spasms and a concussion, respectively.

      In the late game, the Blue Devils built an eight-point lead by dominating the glass and hitting their threes, and pulled away in the second half behind their “Big Three” — Jon Scheyer (23), Kyle Singler (21) and Nolan Smith (19). Brian Zoubek controlled the glass on both ends of the floor, posting six points and 10 rebounds.

      Monday night’s matchup will be touted as a David versus Goliath affair, but Duke and Butler are pretty similar in the way they play. Both teams hang their hats on good man-to-man half court defense and efficient, ball-control offense. It should be a low-scoring, tight game. I expect that Duke will be favored by five or six, but Butler is fully capable of pulling the upset. I’m sure the crowd will be pulling for the Bulldogs.

      College Basketball, March Madness

      Writers Q&A: The Final Four questions

      April 3, 2010 /

      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.

      College Basketball, March Madness

      Pierce: This ‘is the last real NCAA tournament’

      April 2, 2010 /

      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.

      College Basketball, March Madness

      Breaking down one of Butler’s favorite plays

      April 2, 2010 /

      Yesterday, I described the play that the Cavs used to beat the Bucks on Wednesday, so in preparation for tomorrow’s Final Four games, I thought I’d dig into one of Butler’s favorite sets.

      They ran this play at least twice on Kansas State last weekend and scored both times. It’s especially effective against defenses that try to get out in the passing lanes.

      The play starts with the point guard (#1), usually Ronald Nored, at the top of the key, dribbling to his right. Matt Howard (#5) starts to move towards Gordon Hayward (#4) as if he’s going to set a screen for him. Shelvin Mack (#2) starts to creep up the lane towards Howard’s man.

      Here’s Howard’s read: If his man is over his left shoulder (as he’s facing Hayward), preparing to help on Hayward (#4) as he comes off the screen, then Howard (#5) knows he has a step on him. He doesn’t screen and immediately releases to the basket.

      If Howard’s man is hugging him, Mack (#2) can set a screen, but usually he just engages his own defender (by walking into him and effectively screening him off), so he can’t help on Howard as he cuts to the basket.

      If Howard is open, Nored (#1) delivers a pass that should hit the center right in front of the basket for a lay up.

      To defend this play, three things need to happen: 1) there needs to be ball pressure on Nored, 2) Howard’s defender needs to stay close to his man preferably on the basket side, and 3) Mack’s defender needs to curl around (get behind) Mack when he starts to head into the lane so that he’s in position to help on Howard when he cuts.

      This play uses Hayward as a decoy. Howard’s man is so worried about Hayward coming off the screen that he forgets about protecting the basket against a cut by Howard. Defenses will typically crowd Hayward and Mack since they are Butler’s most dangerous scorers. This leaves the basket open for Howard.

      Butler uses a lot of little misdirection plays that work well against aggressive man-to-man defense. Head coach Brad Stevens likes to run this play out of a timeout, so look for it on Saturday. It will be interesting to see how Tom Izzo chooses to defend it.

      College Basketball, March Madness

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