Kansas vs. Memphis

Despite my pre tourny pick of Memphis loosing in the sweet 16 they have played like a powerhouse all tournament. For a team that shoots under 57% from the stripe all season, they have consistantly hit there free throws thus far. They opened at 63% against the University of Texas-Arlington then shot a dismal 47% while just squeaking out a win against Mississippi St. Then in their past three games they have shot 74%, 83%, and 87% respectively, all in blow outs of decent teams. Hit your freebies and you will be successful. Unfortunatly they are running into a Kansas team which simply dominated Tyler Hansbrough and his UNC Tarheels.

In response to our new blogger, PUCK GURU, I am pretty sure watching hockey isn't time well spent. It's merely just time spent at best. Other than that however, I personally am theorally excited about the Bruins playoff push. I honestly thought it was all over twelve games ago when Zedano Chara got hurt and rookie GM Peter Chiarelli made the comment, "We are going to rest him for the playoffs" with a two point lead over the then 9th seed Sabres. There is so much wrong with that comment that I can't even comment more on it. Unfortunatly it appears as if the Bruins are going to get stuck playing Montreal whom they are 0-8 against this season, or the Washington Capitals who are the hottest team in hockey. I never thought playing Sid the kid and the rest of the Penguins was the Bruins best chance but it appears that it is. Finally, the Boston Globe reported today that Patrice Bergeron still might come back after that devestating hit from behind he suffered at the beginning of the season. That would be a rare hockey storyline I'd be excited about.

In response to B Shea and his inability to say something that makes sense, nice pick with UCLA. At least you had Kansas so i can't enjoy being 100% more right than you. You say that both games could have come down to the final minute because they are all #1 seeds. Not only was that wrong, but can't every game of every sport come down to the final minute? The lone thing I agree with you about is the storylines which proved to great. I really want to comment on you saying that these two games feature the most potentional NBA players. With the exception of Derrick Rose and maybe Kevin Love, these games don't feature any NBA starters, unless they all end up in Charlotte or Miami. I see this as a catch 22 however because all these players are great college athletes and should have made for two better games than what I witnessed today. Finally, please don't ever call Tyler Hansbrough a future "decent" pro again. I see him getting 7-10 minutes a game while averaging 3 points and 2 boards.

So this leads me to the Championship game of Kansas vs. Memphis. Pre tourny I had Kansas winning 79-73 over Texas. This has proved to be on it's way to being half right so far. To me this game is going to be very simple to predict. Kansas has a better defense, offense, bench, and starters. Memphis has the best player in the game. Coaching is about even because I still don't see Bill Self as a good coach, but at the same time I am sick of John Calipari playing the "no-respect" card. Look for Memphis to come out firing and jump out to an early lead but for Kansas to control the rest of the game. Memphis will not shoot over 60% from the stripe because they won't have the comfort of a big lead anymore. I look for Kansas in the 2nd half to take this game over. The Final score will be 86-67.