By Dr. Jekyll,
With the nets cut down and Tom Izzo reaffirming his place among the best coaches of all time (not to mention Coach K), it’s time to take a look at this year’s final four, probably the most random bunch of participants in years.
Let’s start at the top, or at least, the top team left (numerically anyway). Mike Krzyzewski has proven once again to be a coaching genius, leading a relatively weak team into the Final Four. Duke haters (myself included) can point to the really easy bracket they had compared to their counterpart one seeds, but ultimately, they’re here. Duke’s a streaky 3-point shooting team behind Jon Scheyer, Kyle Singler, and Nolan Smith (who put up a career high in points in the regional round), and if any of them catch fire in the remaining games they’ll be tough to beat.
The first task at toppling the Blue Devils falls on the long arms of West Virginia’s defenders. The 1-3-1 defense that I can’t even pretend to understand that the Mountaineers employ has been devastating this tournament, let alone this season. In their dismembering of Kentucky, they held the Wildcats to open 0 for 20 behind the ark. Take a second to soak that in. The Mountaineers held a fantastic team hit-less for three, and they’re going up against one of the strongest three point shooting teams in the country. Sounds like a battle of offense vs. defense in this one. I really can’t see them holding down so many proficient scorers two games in a row. Playing their best basketball at the right time is helpful, but it may not be enough for the Mountaineers to upend Duke.
The other match-up heading into the weekend is interesting, if for nothing else we are guaranteed to see a 5 seed in the championship game. The aforementioned Izzo lucked out to no degree in his ability to maneuver what is one of his weaker squads to a Final Four appearance. Losing Kalin Lucas hasn’t seemed to hinder the Spartans thus far, and more so than last year against UNC there isn’t any absolutely dominant team to keep Michigan from the title. Butler, on the other hand, is just happy to be here. Playing in front of a friendly crowd is helpful, and let’s not forget this team put the kibosh on both Syracuse and Kansas State. As scary as it may seem, Butler has a legitimate chance at a National Title in their first Final Four appearance ever. It’ll take another near perfect performance from the Bulldogs to push a game deeper into the tournament. With no real star players left to take over games, this looks to be a close game until the end.
With just days left in one of the most exciting tournaments in recent memory, with brackets busted at every turn, it’s only fitting we may see so many story lines unfold. Two of the best coaches in College basketball look towards adding another fond memory, while out of nowhere Butler and defense dominating West Virginia try and win their first titles in school history. With March almost over, make sure you don’t miss the madness.
