The Good, The Bad, and The Dukies

Before the Sweet Sixteen started, I sat with a bracket that was in the 96 percentile. I started having dreams of getting a 10,000 dollar check from Yahoo! and laugh my way to not having a summer job this year. But Thursday hit me like a ton of bricks. There were some things I liked, but most of it was bad.  Thankfully the Black Rose on Oakland helped me drown my sorrows.

The Good

-Florida deserves all the credit in the world for how they played defense against Jimmer Fredette. It seemed every shot took a ton of effort to get off, and they completely gassed him by the overtime period.

-Since Jimmer is now gone, Derrick Williams is the new face of March Madness 2011.  The only comparison I have for him is a stronger Lamar Odom. He throws down some nasty dunks and can step outside to hit big shots.
-Let's not forget about the Kemba Walker Show, he scored 36 in a win for the Huskies. But like I talked about earlier this week, he got others involved such as Jeremy Lamb who dropped 24. Big time excited for Williams v. Walker on Saturday night.  
-Butler is the better version of Gonzaga, no longer underdogs.

The Bad

-Wisconsin did their usual Badger thing bowing out in the Sweet Sixteen. I know that will upset some Badger fans, but for whatever reasons, they cannot get to that next level. Additionally, this fourth time in five years that they have lost a lower seed. Questions have to start coming out about Bo Ryan. I thought Jordan Taylor forced a lot of shots like last Saturday. Also there is a missing person report out for Jon Leuer in New Orleans because you couldn't find him on the basketball court. This is something I saw on Twitter via the Big Lead about the Badgers recruiting budget, which is unbelievably low and makes more impressive of what they do every year. Think if they increased that by 50 percent. 


-You could tell San Diego State got tight in the final minutes. They couldn't do anything after the technical with 10 minutes left.  It seems like they froze up and didn't create the shots as they had in the first half.
-Jimmer got infected with the SI curse. Now, it understood the curse outweighs the Law of Gus. 

Dukies

-We here at SnoTap told you so. I felt uneasy about my National Champion pick after seeing the chemistry with Kyrie Irving. I wish I would have just went chalk with Ohio State, but now it's up to Kentucky to save my bracket. Eric nailed this a week ago and deserve credit
-Eric also had the comment of the day "Last night was a complete DOY game from Arizona." Agreed, human highlight reel from the Cats. 
-Duke decided to quit. No one can tell me otherwise either. Arizona had this epic run, but Duke did nothing to punch them back in the mouth. If I were one of the Plumlees' I would put Mo-Mo Jones on his ass during this run to show Duke was there.   
-Reminded me a lot of LSU knocking out Duke in 2006, but the Blue Devils were favored more in that tournament.
-Nolan Smith did not look like himself in the last two games, and that sent Duke off the tracks.
-I wouldn't call this a black mark on Coach's K career, but he could have saved this season if he limited the play of Kyrie Irving. It's more his fault than anyone else.

-Charlie.

My Sweet 16 Picks (Southeast/West Region)

The second weekend of March Madness provides great theater because we all wonder if Cinderella's slipper will still fit on Thursday or Friday, and what new storylines will develop for the weekend. Due to the new format being able to see every game, I feel more involved with this tournament than ones in years past. 

West Region

3.) Connecticut vs. 2.) San Diego State- I read an interesting stat via The Big Lead: "UConn Huskies are 0-7 since 1992 in NCAA Tourney games in opponent's state".  That makes me feel uneasy, but did anyone ever consider Kemba Walker?  D.J. Gay will struggle trying to get shots off against Walker for damn sure.  But I worry about who will actually defend Kawhi Leonard on the Huskies. They have a couple big bodies, but nothing at Leonard's level. I feel it will be a pro-Aztec crowd, but I am confident the Huskies will win. The Aztecs have not done anything remarkable, just beat teams they were supposed to. I think Kemba and the crew is on another level.  UCONN 77-68

5.) Arizona v. 1.) Duke- A lot of people do not think Arizona belongs here because of some bad calls in their last game against Texas. But Derrick Williams and his crew does not care. He is an absolute monster, and I do think Duke will have some problems against him. Williams could get the Plumlee brothers and Ryan Kelly into some serious foul trouble. Don't think I missed Coach K's comments about trying to get Kyrie Irving being more involved, which scares me because one of the best coaches is trying to sabotage a National Championship contender. The Dukies will get it together and get a big game out of Seth Curry, just feel it's his time to shine.  DUKE 73-66 

Southeast Region 

3.) BYU v. 2.) Florida- Jimmer got the SI Curse. It sucks when he will shoot about 10 for 32 with 18 points. The Cougars have faced two teams that are very similar to their style of play leading to much success. But now they run into the big bad Gators who are nothing like them. By the way, anyone else find it hilarious that they are a bunch of Mormons roaming Bourbon Street as we speak? What could they do there? Anyways, the Gators have a great combination of size with Alex Tyus and Patric Young plus the guard play of Kenny Boyton and Erving Walker. I believe the Gators will have too much size and speed for the Cougars. Sadly, this is where Jimmer time comes to end.  UF 81-67 

8.) Butler v. 4.) Wisconsin- A white boy wet dream!  Just kidding.  This game could go several ways, and I am stealing this thought from my buddy Ron. He told me last week his wish would be for Bo Ryan to have deep conversation with Rob Jeter about UWM's success against Butler. I personally think the Badgers need to go inside much more than they have been doing in the first two games.  The two biggest things I would like to see if I am a Badger fan would be to get Matt Howard into foul trouble and lock Shelvin Mack down. This will be a complete nail-biter with Jordan Taylor hitting the big shot in the final seconds.  UW 64-62

-Charlie. 

Eric Is The Duke Prophet

I never like saying Eric is right about anything.  But if I don't tell him directly, Eric makes damn sure you know he was right by reminding you 10 times in the first 15 minutes of seeing him. As I begin to talk about the Duke Blue Devils, everything Eric said here came to fruition in the final 4 minutes of the Duke-Michigan game on Sunday afternoon. The chemistry seemed to be lackluster, and the Blue Devils looked out of sorts. I blame Coach K for a decision that I hope is not the future for this team in next week.

During the final two minutes, Coach K gave Kyrie Irving the keys to the offense even though it has been Nolan Smith's ride for most of the year. It's like if my parents gave my car to my younger sister because she is the better driver of the kids in the family. This might be true, but it still doesn't warrant taking something away that rightfully belongs to the other person. I could sense the team had some confusion having the offense run through another player not named Nolan Smith. Even the biggest Duke Fan has to recongize the newfound problems with Duke's late game possessions.

I felt the Blue Devils lacked any sort of motion in their offense, and it had a lot to do with Irving not splitting the 1-3-1 zone. I agree he opens up chances on the perimeter, but only goes so far when facing a zone.  I am not saying Irving doesn't deserve to be on the court, I would just rather have Smith running the point and Irving being the off-guard. It seems like a logical decision that Coach K would make, instead of his Rick Barnas-like choice to let Irving control the team.

The best thing about Duke's near meltdown (remember Michigan ended the game on a 13-2 run) is this will probably not happen for the remainder of the tournament. Kyle Singler and Smith missing free throws like they did was uncharacteristic, and I hope when Duke faces another close game, the offense will be all about Smith, not Irving.

-Charlie.

Not So Fast Blue Devil Nation

Coach K announced on Tuesday that freshman point guard Kyrie Irving could return to action in Duke's opening round game against Hampton.  Irving hasn't seen any action since injuring his toe on December 4th.  Jay Bilas was on Mike and Mike this morning and said that Irving's return would make Duke the front runner to win the national championship.  But, as Coach Corso would say, "NOT SO FAST MY FRIEND"



Irving's injury forced Nolan Smith to move over to the point, a move that has resulted in Smith being a top candidate for National Player of the Year honors.  Does Duke really want to take the ball out of his hands at the most critical time of the season?  Coach K has said that if Irving does play, he won't start and would likely see limited action.  But, you have to assume that he would at some point be on the floor with Smith and the Dukies could have an identity crises.  Teams spend the entire season figuring out each player's role and getting accustomed to a certain rotation.  The last thing you want come tournament time is your guys not knowing what is expected of them.  Coach K is a great coach and I'm sure he has discussed this with his guys, but it still has to worry you as a Duke Fan.

The best example I can come up with to demonstrate this is the 2009 NBA Finals.  The Orlando Magic won the Eastern Conference with all-star point guard Jameer Nelson watching from the sidelines with an injured shoulder.  Nelson came attempted a comeback for the finals and the Magic got ran by the Lakers.  Granted, the Lakers were a better team anyways and would have probably won anyways, but the Magic looked out of sync the entire series. 

If I was a Duke fan, I think I would prefer to see Irving keeping the bench warm this March.  Not only will the team fare better in the tournament, but Irving not playing this season all but guarantees he will be back for his sophomore year.

Number 1 Gets Toppled

OK lets get this out of the way right away, I HATE Duke.  I think they are over-rated, arrogant, assholes that get too much credit every year. 

Now that that's out of the way lets get to the topic at hand.  Duke got beat by an unranked and struggling Florida State team last night.  FSU led nearly the entire game and Duke really never made it interesting until the last five minutes. 

Duke will win the ACC and probably get a 1 seed in the NCAA tournament, but WHY? What have they done?  Sure, they've been crushing opponents, but they don't play anybody.  Literally, they don't play anybody.  If you look at the Blue Devils' schedule it is absolutely pathetic.  As we sit right now they have just three ranked teams on their schedule (Kansas State, Michigan State, and Temple) and they have played them all at home.  To make it even more pathetic, in Duke's first 16 games they have only played two games at an opponents home arena (they have left Cameron Indoor 6 times but 4 of those were neutral sites and not really true road games). 

Andy Katz of ESPN had this to say on Twitter:

"Quite a night: FSU gets signature win it desperately needed over Duke (hey a true road game)"

I honestly think that Coach K (yes, I hate him too) has made a big mistake with his scheduling.  Deep tournament runs aren't built on blowout wins at home.  They are made by playing tough games in tough arenas. 

Obviously I am biased towards Michigan State and Tom Izzo but lets look at the stats.  Izzo has been to 6 Final Fours in the last 12 years; a record that no other coach can come close to.  How has he done it?  He's done it by challenging the Spartans with an unbelievably tough schedule every single year.  They are always going out and playing top teams.  Sure, they might lose a few of these games but it builds toughness and experience that is needed in March.  Every single year the Spartans lose a few games early, drop in the rankings, get seeded somewhere around 3-6, and then proceed to "surprise" everyone by making a deep run in the tournament.  The MSU program is a testament to what Tom Izzo knows and everyone else needs to figure out: you don't have success in March by playing cupcakes all year long.  Maybe the most amazing stat I have ever heard in my life; every single player that has stayed all four years under Tom Izzo has gone to at least one Final Four.

ESPN needs to step aside and really take a look at the Duke team this year (especially after the loss of Kyrie Irving).  I'm already penciling them in for an early exit come tournament time, unless of course the committee hands them their usual cupcake bracket.