Kentucky vs. Louisville:
- How will New Orleans be able to contain the enormous egos of Calipari and Pitino? These guys are the epitome of great coaches who are conceited, egotistical, and in my opinion, slimy. Pitino is the better coach, Calipari has the better team.
- In state rivalries don't occur to often in the final four, and these two teams share a special contempt for one another. Look for a lot of jaw jacking, pushing and posturing, and at least one of the coaches if not both will go berserk and get tee'd up.
- Louisville has the superior defense, Kentucky has the best offense. Classic style matchup. Kentucky is better, and in my opinion much better. Louisville has to find a way to slow the game down, and win from the perimeter. They have to shoot at least 50% from the arc, and take at least 30 attempts from deep to win. For Kentucky, as long as they can run, they will win.
- I'll take Kentucky by 6, 76-70.
- In the interest of full disclosure, in my bracket picks I had both of these teams in this spot, and I have Kansas winning it all. It hurt me to make that pick considering they were in the same bracket as my beloved Tar Heels, but I think they have the ability.
- This game features the best player matchup of the tournament with Jared Sullinger going against Thomas Robinson. Both are fierce down low, Sullinger is more polished, Robinson is more athletic. Neither one will be the reason there team wins.
- For Ohio State to win, they will have to shoot the lights out, and I'm always nervous when a team has to shoot well on the biggest stage to win. Kansas will be much more aggressive, will get to the hoop better and consequently win.
- I think this one will be a very close game, and in close games I tend to favor the better coach. Thad Matta is not a bad coach, but Bill Self is better. I'll take Kansas 82-80, in overtime.
- Kentucky is the most talented team in the entire NCAA and they have the ability to go on spurts that no other team is capable of. In the second round against Iowa State, it was a great game and ISU was keeping it close. I left the room for what seemed like just a couple of minutes, came back and Kentucky was up 10. That's a hard beast to tame.
- This Kansas team isn't nearly as talented as Kentucky, this isn't even the best Kansas team in the last couple of years. I love their balance though. Robinson is a force, but they also have some great perimeter guys that can take over as well.
- Experience is where the Kentucky freshman can be exposed. I think experience can often be overrated, but in this case I think it will be a huge factor. The Kentucky kids have shown a lot of poise, but maybe as many as four of them are out the door to the NBA. How do they handle knowing their last college game is for a National Championship. It didn't work for the Fab Five, and this team isn't as good as those guys. I love Michael Kidd-Gilchrist as a player but I thought it was a huge red flag that reports came out last week that he was probably going pro. Do a bunch of 18 year old kids, who have largely rolled through the tournament have what it take to harness their talent, and get their focus to win. I don't think they do.
- It will be another extremely close game, and please see above for my thoughts on close games. Calipalri is the best recruiter in the nation, but I question his coaching ability. The last two times these two coaches met in the title game, Calipalri's team largely dominated the entire game, but couldn't close out because of poor free throw shooting, poorer defense and quite frankly, a little panic. When you spend all year dominating, you expect to dominate, and then you don't, who steps up to right the ship? I think Calipalri panics again and can't calm the pups down. I'll take Kansas to win 73-68.
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