Weekend Post-Mortem

First off, I don't think there's really much else to say about the Illinois debacle. The game was taken from them. It's really that simple.

As for the Bruins, well, survive and advance, I guess. They didn't really impress on either end of the floor. They allowed their opponent to shoot almost 50%, although they turned up the pressure in the second half. And although the Bruins shot over 50% themselves, they still look like they've never ever seen a zone defense before in their entire lives. Something has to be done about that. They're going to face a team that will go to a zone at some point, and the game will be low scoring, and they'll let the opponent hang around (hitting a free throw every now and then would be nice), but this time, that late three pointer isn't going to fall for them, and it is going to fall for their opponent. They've got the shooters to shoot their way out of a zone, but they don't run any plays to free them up. They stand there and pass the ball around. Fer chrissakes, set a damn screen for someone.

The Bruins were getting it done on the inside. Hollins and LRMAM combined to go 9 for 9 from the field, but that's when Alabama went to the zone that thwarted the men in middle for a while. I just think it's nuts that in a game where the opponent is in a zone for much of the game, Michael Roll only takes two shots.

On now to Oakland to face Gonzaga. This game scares me because of what I saw in the box score from their last game. Indiana shot five free throws, Gonzaga shot 42. Granted, the Hoosiers were jacking up all kinds of threes, but good lord, 42 free throws for Gonzaga? That's nuts, and if the game is called that tight again, it's going to be a long night and a short trip for the Bruins. LRMAM probably matches up the best with Adam Morrison, but expect to see Afflalo and Bozeman get their share of time guarding him as well. Hollins has a height advantage over Batista that Marco Killingsworth lacked, and the Bruins have the bodies to run out there in case of foul trouble. But foul trouble means a lot of free throws. Even if they call this one both ways, a tightly officiated game plays into Gonzaga's hands, as the Bruins do not shoot free throws well. Once again, I think the Bruins are a better team overall, but this one is impossible to call without knowing how it's going to be officiated.

As for the rest of the weekend....

What went right (original loser in parantheses):

• Duke over George Washington
• LSU over Texas A&M (Syracuse)
• Memphis over Bucknell
• UCLA over Alabama (Marquette)
• Gonzaga over Indiana (SDSU)
• UConn over Kentucky (UAB)
• Villanova over Arizona
• Florida over Wisconsin-Milwaukee (Oklahoma)
• Georgetown over Ohio State: Honestly, this was probably the only real upset I called correctly. Ouch.

What went wrong (hope you've got a while):

• Iowa over WVU: Oops.
• Cal over Texas: Double oops.
• Pitt over Bradley (Kansas): I'm not weeping over this, although it pretty much means a walk to the elite 8 for Memphis.
• Illinois over Washington
• MSU over UNC: I had the "over UNC" part right. I just had the MSU part wrong.
• Tennessee over Wichita State: You don't know how close I came to actually getting this one right.
• Nevada over Boston College

Only nine sweet sixteen teams left. Only 3 final four teams left, and none of them are really longshots except UCLA, who were a sexy pick for the final four anyway, so my chances of making up ground on anyone in my pools is pretty much zero.