This year’s March Madness might be one of the worst. Here on the Hilltop, Georgetown fans were seriously disappointed when our Hoyas fell out of the brackets in the second round, a tough end to a season that began with so many hopes.
Others found disappointment in the lack of madness surrounding the games, where too many blowouts made for dull viewing. In 2006, the average margin of victory in the Sweet 16 was 5.125 pts and 4.5 pts for the Elite Eight; the 2007 tournament showed numbers of 4.625 pts for the Sweet 16 and 9.25 pts for the Elite Eight. This year, though, the numbers have soared: in the Sweet 16, the average margin of victory was 14.625 pts and for the Elite Eight it was 12.25 pts.
But now it has come down to San Antonio, and the Final Four might salvage the reputation of this year’s tournament. The four are all of the tournament’s one-seed teams. You might think that having all four one-seeds in the Final Four is boring. No Cinderellas turned up; no unexpected twists. But this is the first time in tournament history that all four top seeds made it to the Final Four. It’s a contest of quite literally the best teams in this season of college basketball, and that’s a reason to be excited.
In the first match-up UCLA will face off against the Memphis Tigers, a team that just barely missed having a perfect season. You could argue that the Tigers had an easier conference schedule in the C-USA, but their nonconference play and tournament performances have shown their power—Memphis’ preseason wins included teams like UConn, Oklahoma and the Hoyas. The fast-paced, high-scoring Tigers have to be ready, however, to break the hard-wired defense of the Bruins.
One highly anticipated aspect of this contest will be the match up of Memphis’ 6’9” senior forward Joey Dorsey and UCLA’s 6’10” Kevin Love, who is averaging 12.8 points and 11 rebounds in the tournament. Love will most likely join the NBA after this season, but his status won’t intimidate Dorsey, who will be fighting to out-rebound Love and show off his aggressive play.
On the other side of the bracket, the UNC Tar Heels will take on the Kansas Jayhawks, the school UNC’s Head Coach Roy Williams’ previously coached at.
The Tar Heels will be a tough team to beat with Ty Lawson on the perimeter and Tyler Hansbrough down low. Both have had outstanding seasons. Lawson has retained his reputation as one of the fastest guards in the league, even after coming off an injury earlier in the season. Hansbrough is currently averaging 21 points and 9.5 rebounds a game. Throughout the season he has scored in double figures every contest. He is on top of his game, and will be a tough man to stop.
If there is a team that can take on UNC, it’s Kansas. The Jayhawks will come at UNC with a well-rounded roster of 6’ 10” center Sasha Kaun, forwards Darnell Jackson and Darrell Arthur and guards Russell Robinson, Mario Chalmers and Brandon Rush. The Jayhawks have the power to beat UNC, but even more than that, they have the motivation to make it happen this year. The Jayhawks want to gain a victory over their old coach, and there’s a very good chance this is the last opportunity Kansas will have to make it this far in the tournament for some years. After this season, Jackson and Robinson will graduate, and Kansas will most likely lose Kaun, Rush and Arthur to the NBA draft.
The match-ups this weekend will be some you won’t want to miss. It might just be the best tournament play we’ve seen in years.
