Tar Heels Win It All

You didn't really think Michigan State could do it, did you?

Somewhere along the way this season, we forgot how good North Carolina was. It wasn't one single thing, it was more likely a cumulation of factors. It started back in January, when Carolina lost Marcus Ginyard, the best defender on a team whose defense was its main weakness. Then came the back-to-back losses to start the ACC season, to Boston College and Wake Forest. Then a loss to Maryland. Then Ty Lawson's toe injury, which seemed like it might keep him from playing at full strength in the postseason. Then the early exit from the ACC tournament at the hands of Florida State, without Lawson. The Heels looked mortal.

And the Spartans did their part to keep the doubts alive, getting better with each game in the tournament. After shaky victories against Southern California and Kansas, Michigan State fairly dominated its next two opponents, teams they weren't expected to beat; Louisville, the tournament's top overall seed, and Connecticut, the one team that seemed to have the firepower to take out North Carolina.

Monday's championship game was played at Ford Field in Detroit, and it was easy to get caught up in the possibility that home-state advantage would carry Michigan State. The scenario had seemingly endless feel-good storylines: the thirtieth anniversary of Bird v. Magic; the national championship won by the home team in a state whose professional football team set a record for futility this year and whose economy has been hit the hardest of any.

Given all of this, it was easy to forget about December 3, 2008, when Carolina, after winning the Maui Invitational in impressive fashion, truly flexed its muscle. The Heels positively throttled the Spartans that night, winning 98-65 in Michigan, on the same court on which the championship game would be played four months later. That night, it sure didn't look like anyone could beat North Carolina, and if anyone could, it certainly wasn't going to be Michigan State.

All of those doubts went away in about four-and-a-half minutes on Monday night, during which the Heels scored 17 points and took a double-digit lead they never gave up. Accepting the championship trophy on the podium, UNC coach Roy Williams noted that "everyone had anointed" his team all year long. And it's true. We all just temporarily forgot.

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On to more serious matters. After tonight's telecast, I learned -- along with millions of other CBS viewers -- that the man behind the network's trademark "One Shining Moment" video montage, played at the close of every NCAA Tournament, was named Doug Towey, and that he had passed away earlier this year.

The significance of this video is not lost on any college basketball fan, and certainly not lost on any kid who grew up with dreams of playing college basketball. My high school teammates and I were known to sing it on occasion, and although we never got to sing it to cap a championship season, I'm quite sure that many of us played that moment out in our heads. I know I did. I also know that I still do sing it in my head, when I reflect privately on the great memories I have from playing basketball in high school. Those years provided me with some of the most memorable moments of my life, and Doug Towey provided the soundtrack.

That's the great thing about "One Shining Moment." The final few seconds celebrate the year's champion, but the rest of the montage honors those who came up short in their ultimage goal, and that's what the NCAA Tournament is all about: hundreds of kids on 65 teams, all playing for what they've dreamt about their whole lives. And those kids represent the thousands of Division I college basketball players who don't get a chance to play in the Big Dance, who in turn represent the millions of young men who don't have the opportunity to play college basketball.

Your author at 19'9" was one of those young men, and "One Shining Moment" is his favorite three minutes or so of the college basketball season. A belated "thank you" is in order.

So thanks, Mr. Towey, for again -- like you do every year -- giving me chills for three minutes at the close of my favorite sports season. I'm sorry I never got a chance to tell you in person what "One Shining Moment" meant to me. I hope someone, somewhere, did.

Sweet 16 Breakdown: Midwest and South

Pitt and Xavier played more defense than I thought, and Missouri outgunned Memphis, but I was right on elsewhere: Duke lost to Villanova in large part because Gerald Henderson and Jon Scheyer combined to go 4-for-32 from the field, and Connecticut was too strong for Purdue. Let's look at tonight's games:

MIDWEST
#1 Louisville vs. #12 Arizona. As a commenter to yesterday's post mentioned, I'm something of a sucker for Arizona when it comes to the tournament. Given that I'm not all that high on Louisville -- I watch them and I just can't figure out how they are good as they are -- the temptation is there to pull the trigger on a Wildcat upset.

I don't think it's going to happen, though. The 'ville is a bad matchup for the 'cats. As well as Nic Wise has played this year -- I distinctly remember asking aloud at some point this year, "When did Nic Wise get good at basketball?" -- he's still prone to getting a little out of control, deadly against a team that uses full-court pressure the way the Cardinals do. Arizona doesn't have another really solid ballhandler in the backcourt, and they might do well to have Chase Budinger help bring it up.

While it's not all that rare that you see players on opposing teams who will end up in the NBA, it is a little more rare when those players go head to head. Watching Budinger go against Terrence Williams should be a lot of fun, and Williams will want to avoid getting into a scoring contest with Budinger, which given his unselfish nature, shouldn't be hard to do. Potential lottery picks Jordan Hill and Earl Clark will battle it out down low, too. Give the advantage on the inside to Louisville -- Hill also has to deal with Samardo Samuels.

It could happen, but it would take a near-perfect game from the Wildcats.

#2 Michigan State vs. #3 Kansas. A couple of big-name programs who quietly had very strong years, and yet neither of these teams really strikes you as a scary one. (I'm pretty unimpressed with the whole South region.) The point guard matchup should be a good one, with Big Ten Player of the Year Kalin Lucas going up against Sherron Collins. Lucas is a blaze with the ball, while Collins, though plenty quick, is a bit more powerful.

I honestly don't have much to say here -- let's just pick the Spartans and move on.

SOUTH
#1 North Carolina v. #4 Gonzaga. The Tar Heels are beatable, but I think it's going to take a team that is a little bit better defensive than the Bulldogs to do it. Carolina's point guard, Ty Lawson, is going to play despite a toe injury, and though he was hampered somewhat in the first two games, he's still plenty quick enough with the ball to wreak all kinds of havoc on the opposition.

Inside, I think Tyler Hansbrough is probably too tough and physical for Josh Heytvelt, who seems less and less interested in mixing it up underneath as his career goes on. Similarly, as much as I like Austin Daye, I'm not sure he's big and strong enough to be effective for a full game against Carolina's depth.

#2 Oklahoma vs. #3 Syracuse. The game of the night, if you ask me, and it's actually the early game in this region. Syracuse was one of the hottest teams coming into this tournament, and Oklahoma one of the coldest.

The Orange seem to be a popular pick, and I can see why. The two teams have such contrasting strengths that it's as easy to envision Jonny Flynn sojourning into the lane time and again, zipping passes to Eric Devendorf and Andy Rautins for open threes as it is to picture Blake Griffin finding holes in the Syracuse 2-3 zone and going for one of the 20-point, 20-rebound games that seem to be his signature.

I think Syracuse can win this one, but Oklahoma is the favorite. The Orange defense has not been as good this season as we've come to expect from them, and it's not because they don't get out on three-point shooters. There are too many holes in the middle of that zone, and you can't give Blake Griffin the ball there. He's got the combination of size, strength, and ballhandling ability that he can do a ton of damage from the high post. Griffin does like to spin dribble a little too much, a move that can be dangerous in traffic, and so Syracuse forwards Rick Jackson, Paul Harris, and Kristof Ongenaet should be prepared to step in and take the charge. Getting Griffin in foul trouble would be huge.

Earlier in the season, I might have said that Arinze Onuaku was a decent matchup for Griffin, but knee injuries have really slowed him late in the season. He's just not the same player, and I don't think he can effectively play Griffin on either end. His reduced mobility, too, will be a problem on the glass. Rebounding out of the 2-3 is always tough, and that's exacerbated when you're up against an athletic, mobile guy like Blake Griffin. And Blake's older brother, Taylor, is no slouch either.

I'd like the 'cuse a bit more if Paul Harris were playing better, but he hasn't been himself for several games, dating back to the Big East tournament. Flynn is every bit the point guard that Lawson and Lucas are, and Rautins and Devendorf are marksmen. I'm just not sure Syracuse has enough to overcome the Sooners' obvious interior advantage.

Something I've Never Seen Before

Heckuva game between Texas and Oklahoma tonight. Blake Griffin being knocked out of the game early with an apparent concussion was undoubtedly the key to the Longhorns' win, but it was fun to watch freshman Willie Warren step up in his place and go toe-to-toe down the stretch with Texas' A.J. Abrams. (Though as individual performances from Saturday go, both Warren and Abrams were outdone by Maryland's Greivis Vasquez, who put up 35/11/10 in Maryland's stunning overtime win over North Carolina.)

So, anyway, the thing I've never seen before. Warren is having a fantastic season; along with Memphis' Tyreke Evans, he's one of the favorites for national freshman of the year honors. But he's received some deserved criticism from those who think he, to put it politely, is a bit impetuous with his shot selection. To put it impolitely, he's a chucker.

With his Sooners up two and about five-and-a-half minutes remaining, Warren committed a turnover and appeared to injure his ankle (it turned out to be a leg cramp). Texas rushed upcourt and missed a layup while Warren hobbled around, never crossing midcourt. Oklahoma now having numbers, the Sooners embarked on a break of their own, and Warren, still around the three-point line, called for the ball, caught it and went up for a deep three, almost in the same motion. This was pure heat check, and as the ball dropped through the net for his sixth three-pointer and 25th, 26th, and 27th points of the night, Warren landed on his non-injured leg while signaling for a timeout so he could get treatment.

You gotta love his confidence and his fight, but there's gotta be a better shot available than a deep three from a guy with a bum wheel.

Kyle McAlarney

Sitting here after watching North Carolina pick apart a very good Notre Dame team 102-87 in the championship game of the Maui Invitational, I'm very tempted to write a post predicting that the Heels will go undefeated on their way to the national championship. I'm going to refrain from doing so, because I haven't seen Connecticut, Louisville, or Pittsburgh yet -- nor have I seen Michigan State, the one remaining non-conference opponent on Carolina's schedule with a realistic shot at beating them. Honestly, though, I can't see these guys losing this year.

Instead, I want to focus for a few moments on Notre Dame shooting guard Kyle McAlarney. The senior had himself one hell of a Maui, hitting 21 of 38 three-point attempts during the three games, scoring 39 points on 10-of-18 from deep in Wednesday night's finale. McAlarney has almost unlimited range and an incredibly quick release.

These things typically bode well for a player's NBA prospects. I'm not so sure with McAlarney. At the very least, if I were an NBA scout, I'd want to see him hit more threes coming off of screens.

Pure shooters like McAlarney make their living in the NBA by running off of screens on the baseline, curling out to the wing and draining threes. (Think former Indiana Pacer Reggie Miller, or perhaps Detroit's Rip Hamilton, though Hamilton usually steps inside the three-point-line). Notre Dame runs plenty of these sets for McAlarney, and he's very good at using the screens to get open, as well as reading the defender and deciding whether to curl towards the ball or fade to the corner.

The problem is that he doesn't necessarily shoot that well coming off of these screens. At least he didn't in Maui. I noticed it after he clanged a few in Monday night's game against Indiana, and tracked it closely in Tuesday's win over Texas and tonight against Carolina. Of the 15 trifectas he hit in those latter two games, only one came off a screen. And even that one wasn't the play I just described -- with the ball on the left wing, he passed to a teammate at the top of the key, then ran around behind the teammate for a quick handoff and shot.

Hitting a shot like this essentially requires that the shooter square his body as part of his shooting motion, and I didn't see McAlarney do it once successfully. Any time he hit a three coming off of a screen, he had time -- he doesn't need much -- to square himself before he caught the pass. If you watch guys like Texas' A.J. Abrams or Davidson's Stephen Curry, however, you'll see something different -- it looks like they are squaring their bodies to the rim while in the air.

I certainly don't mean to knock him, but this is a skill he's going to need.