Roy Williams Wins the Title!!!…oh wait
Apr 8th 2008eCollege Basketball
Congratulation to the Jayhawks. And congratulations to Bill self for winning despite nearly throwing the game away by inexplicably switching to a zone defense. For 28 minutes Kansas had been playing terrific defense. Derrick Rose was ghost, and the entire Memphis offense consisted of Chris Douglas-Roberts taking difficult jumpers. Kansas was wearing them down and had the game in control.
So what did Self do? He decided he had to contain Douglas-Roberts and went to a Box-and-1. It contained Douglas-Roberts, but it also let Derrick Rose play 4-on-4 against a zone. It woke Rose up and he took over the game. Fortunately for Self, Memphis’ free throw shooting woes (remember those?) caught up with them.
Other thoughts…
—This is the 2nd straight year all four Final Four teams could be considered “great basketball teams.” I can’t remember the last time that happened. It’s like somehow by not letting teenagers play in the NBA, David Stern has raised the level of play in college basketball.
—Kudos to Billy Packer for calling out Memphis for repeatedly running high screens for Derrick Rose. Kansas would just double Rose and because the screener wasn’t a shooter, there was nothing Rose could do to create a good shot. Fortunately for Memphis, Self decided to change defenses.
—I loved the post-game comments from John Calipari. He took blame for not having his team ready for overtime, while also admitting they did all they could and believed the game was won. Rarely do you see that kind of candor in that situation.
2 Comments »
nospunzone on 08 Apr 2008 at 1:13 pm #
I can’t help but think that David Stern comment was a veiled reference to my article… and you are right, that zone defense call was mindboggling. I thought Self was a better coach than Calipari, but not after last night. If Memphis does not blow up the last 2 minutes (free throws, beating the press), Self would have been ripped apart today. Also, I want to comment on the officiating. It was a fast-paced and physical game, but the refs really let both teams play. The pacing of the game was great, really smooth. In a year of questionable officiating, last night was really well called.
ericjhoro on 08 Apr 2008 at 3:40 pm #
ha—-no i think you’re right about the nba age limits, this just happens to be one beneficial consequence