Saturday, April 6, 2013

Final Four!

In the absence of a full-on blog post (I'm traveling for the weekend), I will say a few words in reference to tonight's Final Four double-header.

  • Louisville vs. Wichita State (6:09, CBS) - Louisville is a big-time favorite here, and for good reason. They are ultra-talented, play at a break-neck pace, and generally wear the opponent out. Throw in the fact that they have the extra "push" behind Kevin Ware and the injury circus, and you have a mini-juggernaut. With that said, Wichita State is uber-disciplined, play a style that can neutralize Louisville's tempo (potentially), and they're going to rebound here. I think they hang around for 30-35 minutes, and go down by a single-digit margin.
  • Michigan vs. Syracuse (8:49, CBS) - This is not a good match-up for Beilin, Burke, McGary and the Wolverines. Syracuse's zone is incredibly long, and the style of offense that Michigan has been deploying won't work without some serious tweaks. It's important for UM to make threes, and I think it'd be wise to stick Glenn Robinson III and/or Mitch McGary in the high post to get into the teeth of the zone, but we'll see how Beilein uses that. On the other end, Syracuse is a hit-or-miss offensive team, but if they have it going behind Triche and Michael Carter-Williams, look out. My brain tells my Syracuse, my heart tells me Michigan. We'll see.
Enjoy!

No comments: