Final Four Review

Jonathan Lee AccuScore Analyst
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OBSERVATIONS FROM THE FINAL FOUR

What a weekend for college basketball. All four number one seeds reached the Final Four for the first time, and Kansas outlasted Memphis in one of the best games in college basketball history when considering what was at stake. Certainly Mario Chalmers’ shot was a finish for the ages. I was lucky enough to witness the game firsthand, and I have a few thoughts to end an incredible college basketball season. For a fan, there is no better experience than spending an entire weekend at the Final Four. If you have the opportunity to make the trip, you should take it.

1) Looking back on the season it appeared to me that Kansas and Memphis had the highest ceilings of all the teams, but both came with huge question marks. The Jayhawks, and more specifically Bill Self, had been labeled chokers having flamed out in recent years in the first round or failing to reach the final weekend with supremely talented teams. Kansas was a Jason Richards three-pointer away from heartbreak once again. Richards shot of course went begging and the Jayhawks seemed to have all the pressure of reaching the Final Four lifted off their shoulders. It seemed as if the first four games were the ones Kansas (rightly so) expected to win and they felt the weight and enormity of that. They played completely pressure free over the final two games, and that was clearly evident in the 40-12 run to start the game against the Tar Heels.

2) My doubts about Memphis all year had more to do with Jim Calipari and his system rather than anything about the makeup of his roster. He incredibly outcoached Ben Howland on Saturday having his players use their superior athleticism to relentlessly attack the offensive glass, and exploiting the match-up advantages created by Derrick Rose and Chris Douglas-Roberts. Calipari then make several blunders down the stretch against Kansas and proved my previous doubts were correct. I continually wondered in the stands why Memphis had so many timeouts at the end of the game when his team was clearly losing focus and needed to be settled down. The offensive system (created by Vance Walberg) ,while unorthodox, is clearly good enough to win a national title, but only if superior athletes are available to run it. Rose and Douglas-Roberts made the system click. That was not the problem. In the end though, you have to make your free throws. Calipari had invoked his inner Shaq and said his team would make them when they counted. They didn’t.

3) North Carolina and UCLA did not play up to their potential, but that had a lot to do with the talent and intensity of both Kansas and Memphis. The Tar Heels were blitzed by the Jayhawks, but showed plenty of heart and determination in coming back from such a large deficit. In the end, the hole they dug for themselves was simply too big to overcome.

The Bruins were outmatched at several spots on the floor, and also failed to take advantage of their one true advantage. Darren Collison not being able to stop Rose was not a surprise. Nobody in college basketball is really capable of matching up with his athletic talent. Collison not showing up on offense or playing any kind of transition defense was shocking to see however. Douglas-Roberts was much too big and quick for Josh Shipp as well. Late in the second half, Howland switched Russell Westbrook onto Rose and Luc Richard Mbah a Moute onto Douglas-Roberts. That defensive alignment slowed the Tigers significantly, but the Bruins could not score either. Kevin Love has the best post player in the country this season, but he took only 11 shots finishing with 12 points. Love has shown an incredible ability to score inside against all kinds of defenders, and also a knack for getting to the foul line. He was definitely underutilized against Memphis when he could have been the deciding factor for UCLA.

Other thoughts and musings from college basketball’s final weekend:

Darrell Arthur is getting far too little love for his impressive performance Monday night. He was dominant with 20 points and 12 rebounds, and played with intensity and consistency, the two things that have plagued him his entire career. The Jayhawks pounded the ball inside continually to Arthur, Sasha Kaun, and Darnell Jackson and that allowed them to keep scoring against a tough Memhis defense.

The box-and-1 Bill Self employed led to several easy baskets for the Tigers. Still, I think it accomplished its goal by taking Douglas-Roberts out of the game. I watched CDR stand in the corner, one time with his hands on his hips, while his teammates played four-on-four. Before that point he was dominating the game. In a strange way, the gimmick defense worked despite giving up several baskets.

San Antonio is a terrific place to host the Final Four. Everything is close together downtown, and the event went off without a hitch. The Riverwalk is a very nice area packed with bars and restaurants.

Tickets were harder to come by on Saturday, but were plentiful for Monday’s title game. Almost every fan though was looking to upgrade their seats before tip-off. Lower level seats were going for a significant premium.

Memphis and Kansas had the most fans in town, with the Jayhawks probably being the most passionate and visible fanbase

Roy Williams wasn’t the only one wearing a KU sticker. It seemed as if every Jayhawk fan slapped a Jayhawk sticker onto whatever they were wearing Monday night.

If I were an NBA GM, I would take Rose first overall in the draft this summer. He showed that he has the ability to dominate the game from the point guard position. Players with his size and skill come about only once every decade. Michael Beasley is terrific, but he plays power forward, a position infinitely easier to fill than point guard.

There were over 40,000 people in the Alamo Dome for the title game, but it was absolutely silent for one split second while Chalmers’ shot hung in the air.

With fewer impact freshmen coming into college basketball, there will be far less star power next season in the Final Four. All four teams that reached the final weekend could be decimated based on who decides to turn pro, but all four will remain elite because of continually excellent recruiting and coaching.

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