by A.J. Coltrane
Some impressions of two games I watched on Saturday:
UNC-Kentucky: Kentucky entered the game ranked 10th. UNC entered the game unranked due to three (close) early season losses. I don’t really see a dimes worth of difference between them. Both teams feature young players that will be playing in the NBA soon — at times there were as many as about seven NBA guys on the court at once. UNC has more overall depth, especially in the frontcourt. Kentucky has the better guardplay, and their guards should improve between now and the NCAA tournament. (This can’t be said of UNC’s guards — they’re both combo guards who are miscast when playing the point. Neither has good court vision, and neither is very good at creating for other players. I don’t think UNC’s guards will experience any real improvement between now and tournament time.)
The outcome was an entertaining win for UNC, 75-73.
Two Players Who Caught My Attention: Kentucky freshman guard Doron Lamb and UNC’s 6’10” sophmore forward John Henson. UNC’s freshman Harrison Barnes was a preseason AP All-American. As of right now he’s shooting 33.8% for the season, and you can see why — too many forced shots. If he gets it together, look out, but I don’t see it yet.
Gonzaga-Illinios at the Key:
Many thanks to the veteran usher who took mercy on us at the Battle in Seattle. The Gonzaga-Illinios game was (predictably) a blowout. We were sitting in relatively inexpensive seats, and our row contained three infants on the laps of parents. (I’m not making that up!) Naturally, this turned into a Chinese Fire Drill of people getting up to use the “facilities.” We vacated our seats to sit somewhere further back, and the young parents didn’t hesitate to wave over a female friend of theirs, who was carrying a fourth(!) infant. (She had a baby in one hand and was texting with the other — I didn’t see a lot of basketball watching happening from any of the parents.) Here’s a tip folks: Next time, hire a sitter.
In any event, kudos to the usher who moved us away from the bedlam and into good seats where we could actually *watch* the game. He took what had been a crappy situation and turned it into a positive experience.
As for the game, Illinios had the two best players on the floor in senior point guard Demetri McCamey and senior center Mike Tisdale. They look like an Elite Eight team to me. (You could argue that Illinois had something like 5 or 6 of the best 7 players in the building.) Gonzaga doesn’t have their usual Big White Scorer (Boldin, Dickau, Morrison, etc) this year. Elias Harris will be an NBA guy, but the rest of the team lacks the ability to consistently get and execute good shots.
Illinois entered the game ranked 21st. Gonzaga was ranked 24th. The final score was 73-61 Illinios, and for most of the second half it wasn’t that close.
Predictions on end-of-season ranks and tournament performance:
Kentucky: 9th. (Sweet 16, due to lack of depth.)
UNC: 11th. (Elite 8.)
Illinois: 15th. (Elite 8. In March, I’m going to like Illinois more than everyone else does, unless everyone likes them by then.)
Gonzaga: 24th-30th. A couple of league losses would knock Gonzaga out of the top 25, and it’s possible they’ll miss the NCAA tournament. Best case is that they make the tournament and survive a round or two.
FlatbreadGarden 