Sweet 16
How about some running comments on the NCAA tourney. Missed the early games but UConn beat Purdue and Pitt beat Xavier. The game I’ve been looking forward to is Missouri and Memphis. Game was close early in the first half but Missouri has opened up a 13 point lead at half (with a nearly three quarter court shot at the buzzer). Although Memphis was my pick to win it all, I have a soft spot for Missouri (even though they beat my Cowboys twice) since Mike Anderson played at Tulsa with Coach Nolan Richardson when I grew up here. Those Coach Richardson Tulsa teams really captured the heart of the city and it seemed like everyone was following them. Hell, I went to Coach’s basketball camp!
The thing about Missouri’s trapping style is, unless you are disciplined, it may not fluster you every time but when it does the points usually come in bunches. It’s like the cumulative effect of body shots in boxing or MMA. May not seem like much at first but late in the game teams get tired and/or flustered.
Look for more during the second half.
10:15pm (CST) – Second half underway and Missouri is kicking Memphis’s ass! Up by 24. Memphis looks like they are trying to hit the ever elusive 24 point shot to get back into the game. Never saw this one coming but probably should have. When you have a well coached team play Memphis and you have the athletes, Memphis loses. My Cowboys kicked their ass in 2005 when they were “unstoppable”. OSU beat them by 20, if I remember correct.
Oops, timeoute over. Back to the game.
10:40pm 8:35 left in the second half. Missouri up 78 – 66. Memphis trying to make a run but can’t hit free throws. Memphis’s bench just got a technical foul. That’s the 2nd on the team. Really should have been called on Coach Callipari. One more on him and he will be watching from the locker room.
10:50pm 5:30 left. Missouri cut it to 8. Memphis making a serious run. Missouri not taking good shots and looking tired.
11:05pm 1:30 left. Missouri up by 10. Not much time left and Memphis looks like a team who is beat. Not giving up yet. Now it’s 8. Timeout.
11:15pm 40.6 seconds left and Missouri up by 9. Memphis can’t hit 3′s or free throws.
Game over. By the way, Villanova kicking the crap out of Duke by 20. Off to bed.
