Any school that has Ashley Judd is in good company

Calipari is back to the Final Four…again.  If nothing else, the man is a heck of a coach (even if he is a cheater).

The Wildcats did nothing but destroy Baylor in ever facet of the game.  The NBA talent on the Kentucky roster was on full display, as they ran through, over and around the competition.  Calipari continued to keep a short bench, playing only 6 players for more than 10 minutes.  That being said, each of those 6 players scored 8+ points.

Kentucky will meet up with in-state rival Louisville in the Final Four in what could be a classic — if Louisville finds a way to slow the Cats down.

For most of the game, the Florida Gators had Louisville playing outside of their comfort zone. The faster pace was too much for the Cardinals, but as the game wore on, it got into a possession by possession game — and when that happened, Louisville was able to execute much better in the half court than Florida. The game ended with Pitino’s squad going on an 18-3 run, making a final score of 72-68 (Yes, Florida actually led 65-54 with 8:14 left).

This Louisville Cardinal fan was pretty stoked:

Can Sullinger Be Stopped?

Ohio State and Florida joined the elite eight party after the late games Thursday.

The Buckeyes advanced by controlling just about everything in their game with in-state rival Cincinnati.  And yes, I use the term “rival” loosely.  The bigs for the Bearcats were simply dominated as Sullinger and Thomas combined for 49 points and 18 rebounds.  Thad Matta is now just one game away from getting his program back to the final four — It would be their first final four since Greg Oden and Mike Conley carried them in 2007.

Speaking of 2007, Billy Donovan and the Gators have a also one game away from the final four — for the first time since beating the Buckeyes in the 2007 National Championship Game.  Florida dictated the tempo against Marquette and it was obvious they were uncomfortable playing at that pace.

As I said in my previous post, I am really excited to watch the Louisville vs Florida game.  Should be very entertaining basketball.

That being said, Ohio State vs Syracuse is going to have a handful of future NBA players in it — So we should see some athleticism if nothing else.

After a solid start to the tournament, the Big Ten just dropped two winnable games to the Big East.

Wisconsin spent most of the second half lighting it up from 3-point land only to find themselves down by 1 with 16 seconds left.  Rather then running their regular offense, the Badgers went to a horribly executed set before giving the ball off to Jordan Taylor.  Taylor only managed to throw up a prayer that was not even close before the rebound went to a Wisconsin player that air balled the put back.

The Spartans on the other hand shot horrible early and often — going just 28% from the field.  Draymond Green had a tough time dealing with Louisville’s match-up man to man zone.  I actually just made up that title for their defense because it is a Rick Patino design that doesn’t exist anywhere else in the country.  It has principles of man to man defense, zone defense, and trapping defenses — if nothing else, it has been proven effective come tournament time, as the guy is now 10-0 all time in sweet 16 games.  Anyway, back to Green, who turned the ball over 6 times, making his assist to turnover ratio a 0.33 for the game (his 3rd lowest for the season).  Obviously their defensive tempo was too much for him to handle.

On a side note, the way the refs officiated the game actually played into the Cardinals favor.  Hand checking and wrist slaps were not called all game and that is quite helpful to a trapping defense that does a lot of reaching.  Do not get me wrong, the refs were consistent with how they called the game and that is all you can ask for as a coach or player, but it just so happened that their reffing style matched the Louisville play style.  I am definitely hoping Florida beats Marquette because a Florida vs Louisville game should make for one of the most entertaining games in the tournament.