THE WEEKLY 5-COUNT

By Chris Datres

1 49 games are in the books and as we hit the Sweet 16 on Thursday night, the favorites have pretty much taken over the party. Only Arizona and Purdue are from outside the original top 16 seeds. Despite my attempts, I haven’t been able to see all 49 games, partly because I was in Philadelphia for the first two rounds. I’m not showing any bias because I was at those games but I think the most impressive team that I saw over the first two rounds was Connecticut. From the start of their demolition of Chattanooga to the buzzer of their annihilation of an equally-overmatched Texas A&M team, the Huskies looked like the team that they were up until Jerome Dyson got hurt at the beginning of February. Purdue and whoever might face UCONN in the future will be well-advised to make sure Jeff Adrien doesn’t get any looks around the free throw line. He lived there in the two subregional games. As for A.J. Price, it’s been a night-and-day difference to last year’s tournament experience when he left their first round loss with a torn ACL. He’s scored 47 points in the two games, which is an abnormally high amount for a point guard, but he’s been finding a lot of wide-open looks from behind the arc in UCONN’s halfcourt sets.

2 Other random things that sparked my interest throughout the first two rounds - Wake Forest and Clemson flamed out pretty quickly. Clemson’s was pretty expected since they have a tendency to do that every year. Wake’s, on the other hand, was a bit of a surprise. But judging by Cleveland State’s style of play, I’m not totally shocked. The key to beating Wake was unearthed by Duke when they went up-tempo in the final 6 minutes of their loss to them in January. Wake had a big lead but kept playing fast and nearly blew the game. Obviously, Wake’s defense wasn’t fast enough to contain the Vikings. Marquette’s coach Buzz Williams lost a lot of points in my book for his actions in the last five seconds of their loss to Missouri. He complained rather loudly and made slight contact with an official while trying to get a one-in-a-million foul call on a leaning 3-point prayer while down by 4. I was going to give him the benefit of the doubt until I read his postgame press comments and he said that he was complaining about the clock situation and also wanted his team to realize what the time-and-score situation was. Sorry, coach, but that’s garbage. I admire the self-control of the official for not making an example of him by giving him a technical. No matter how you slice it, Villanova had an unfair homecourt advantage playing their first two games at the Wachovia Center. Normally, they play four games a year there. This year, they knew that they wouldn’t get to play there in the NCAA Tournament if they played there that many times. So they scheduled three games there and one at the old Spectrum. What I don’t get is why the NCAA let them play there and made Kansas and Missouri, also 3-seeds, travel to Minneapolis and Boise, respectively, when Kansas City was a whole lot closer. That brings me to another complaint about the “pod system” that was adopted a couple years ago. How absurd is it that Florida State and Wisconsin played a game in the EAST Regional in Boise, Idaho. The only thing Boise is east of is Portland, which hosted a SOUTH Regional game between Illinois and Western Kentucky. Come on, NCAA, let’s give up this “pod system” and go back to the way it used to be when eight teams showed up at a site and the two surviving teams would face each other in the regional semifinal.

3 In my Selection Sunday preview, I got 62 of the 65 teams correct but my seeding was way off. The three teams I had in were Davidson, Creighton, and St. Mary’s. So sue me, I like the little guy. I would have replaced Minnesota, Michigan, and Arizona. As it turned out, Michigan and Arizona certainly showed good reason to be included in the field. So to make up for my poor pre-tournament prognostications, I’ve predicted 12 of the sweet 16 teams (Temple, Wake, West Virginia, and Washington spoiling my bid) and still have all 8 intact. My Final Four is Michigan State, UCONN, Pitt, and Carolina with NC beating MSU in a rematch of the blowout at Ford Field earlier in the season.

4 Thursday’s games are UCONN-Purdue, Duke-Villanova, Pitt-Xavier, and Memphis-Missouri. I’m not sure if Purdue is going to know what hit them when they get done with this game. The Boilers have the potential to muck it up a little bit on defense and maybe get a couple of Huskies in foul trouble. But in the end, UCONN is just too big for them and right now, they’re playing the best of anybody. Duke-Villanova has the potential to be an overtime game. I’ve thought all along that Duke would get taken out by a team that shows any balance with their inside and outside games. Had Dexter Pittman not gotten into foul trouble for Texas, I think the Horns would have picked off Duke. Villanova certainly brings that balance to this game. Whatever Jay Wright said to them at halftime of the American game has resonated because they haven’t missed a beat in the 60 minutes since then. I like Nova in a close one. Pitt hasn’t been all that impressive in their two wins thus far. But each time, DeJuan Blair has bailed them out with a timely basket on a putback or Sam Young has rung up a crucial 3-pointer. I see the Xavier game as being a tight one as well but I don’t think the Musketeers have an answer for Blair inside. However, I do think they could get him in foul trouble and that would spell problems for Pitt. I like Pitt…but just barely. As for Memphis-Missouri, I’ve got Mizzou in the upset and here’s why - I think Memphis hasn’t seen a pressure defense all season and Missouri has the personnel that could give Memphis fits bringing the ball up and could force them into some bad shot selections. But one key for Missouri will be to not fall into the same trap they did on Sunday against Marquette and let a big lead get away from them.

5 Friday’s games are Louisville-Arizona, Kansas-Michigan State, Carolina-Gonzaga, and Syracuse-Oklahoma. The only way I can see Arizona’s miraculous run continuing is if Terrence Williams and Earl Clark get some sort of illness and are significantly hampered. Nic Wise has carried the Wildcats through the first two games but I really can’t see how they’re going to handle Louisville’s full-court game. But it’s been a great run for the Cats under interim coach Russ Pennell, who at this time last year was finishing his season as the Arizona State radio analyst. Kansas-Michigan State is an intriguing rematch of a 13-point Spartans win in January. Cole Aldrich is coming off the first triple-double in the Tournament since Dwayne Wade did it in 2003. Sherron Collins has averaged 28.5 points in the Jayhawks’ two tournament victories. So who do you think Spartans coach Tom Izzo will sic his big defensive dogs on? Don’t put it past Izzo and company to turn this into a grudge match that barely gets into the 60’s. In that light, I like the Spartans here. Gonzaga’s only chance against Carolina is if Josh Heytveldt can get Tyler Hansbrough in foul trouble early and if Jeremy Pargo can stay with Ty Lawson on defense. Carolina may be the favorite in this tournament but don’t overlook the amount of talent the Zags have. If they can lock up the Tarheels defensively, they might just return to the Elite Eight for the first time since 1999. As for Syracuse-Oklahoma, I’m not so sure this game is going to get the attention that it deserves. Syracuse’s 2-3 zone totally confused Arizona State on Sunday and if you don’t gameplan for it well enough, you won’t find the spots to attack. Essentially, guard play will be the key in this game as Syracuse boasts three guys in Rautins, Flynn, and Devendorf who can hit the 3 and create a lot on the offensive end. I like Oklahoma to slide through in this game but the Griffin brothers are going to have to negate Syracuse’s rebounding potential.

Got any questions or comments? Feel free to e-mail me at gopens24@aol.com. Who knows, maybe I’ll include your “mailbag” comment in a future 5-Count.