Elite Eight Recap

The first two entrants to the 2010 Final Four were decided yesterday as Butler and West Virginia used defense to punch their ticket to Indianapolis. Kansas State and Kentucky tried their best to give us a great finish, but in the end the Bulldogs and Mountaineers were too much. Here is my quick take on the two games yesterday.

Butler 63 – Kansas State 56

Kansas State looked worn out in the beginning, found some adrenaline to make a second half run and actually take a one point lead at one point, and then looked worn out in the end again, allowing Butler to pull away for good. Butler, who has been a great defensive team all season, smothered the Kansas State shooters in the first half and built a seven point lead at halftime. Pullen and Clemente, the Wildcat guards who I thought would be the difference in this one, came out sluggish and only had two points combined at halftime. Kansas State, like I have to remind you, was coming off a double overtime victory just over 40 hours before where they used a ton of energy to hold off Xavier. Butler, meanwhile, made it difficult throughout on the dynamic K-State backcourt as Pullen and Clemente finished a combined 11-30 from the field. On the offensive end, Butler got contributions from a number of players, but it was their leading scorers Gordon Hayward and Shelvin Mack who paced the Bulldogs, combining for 38 points and scoring in a multitude of ways. Butler will go back home to Indianapolis for their first Final Four appearance in school history. The Bulldogs knocked off both the number one and number two seeds in the West region and deserve every bit of the accolades they will receive back home.

West Virginia 73 – Kentucky 66

I probably do not need to say too much for this game as I am sure everyone watched for themselves. This game was being built up from the day the brackets were announced. While the game itself was pretty good, I do not think it lived up to the hype it was receiving. Kentucky, the team with the most talent, played a poor game and saw its Achilles heel, three-point shooting, really kill them when it mattered most. Kentucky missed their first 20 (that’s amazing just to type) three pointers of the game, and finished 4-32 from deep. Everyone questioned this aspect of the Kentucky game coming in and it sure proved to be true in this one. WVU, meanwhile, lived on the three pointer as the Mountaineers shot 10-23 for the game from deep. More importantly, however, was the Mountaineers eight first half three pointers when the team failed to make a single two point basket yet held a two-point halftime lead. Individually, the hero for the Mountaineers was Joe Mazzulla, finally 100% healthy after offseason shoulder surgery. Mazzulla scored a season high 17 points after coming in averaging less than 3 points per game. Bob Huggins will take his alma mater back to the Final Four for the first time since 1959, and it will be Huggins’ first Final Four trip since 1992 with Cincinnati.

Well I was a solid 0 for 2 on my predictions yesterday and it was due to one key factor in each game. My total underestimation of Kansas State’s fatigue and the inability to see Kentucky shooting the ball that poorly left me eating my words. Hopefully, I can make up for that today.

I look for Tennessee to ride their momentum off a great win against Ohio State and just be a little too much for a depleted Michigan State team. I hate going against Tom Izzo in the tournament, but there is something about this Tennessee team that has grown on me.

I am also going with Duke. Though I picked Baylor at the outset of the tournament to make the Final Four, I am switching gears and going with the Blue Devils. I think the Duke experience, combined with just a tad more offensive firepower than Baylor, will be the difference in this one.