The Picks.
MICHIGAN STATE VS DUKE
Two great coaches with a week to prepare. One has more talent. Listen, Izzo has done his best coaching YET, but Coach K will have his kids ready to play, and to be frank, he has too many weapons. If Michigan State had a bunch of scorers/ sharpshooters, I might go the other way. Duke has too much talent, and it is going to take talent to beat them. Duke’s three’s are on, Ja has a decent game against a team that will challenge him inside, and Duke will make the free throws down the stretch to keep the game at arm’s length. I even like Duke to beat the five point spread. I say, and final answer, Duke wins 69-62.
KENTUCKY VS WISCONSIN
How to beat Kentucky (or MY opinion).
Run screens and force switches. Ryan will see this on film and run those necessary plays.
Be able to shoot the three. It is a typical Wisconsin team, and most of the guys can shoot. Now that Dekker is stepping up, they have a tall athletic guy who ALSO can shoot besides Frank the Tank.
Move the ball…quickly. That is exactly what Wisconsin does.
Shoot the first shot that is a good one. Wisconsin is not scared to line one up even WITH their slower pace.
Play D. Pack line. Check.
Have athletes. Okay, so this is a huge problem, but Wisconsin just beat the closest thing in athleticism to UK…Arizona. Sometimes something special happens in the tourney (like LAST year, people). Ryan will find a way to offset this big imbalance and Frank is on a mission. Wisconsin wins 75-73. If I was not retired, I would take the money line in a HEARTBEAT.
Hope they play bad and you play good, because it ain’t going to happen otherwise. Well, let’s all cross our fingers.
Then, Wisconsin will win it all in a CLASSIC with Duke. Final answer. It also perfectly corresponds to my rough draft on Selection Sunday where I had Wisconsin over Duke and then confused myself by overthinking.
So, I will talk to you this weekend when it ends up UK vs. Michigan State.
MISCELLANEOUS
-I would like the 13 US Senators who are trying to move the World Cup because of unrest there are successful, as I really would like to go somewhere ELSE in 3 years.
-I retract everything negative that I have said in the last year, and it probably is just me being mad at him sucking, as Tiger is the one guy we CARE about playing at The Masters. For our era, he IS The Masters.
-There are 25 total Final Fours between the seasoned coaches in this year’s Final Four. Twenty seven if we count the two they took away from Calipari back in the day. Here is your deep thought of the day though. John Wooden and Coach K really are JUST starting to morph into the same sentence, but I will make you think about this. Wooden’s last year winning was the FIRST year with THIRTY TWO teams in the tourney. He had to beat LESS teams in a random tourney to win it all. The better team had an easier road. Coach K is on his way to half the ten win Wooden total and he has competed against 64 teams every time. Something to think about.
-There are far more intriguing writers out there WITH FULL TIME SPORTS JOBS with articles on the Indiana law thing. I will save my breath. I am already on record for being against ANY SINGLE THING in life that is against gays, minorities, etc.
-By the way, LOUD CLAPS for the NFL in hiring a female full time official.
-Can you believe Tom Crean is making three plus mil for doing the mediocre job he is doing at one of the epicenters of basketball? I had some time and read the article in the US Today with a college bball salary chart.
-Why did Shaka Smart finally decide to leave his home for a FOOTBALL school? Wait until Tom Crean gets fired or something, Shaka.
-Think about how LeBron James is 20th in all time NBA scoring and…he is in the middle of his prime.
-I guess Josh Hamilton DID win something.
-Buffalo doesn’t ever want to see “watkins” in the same sentence as “surgery” ever again.
-I know the Skins got Goldson, but I think the majority of us don’t really care who the Skins get recently.
-Or since like the late 1990’s.
-I am sad about Cheaterpari winning COY over Tony Bennett, but I get taking a bunch of youngsters to an undefeated record is pretty badass. One loss would have swung it to Bennett.
-Early betting is on Manny. If I wasn’t a retired bettor, I would TOTALLY take Mayweather at the present -180. You would be silly I think NOT to.
That’s it. Talk to you tomorrow or Sunday. Peace.