Saturday: Winners and Losers

Winners

Minnesota: By a hair (by a three pointer really). Molinari ball is back! The new interim coach of the Gophers has 13 years of head coaching experience at high mid-major conferences. His primary focus is defense. It was a bit surpring to find out he didn't even know the plays on offense. A defensive co-ordinator for sure. What happen to cross-training at the office Dan Monson? :-) Anyway, the Gophers played a spirited and tough game on defense and managed to get a heartwarming 19 point lead. Then the press came on. Arizona State is nowhere near as athletic as Clemson, but the press was nevertheless effective, and they were a three pointer away from sending the game into overtime. But regardless, this was a big win for the Gopher players and fans as they enter the post-Monson era...

DePaul: The genius of Jerry Wainwright? He beats Kansas once again, this time with DePaul. As you may recall, he also beat Kansas at Allen Fieldhouse with the Richmond Spiders.

Illinois: Despite the injuries of Brian Randle and Jamar Smith, despite the disparity of the calls, and despite the fact that the game was played in Phoenix, the Fighting Illini jumped to a strong start. In a mirror reversal of the 2005 Elite 8 game, the Illini lost their big lead, and got worn down by the refs and a 7-man rotation of Arizona, but one would think that if they had Randle and Smith they would have probably managed to maintain their lead.

Arizona: A revenge game for them. The 2005 Elite 8 game was at a "neutral" court in Chicago. This game was at a "neutral" court in Phoenix. In 2005 Arizona had a big lead and lost the game. This time Illinois had a big lead and lost game. One note of interest: Arizona has a deep bench but only a 7-man rotation, with the five starters playing most of the minutes. JP Prince is under the weather so to speak, but the rest of the players were available. But who am I to question the Silver Fox?

Gonzaga: Another big win against a big name opporenent and super-frosh Kevin Durant. This Zags team has more resilience and bite despite the loss of scoring machines Ammo and JP Batista.

Wichita State: If any team is for real, here is one! They won on the road at LSU, Syrcause and George Mason.


Losers

Duke: They won the game but their disfunctional offense is going to hurt future recruiting if it continues to be so. Already Coach K was in spin mode by calling the Indiana game beautiful. Even Dookie Vitale said that game was UGLY.

Kansas: Can we take this team seriously yet? They are loaded with talent but not with consistency (not yet). As you may recall they started slowly last year before heating up...

Syracuse: By playing a soft OOC schedule and losing a home game to a tough Wichita State team, the Boeheim Orange have put themselves on the bubble. They may have to rely on a G-Mac run in the Big East tourney by Do-It-All-Paul (Paul Harris).

South Carolina: Bad home loss to in-state rival Clemson. Dave Odom is becoming the John Wooden of the post-season NIT, but is that enough to keep his job?



Random Thoughts

If anyone had any doubts that Dick Vitale was Duke's official #1 cheerleader, the sight of his two grandsons as Dookie Crazies would seal it.

Roy Williams has found the other side of Coke! He appears in a new (new to me) Coca Cola commercial talking about how during his childhood he couldn't to buy a Coke, that's why now he has a fridge stocked with it in his office. Heartwarming or corny? You decide...

Kentucky won the tempo war but lost the game to North Carolina