FoxPerez
03-28-2011, 02:55 PM
From The Daily Six Shooter (http://bit.ly/hZPiPe) at PlaymakerOnline.com (http://www.playmakeronline.com/):
1. In the most eventful Texas weekend since we started The Daily Six shooter, there are a lot of things I could start with, but I’m going to begin with a wild NCAA Tournament and the unlikely turn that it took in San Antonio before heading to Houston.
From “First Four” to Final Four, Virginia Commonwealth as an 11-seed will play Butler in the most unlikely national semifinal matchup in history. And they did it while beating a team that I had considered unbeatable. The way that the Kansas Jayhawks had rolled through the Big 12 after losing to Texas and the way they’d been beating their opponents, it seemed like they wouldn’t play a game against a worthy opponent until they got to Houston. And their confidence had to be sky high. The highest seed they played in this tournament was 9-seed Illinois in the 2nd round. And yet VCU did what nobody expected them to do, and they did so without playing a perfect game.
VCU seemed to be in perpetual motion throughout the game. They never got caught taking an early shot looking for an early knockout punch nor did they ever go stale having to rely on one person to create a shot on their own. One of the reasons they kept turning the ball over in the 2nd half was they were a little too unselfish at times and that allowed the Jayhawks to get extra opportunities on the other end. But VCU found ways to run back on defense and keep Kansas from converting easy buckets.
Another strategy they employed was not to double-team the Morris twins in the low block and try to make them earn their points in the paint and wear them out physically. This allowed the perimeter defenders to stay at home on the shooters and not give Kansas open looks from outside. As good as the Morris twins play, their games aren’t limited to scoring. Markieff and Marcus were held to one combined assist in this game and their teammates were held to less than 30% shooting for the game.
Shaka Smart deserves all the credit in the world for taking his team this far and holding Kansas to it’s lowest point total of the season. So think twice before you pencil in Butler to play in another championship game and think… If VCU beat Kansas despite not playing well offensively, can anybody stop them?
2. Yesterday was a special anniversary for me and NCAA Tournament history in Texas. It was the 6th anniversary of another great overtime game in the Lone Star State: the Austin Regional Final between Kentucky and Michigan State. While the Spartans won the game in double-overtime to go to the Final Four, the game is most remembered for the Patrick Sparks three-pointer at the buzzer that sent the game into overtime:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MV_BtN3_FEk&feature=player_embedded
I was lucky enough to sit in the first row of “media overflow” in the stands as a college journalist and decided to film the final seconds of regulation. While I thought that Kentucky might tie the game, I didn’t expect it to happen the way it did. Even the media stood up and started cheering after the unlikely finish.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bp9IepkWLvw&feature=player_embedded
Years later, I found a Sports Illustrated picture (http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/81476607/Sports-Illustrated#) of Sparks about to fire the game-tying shot and realized that I was in it. If you look in the first row of seats behind press row, everyone is sitting down and there I am filming the action with my tiny camera.
For more college sports coverage, check out PlaymakerOnline.com (http://www.playmakeronline.com/)
Playmaker Magazine: The Source for Sports in Texas
1. In the most eventful Texas weekend since we started The Daily Six shooter, there are a lot of things I could start with, but I’m going to begin with a wild NCAA Tournament and the unlikely turn that it took in San Antonio before heading to Houston.
From “First Four” to Final Four, Virginia Commonwealth as an 11-seed will play Butler in the most unlikely national semifinal matchup in history. And they did it while beating a team that I had considered unbeatable. The way that the Kansas Jayhawks had rolled through the Big 12 after losing to Texas and the way they’d been beating their opponents, it seemed like they wouldn’t play a game against a worthy opponent until they got to Houston. And their confidence had to be sky high. The highest seed they played in this tournament was 9-seed Illinois in the 2nd round. And yet VCU did what nobody expected them to do, and they did so without playing a perfect game.
VCU seemed to be in perpetual motion throughout the game. They never got caught taking an early shot looking for an early knockout punch nor did they ever go stale having to rely on one person to create a shot on their own. One of the reasons they kept turning the ball over in the 2nd half was they were a little too unselfish at times and that allowed the Jayhawks to get extra opportunities on the other end. But VCU found ways to run back on defense and keep Kansas from converting easy buckets.
Another strategy they employed was not to double-team the Morris twins in the low block and try to make them earn their points in the paint and wear them out physically. This allowed the perimeter defenders to stay at home on the shooters and not give Kansas open looks from outside. As good as the Morris twins play, their games aren’t limited to scoring. Markieff and Marcus were held to one combined assist in this game and their teammates were held to less than 30% shooting for the game.
Shaka Smart deserves all the credit in the world for taking his team this far and holding Kansas to it’s lowest point total of the season. So think twice before you pencil in Butler to play in another championship game and think… If VCU beat Kansas despite not playing well offensively, can anybody stop them?
2. Yesterday was a special anniversary for me and NCAA Tournament history in Texas. It was the 6th anniversary of another great overtime game in the Lone Star State: the Austin Regional Final between Kentucky and Michigan State. While the Spartans won the game in double-overtime to go to the Final Four, the game is most remembered for the Patrick Sparks three-pointer at the buzzer that sent the game into overtime:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MV_BtN3_FEk&feature=player_embedded
I was lucky enough to sit in the first row of “media overflow” in the stands as a college journalist and decided to film the final seconds of regulation. While I thought that Kentucky might tie the game, I didn’t expect it to happen the way it did. Even the media stood up and started cheering after the unlikely finish.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bp9IepkWLvw&feature=player_embedded
Years later, I found a Sports Illustrated picture (http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/81476607/Sports-Illustrated#) of Sparks about to fire the game-tying shot and realized that I was in it. If you look in the first row of seats behind press row, everyone is sitting down and there I am filming the action with my tiny camera.
For more college sports coverage, check out PlaymakerOnline.com (http://www.playmakeronline.com/)
Playmaker Magazine: The Source for Sports in Texas