Final Four 2017 Breakdown

March Madness reaches its crescendo this weekend. 68 teams started on the road to Phoenix, and now four remain. Of these four we have two number one seeds, two surprises and yet three teams competing in their first Final Four ever and one blue blood, blue chip program.

In this piece I will be breaking down the Final Four teams and the match ups albeit in brief, but if you like what you are reading, please comment and let me know.

On Saturday night we have the two semi-final matchups; South Carolina (7) v Gonzaga (1) followed by Oregon (3) v North Carolina (1).

South Carolina Gamecocks

(SEC, 26-10)

The lowest ranked seed and the best story of the tournament, an embattled head coach whose behaviour on the sidelines sometimes draws more headlines than his teams play. Frank Martin led the Gamecocks to the tournament on a bad run of only three wins in their last 9 games, the last two being defeats to Ole Miss and Alabama - two teams who did not make the tournament.

However, Martin can coach defence and in the same vein of Rick Pitino's Louisville national title winning side of recent years, defence can get you further in a single-elimination format. They have defeated Marquette, Duke, Baylor and Florida, all teams with powerful offences that they have slowed down by being physical. Can they slow down Gonzaga who are as big and as powerful in a good match-up contest. Their own offensive efficiency despite Sindarius Thornwell's heroics might mean this is one game too far; yet they have showed that there is more to the SEC than just John Calipari and the Kentucky Wildcats.

Gonzaga Bulldogs

(WCC, 36-1)

The King of the mid-majors finally made the Final Four after numerous falls following numerous seedings as No.1. This year, Mark Few has garnered his best team full of versatility owing to the nine-man rotation Few employs. Led by Polish senior guard Przemek Karnowski and junior guard Nigel Williams-Ross; the Bulldogs can mix it up defensively in a low scoring game such as the press versus West Virginia or dominant with their size as they did against Xavier in that 24 point victory in the Elite 8.

The thing to fear of the Bulldogs is the stage itself, this is the first time these players would have played in a venue this size and the same applies to Few also. This is a stage Few and his team were made for, now he has to fulfil all the promise and handle the expectation, firstly to overcome the stellar South Carolina defence then who knows.

Oregon Ducks

(Pac-12, 33-5)

These mighty Ducks have had to overcome the most adversity following the loss of Chris Boucher to an ACL injury before the tournament started, and yet the play of three guys Tyler Dorsey, Dillon Brooks, Jordan Bell have taken turns to dominant games. Against Kansas they dominated the paint owing to Bell's size and favourable matchup versus the Jayhawks smaller guards; this might not happen against the North Carolina Tar Heels who won the battle of the paint versus Kentucky.

The Ducks can have offensive nights and can stop teams but can they do so against the Tar Heels who have modified their tempo from game to game, and who matchup well in the paint with them.

North Carolina Tar Heels

(ACC, 31-7)

The Tar Heels have been here before, Roy Williams has been here before. They are probably the favourites to win it all, and it is the versatility of their line up and potential to alter their game to the opponent. Against Kentucky they took Justin Jackson and his offensive potential and instead told him to go man-to-man on Malik Monk prompting Jackson to shoot less and getting more points from Theo Pinson and game-winner Luke Maye. 

The Tar Heels have other game changers in Kennedy Meeks and Stilman White, while questions remain over the full fitness of Joel Berry who has an ankle injury.  The Tar Heels unlike the other teams in the field, have more answers than questions hanging over them. If Jackson can be unleashed from defensive duties will the Ducks be able to handle a team that can easily score 70+, can the Ducks match that.

Final Four predictions

Gonzaga over South Carolina; North Carolina over Oregon

Title match

North Carolina defeat Gonzaga in a classic and Roy Williams is cutting down the nets.

The Black Mamba slides away

33,583 points before tonight his 1,281st NBA game

And so it comes to this. Wednesday 13th April 2016. A day I am sure not many of us thought would occur, and one the man this essay concerns would have wanted to avoid at all costs.

Kobe Bean Bryant is finally retiring from the NBA after 20 seasons with the Los Angeles Lakers, five NBA championships, two Olympic Gold medals and 18 All Star appearances.

It is always sad to see a veteran have to ride off into the sunset one more time and when that veteran has had such an illustrious career as Bryant, you do get time to reflect of his career peaks and influence.

When Bryant did announce his retirement shortly after the start of 2015/16 season it came as little surprise. Three years ago Bryant suffered a torn Achilles' tendon, and since the. His play has been limited by season ending injuries to his knee and shoulder. 

Bryant is an all-time Laker, the highest points scorer for the franchise, 4th highest in NBA history and a one team man which is becoming rarer and rarer. Bryant is one of the most tenacious and competitive individuals who could seemingly score at will; yet as Father Time caught up with him that tenacity has waned as has his figures.

Bryant won 5 NBA championships

A combination of injuries and playing on a lesser Lakers side (this season's side is statistically the worst in franchise history) has seen him become a playoff fixture to a forgotten thought. The mark of a legend is sometimes being able to write your own script, your own perfect ending as say Peyton Manning was able to with his Super Bowl victory.

You got the sense from Bryant that he wanted his talent to grace the playoffs one more time, and yet a mixture of poor off court decision making coupled with the burden to match Michael Jordan's six rings became paramount in the twilight of his career.

Bryant could have done more himself by taking a pay cut which would have allowed the Lakers to entice a viable free agent like Chris Paul instead Bryant took the maximum contract (two year extension worth $48.5 million) thereby hamstringing the team to his want of a better and greater legacy. Yet you look at his contemporaries like Dirk Nowitzki who reshuffled his contract in Dallas to exist in the West or even Tom Brady in the NFL a man who always takes a pay cut to help his team in the off season.

Did Kobe play well with others?

Bryant is for this writer a top 10 all time talent based on his capacity to win and his frequency of scoring, but it is probably his unwillingness to play well with others, you need only see the unseemly fall out of his relationship with Shaquille O'Neal for evidence followed by his shutting out of Dwight Howard in a misguided super-team endeavour. 

Even the recent debacle on the Lakers between Nick Young and D'Angelo Russell needed an elder statesman to shepherd them through the mess, yet Bryant has remained mute when his words may have spoken volumes. Bryant always wanted to take the shot and will always be remembered as a scorer than a distributor or team player, for a man who was the first great player of this millennium and has five rings.

Bryant plays his last game 13th April v Utah Jazz

Bryant maybe the Black Mamba but in recent years the player has lost his bite. A career more memorable for sustainability than credibility.

NCAA 2016 Final Four Breakdown

The 2016 NCAA College Basketball Tournament reaches its dizzy crescendo this weekend in Houston where the final four and best remaining College teams face off to crown the Champion in College Hoops.

Following a mad opening weekend where more upsets occurred than normal, and then a fairly flat second weekend of Sweet 16 and Elite 8 action owing to the shocks in the first weekend, we are left with four teams. One Number One seed remains in North Carolina, two number twos in Oklahoma and Villanova and one underdog in No. 10 Syracuse.

North Carolina (1) v Syracuse (10)

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Syracuse have profited from having winnable games throughout the tournament and profiting from teams being eliminated. They beat Dayton by 19 in the first round, they then avoided Michigan State by defeating their victors Middle Tennessee by 25. Then they got two tough games in Gonzaga (will they ever reach their potential) by 3 before defeating Virginia by a convincing margin of 6. Virginia could not contend with the 2-3 zone of Cuse, and while they may be able to slow down North Carolina's offensive production, Virginia scored the most points of anyone against Syracuse in the tournament - 62.

North Carolina meanwhile have been the most under-the-radar No.1 seed in recent memory, every game has been won by double digits, the closest being 14 over Notre Dame in the elite eight and 15 over Indiana two days before.  The Tar Heels have two very good players and probably first round NBA players in Marcus Paige and Brice Johnson, yet they defend hard also making it difficult for teams to get shots off and disrupt their rhythm.

In that respect, Syracuse will have to score 80 plus points to have a chance of causing an upset. You doubt this will be likely for the Orange to succeed and Roy Williams will be heading for another title game.

Oklahoma (2) v Villanova (2)

 v 

In a much tighter affair, the two number two seeds face off and this game revolves around one player - Buddy Hield. Can Hield maintain his form of avergaing 29.3ppg in the tournament and can the Wildcats stifling defence have an answer to him.  The key will be to stop him getting a shot from the perimeter or the three point line. Hield can score at will seemingly, but Villanova so renowned for their defence have found some shooting shoes in previous rounds before stopping Kansas in the last round.

Time for Buddy to shine

In a coin flip of a game in this instance, you tend to go with the team that has the better player(s) and in this game you take Buddy. In recent years, the team that won the tournament had that tournment's MVP - from Conneticut's Kemba Walker and Shabazz Napier to Kentucky's Anthony Davis.  The time has come for Buddy to shine.

In the final, you will see North Carolina Tar Heels v Oklahoma Sooners; will that be one game too many for Buddy or will UNC yield to Hield?