One shining moment
Move over, U.S. Reed. In the annals of buzzer-beating,
halfcourt shots in the NCAA tournament, you have new company: Xavier's Dedrick
Finn. With just five seconds remaining in the first half and Xavier trailing
33-31, the Musketeers' Brandon Cole got a defensive rebound and threw an outlet
pass to Finn. As he started dribbling up the court, players and coaches from the
Xavier bench started yelling, "Shoot it!" Just before the clock expired, Finn let fly a desperation shot from halfcourt that hit nothing but net and sent
everyone in Orlando -- everyone except Mississippi State fans -- into a frenzy.
"We work on
that shot every day in practice," Xavier coach Thad Matta said. "I think it
gave us a little boost."
Finn ran off the court with his right index finger
pointing to the sky. After officials confirmed with the replay that the shot came
before the buzzer, the Musketeers had a one-point lead going into the locker
room. They never trailed again.
Player who impressed me
It would be easy to go with senior guard Lionel
Chalmers (who had a career-high 31 points on 11-of-14 shooting, including 4-of-4 from
3-point land) or Finn (career-high 22 points and 5-of-7 on 3-pointers), but the
Musketeers would not have won without the stellar inside play of senior center
Anthony Myles.
The 6-foot-9 Myles, Xavier's only strong inside presence on the
offensive or defensive end, scored eight points and had 14 rebounds. The 14 boards
were one short of his career high and helped the Musketeers do a respectable
job on the glass (minus-2 rebounding differential) against the bigger and taller
Bulldogs, one of the best rebounding teams in the country. Most importantly,
Myles contained SEC player of the year Lawrence Roberts, limiting him to 11 points on 4-of-11 shooting. Myles' inside play will be important in Xavier's Sweet
16 matchup against Texas.
Courtside confidential
Xavier's Finn was very close to being a Mississippi
State Bulldog. In September 2001, Finn, then a senior from Newburgh, Ind., was
scheduled to go on a recruiting visit to Starkville. But because of the
terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, Finn had to cancel his trip. Finn never rescheduled
his visit, and he signed with Xavier.... Bulldogs forward Branden Vincent tied a season high with 10 shot attempts on Sunday, partially because Mississippi State
believed Xavier forward Justin Doellman, a freshman, was a liability defensively. Vincent made four of those shots and scored 11 points.... How far can Xavier go playing
just six guys? Chalmers and Romain Sato played all 40 minutes while Finn
logged 36. ... Bulldogs guard Winsome Frazier, a 41.7 percent shooter on the year, never looked like he got into the flow of the game. He made 3-of-13 shots. ... Mississippi State point guard Timmy Bowers had opportunities to drive into the lane many times but chose not to until it was too late.
Long-term prospects
On Friday Xavier meets No. 3 seed Texas, a 78-75 winner
over North Carolina in the second round. The Longhorns (25-7) are a deep squad
with 11 guys who log significant minutes and have an army of big men in Brian
Boddicker, Brad Buckman, Jason Klotz, James Thomas and P.J. Tucker. This will
be a rematch of the 1990 Sweet 16 matchup, which Texas won 102-89.
As has
been its M.O. all season, Texas will try to dominate the offensive glass against
the undersized Musketeers. The 'Horns, however, will have trouble guarding the
lightning-quick duo of Chalmers and Finn while keeping Sato at bay. Keep an
eye on how Texas defends Xavier's ball screens. The Horns have to decide whether
to cut off the dribble penetration and allow the Musketeers to have open
3-pointers on kick outs, or to closely defend the shooters and gamble that Chalmers
and Finn cannot finish in the lane. If Chalmers and Finn are hitting their
shots, as they did Sunday, it won't matter what Texas does.
