UCLA needs Shipp to step up; Duke loss no surprise

If the Bruins are going to make a deep run in the NCAA tourney, they need Josh Shipp to find his game quickly. Ric Tapia/Icon SMI

SI.com caught up with Seth Davis, who's serving as a CBS studio analyst during the tournament, to get his impressions of Saturday's second-round action.

SI.com: So UCLA almost lost ...

Seth Davis: Yeah, I was saying in the studio how all the people who picked UCLA to win it all in their pool are asleep right now. They're going to wake up tomorrow and learn their pick to win it all almost lost. Texas A&M played really well -- I'm seeing the same thing happen with Michigan State -- teams that are up and down through the course of the season, when they get to the tournament and they play with a favorite team everybody's all of a sudden up. You have to assume everyone's going to play well. I thought it was more a function of A&M playing well than UCLA playing poorly. UCLA cannot win unless Josh Shipp breaks out of whatever slump he's in. He's become the Chuck Knoblauch of college hoops -- he had zero points Saturday. He entered this nightmare slump in February and he hasn't broke out of it.

SI.com: What about the Stanford game?

SD: It was very obviously unfortunate that Trent Johnson got kicked out of the game, but the interview he did after the game was all class. He's a very classy man and he took full responsibility. There was nothing controversial about what happened; he had been warned to stay in the coaches box, and after ignoring the warning he got a technical. And as Marquette was going to shoot the technical, he was still out of the box. He was very contrite about it afterward. But for Marquette, there was just too much Brook Lopez.

SI.com: What about Robin Lopez?

SD: Robin was great -- both of them were. The unsung hero was their point guard, Mitch Johnson. I don't think I've ever seen this line: 16 assists to 1 turnover -- that's got to be virtually unprecedented.

SI.com: Are you surprised that Duke's out?

SD: Not at all. The style they play, it's not built for the tournament. The tournament is a grind. Look at UCLA -- you gotta grind your way through. It's unusual during the season to play two games in three days Duke's coming off the ACC tourney where it played back-to-back games at the end of a long, tough season. The Blue Devils went 11-for-43 from the three-point line and got outrebounded by 20 and gave up 19 offensive rebounds. Da'Sean Butler got into foul trouble, but Joe Mazzulla almost hit a triple-double -- he had 11 rebounds, 13 points, and eight assists. West Virginia was just tougher than Duke.

SI.com: So what do you see in WVU's future?

SD: Xavier's going to be a lot tougher than Duke. Xavier's really experienced. Just watching the two teams play you could tell which squad was experienced and which had freshman. Everything Xavier does has a purpose and it doesn't have one player it rides. It's balanced, experienced, tough and smart.

SI.com: Did you ever think you would be saying that?

SD: Historically no, but this season, yes. Xavier slipped to the three seed because it didn't play well at the end of the year. But the Atlantic-10 was very good this year and it still won it by three games. The Musketeers don't wow you. Xavier, Wisconsin, Wash St. -- none wow you with individuals. The key to the tournament is toughness, experience, smart play, good defense and you gotta make shots.

SI.com: Were you surprised at how soundly Wisconsin defeated Kansas State?

SD: I thought Kansas State was going to win. It was just surgical what Wisconsin did. The Badgers were methodical consistent; they chopped Kansas State up on both ends of the floor and their age really showed. They're physically a lot stronger than Kansas State and Trevon Hughes tied a career high with 24 points. Also, Wisconsin is not supposed to be a real good three-point team and it went 7-for-15 in the first half and 9-for-22 for the game. They also got a big boost from Greg Stimesa, who had 14 points. That's a career high too.

SI.com: What are you watching tomorrow?

SD: My big upset pick is Davidson over Georgetown. You gotta take a shot to make a shot. I just like its quickness, how well coached it is. I think the Wildcats are going to chase Georgetown and play a lot faster than the Hoyas want to play, which no one has done all year. I dont know why I anticipate Davidson. If they play Georgetown 10 times, Georgetown will win eight, but Davidson just has to beat them once.

Villanova-Siena is also going to be highly entertaining. I gotta sleep on that one, I don't know, but I'm leaning toward Siena. I just think it's playing really well now, but Villanova was impressive coming back in the first round. I guess if I'm going down I'm going down firing.