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Momentum to Maryland Dixon's emergence keyed Terrapins' Final Four run
Duke, Maryland, Michigan State and Arizona have advanced to the Final Four in Minneapolis and CNN/Sports Illustrated's Seth Davis joined the Sports Tonight gang to break down the games. Fred Hickman: Let's start with Duke-Maryland. In the first meeting, Maryland had the heartbreaking loss to Duke. But they were able to recover. I'm wondering why. Seth Davis: Well, everyone talks about the Duke game, but I think Maryland really hit rock bottom when the Terps lost to Florida State at home. I think after that game, head coach Gary Williams made Juan Dixon, his shooting guard, the Terps' No. 1 scoring option. Before that, it was Terence Morris, who really hasn't shown the mentality to really want to be that No. 1 guy. Even though Lonny Baxter had a monster game against Stanford, I think making Dixon your No. 1 offensive option, then playing off the strengths of Dixon and Steve Blake at the point guard spot -- I just think it made them more deadly from a scoring-potential standpoint. And when you're talking about momentum, of the four teams in the Final Four, I think Maryland is playing the best coming into this weekend.
Vince Cellini: Let's go to Michigan State-Arizona. If Loren Woods is not on his game, can the 'Cats get this done? Davis: I don't think so, Vince. You know, Woods is really an enigmatic player. Just a world of talent. You see his size, you see how long he is, but he just doesn't seem to like physical contact. And one thing you have to say about Michigan State is that the Spartans are a very physically strong team. Woods is getting a lot of credit, well-deserved credit, for the way he played in the last 10 minutes against Illinois. But the fact is that for 30 minutes, he really was not a factor in that game. If he is going to sit out the first 30 minutes of Saturday's game, you can be sure Michigan State will be playing in the national championship. Hickman: You picked Duke to play Arizona in the finals a long time ago, with Duke winning it all. Has anything changed to make you think otherwise? Davis: Not at all. I think the one thing that people aren't picking up on is that Duke is really not playing that well right now. So of the four teams playing this weekend, Duke has the most to go as far as reaching its potential. They have shot a low percentage in their last few games. Jason Williams, as well as he has been playing, has been turning over the ball five times a game. He was 3-for-11 from 3-point range against USC. I just think, when all is said and done, Duke is playing with a wider margin for error than people think. Cellini: Guard play is obviously a big key in the tournament, isn't it? Davis: Illinois relies on Frank Williams probably as much than any team relies on a single player, and when your best player has an off night, it causes a problem. When you look at Duke, the Blue Devils don't shoot a very high percentage. Their philosophy: If you're going shoot a low percentage, you might as well do it from 3-point range. So it depends on what your game plan is. Looking at Michigan State, I can guarantee you, the Spartans will not a shoot a high percentage from three-point range. They really rely on making that up with offensive rebounding. So really it depends on the team, but certainly Temple and Illinois could not survive with their guards shooting the way they did. Cellini: Getting back to Duke, the Devils are so disruptive in defending on the perimeter. That's what you have to do, right? Davis: It's interesting. If you look at it, Carlos Boozer getting hurt was the best thing that happened to Duke. They really were not playing very good defense before Boozer got hurt. They were relying on whatever inside presence Boozer was giving them. When Boozer got hurt, they had no choice but to attack on the perimeter. Mike Krzyzewski inserted freshman Chris Duhon into the starting lineup after Boozer was hurt. Now, when you bring Boozer back, it just makes them that much better because if Boozer gets in foul trouble, then they know what to do. So Duke really turned up the pressure.
Davis: What I don't understand is all the coaches out there who don't know what they are doing -- who is hiring them? All these coaches are getting fired, but no athletic directors are getting fired. Doug Dickey doesn't lose his job at Tennessee when he fires Jerry Green, who was 89-33 and won 22 games this year. I just think these athletic directors and university presidents, who are so quick to espouse things like loyalty and academic priority, are too quick to fire these guys and I think there are too many of them out there who are looking for the big name. I think these guys are shortsighted, Fred. They think they can go out and get a Rick Pitino or Bob Knight and get a quick fix, but look at the guys who are coaching this weekend. Krzyzewski was a sub-.500 coach at Army before Duke hired him. Tom Izzo was a long-time assistant coach -- no one knew who he was until Jud Heathcote forced Michigan State to hire him. Williams was certainly not a big name when he got the Maryland job. I just think these athletic directors and university presidents are being very shortsighted. Cellini: I read where Izzo said many of these big-name coaches put the pressure on themselves with these big contracts. We're living in a "win now" era, are we not? Davis: Well, John Chaney said last weekend in Atlanta that the only thing a coach should be loyal to these days is himself. So I think that coaches like Steve Lappas started flirting with the UMass job, and obviously he wanted to take that job. Lappas has not had a great deal of support at Villanova. He hasn't had a lot of success getting to the NCAA tournament, and I just think that even when you win a lot of games, it's not enough. So I don't blame coaches for taking the best opportunity when it is available.
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