NCAA Tourney Blog

This Blog (Unknowingly) Endorsed By ...

Luke Winn — Sun, 02 Apr 2006 21:01:00 +0000

Kareem and the Mannings. Anyone want to take that up as a band name?

Stewart Mandel/SI

The First Monday Night

Luke Winn — Mon, 03 Apr 2006 17:39:00 +0000

Northwestern University Archives

The Blog goes into time-warp mode on the morn of the title game, taking you back to the First Monday Night: March 27, 1939, when the inaugural NCAA tournament final between Oregon and Ohio State tipped off at Patten Gymnasium (shown above) on the campus of Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill. That game drew a sellout crowd of 5,500 fans -- compared to the nearly 45,000 who will be on hand tonight in Indy -- and the overall 1939 tournament operated at a loss of $2,531. Today, the NCAA makes billions.

The University of Oregon's 1939 "Tall Firs," with John Dick sitting at the far right of the front row.

University of Oregon

We put in a call to John Dick, the lone surviving starter of the Oregon "Tall Firs" -- named that way for their front line of the 6-foot-4 Dick, 6-4 Laddie Gale and 6-8 "Slim" Wintermute -- who beat the Buckeyes in a 46-33 blowout. Dick shot 100 percent -- 5-of-5 -- from the field in that game and was the Ducks' leading scorer with 15 points. Dick, whose jersey number, 18, has been retired, still lives in Eugene, Ore. He recounted some choice moments from the event:

- Dick's team had to endure a grueling stretch, winning five games in 12 days (two in the Pac-10 championship series, over Cal; two in the San Francisco NCAA Regional, over Texas and Oklahoma; and one over OSU in Evanston, Ill.) in the pre-air-travel era to claim the NCAA crown. "We spent four days and nights riding trains," he said, "and got no practice whatsoever. On those rides it's just shake, rattle and roll, baby -- you don't do anything, and they only stop a few times for water and food."

- When they arrived in Evanston the day before the title game to familiarize themselves with the gym on Sheridan Road, Dick said, "The media showed up in, for those days, large numbers, and they all wanted pictures and interviews, so our coach [Howard Hobson] just gave up on the practice. He didn't want to antagonize the press."

- While Patten Gym had a beautiful exterior reminiscent of a classic rail station -- it was designed by famous Prairie School architect George W. Maher -- its interior (shown below) was not exactly perfect for basketball. "The lighting left something to be desired," said Dick, "and the floor was laid out in four-by-eight sections on a dirt floor. If you dribble on a floor like that, the ball bounces up when you hit a seam -- where the beams are -- and in the middle of the sections, it was more or less dead. You could watch a player dribbling and tell what part of a section he was on."

Northwestern University Archives

The gym, unfortunately for basketball historians -- and the aesthetics of the NU campus -- was torn down months after the title game to make room for the school's new Technical Institute. A less-appealing version of Patten was rebuilt at a new location a few blocks north on Sheridan Road in 1941 -- and it served as the home for this Blogger's college intramural basketball games as recently as 2002.

- The Ducks stayed in the LaSalle Hotel in downtown Chicago, where they witnessed a star-in-the-making at the lounge attached to the hotel's lobby. "We sat in the lobby one night and listened to a young man playing in the lounge whose name was Nat King Cole," Dick said. Cole was 20 at the time, and would sign with Capitol Records four years later and eventually become one of America's most famous jazz musicians.

- During the game, the trophy for the winner was being displayed on the scorer's table -- but it didn't make it to the awards ceremony in one piece. "Bobby Anet, our captain, dove for a loose ball that was going out of bounds right in the vicinity of the trophy," Dick said. "He batted the ball back into the court, and in the course of his flight he hit that trophy, knocking it over and breaking the the little metal basketball player right off at the ankles. So when they gave us the trophy afterwards, they had to do a two-hand presentation."

- Oregon had a massive size advantage over the Buckeyes in the 45-33 win, and although, Dick said, "we had our worst shooting night of the year, they could not penetrate our defense." The Ducks used a team zone defense with man-to-man principles. "Teams could never figure out what we were playing," Dick said. "Someone asked the great Phog Allen [who was in the stands] after the game what it was, and he said, 'That was a shifting, transitional man-to-man with zone principles.' He was never at a loss for words, but on that occasion, I don't think he knew what we were using, either."

- Fast-forwarding the clock back to 2006, Dick said he has been closely following the tournament -- especially the Pac-10 representative that made its way to the Final Four. "I haven't seen a UCLA team that's played this well together since [John] Wooden was coaching," Dick said. Now, can the Bruins make like the Tall Firs in 1939 and win it all on the power of their swarming D?

The End, Or Only Act I? (A 2006-07 Top 10)

Luke Winn — Tue, 04 Apr 2006 11:46:00 +0000

Joakim Noah set a new NCAA tournament record for blocks with 29, including six in the title game.

John W. McDonough/SI

INDIANAPOLIS -- As the clock neared midnight on Monday, Florida's Joakim Noah was still partying with the level of passion that had fueled his brilliant rise from freshman nobody to, as a sophomore, the Most Outstanding Player of the NCAA tournament.

The Ponytailed One was at first sprawled on the floor near center court under a mob of teammates; then he was up, bounding toward his school's student section, then maniacally screaming and Gator-chomping at them from atop a press-row table. Before bolting into the stands to hug his famed father, Yannick, and his mother and sister, Joakim did the unthinkable and heaved his sweaty, No. 13 jersey into the students' orange-and-blue mob. Tangible mementos, presumably, aren't important when one's identity is based on the intangible of emotion. With a wild grin on his face, Noah was deeply feeling Florida's first national championship. (Must-see pictures of the title game)

The question now is does he truly want to feel this for an encore? Before taking the stage at midcourt, Noah stopped to tell a handful of reporters, "I love this! How can I not do this again?" Is this euphoria so enticing that the chase for a repeat championship as a junior trumps being a top-three pick in June's NBA Draft? "It's like you can't even feel your legs; it's like you're eating the best food in the world, like everything tastes good, everything smells good," he said. And then he added, for emphasis, before strutting away, "It's better than sex!"

On Noah's decision -- which will be made later this month, in a less orgasmic setting, sans the streamers, confetti and commemorative Ts -- hinges the crest of college basketball's rankings for 2006-07. If he stays in Gainesville, and fellow Gator pro prospects Al Horford and Corey Brewer follow suit, Florida would be the unanimous preseason top dog -- and the first title-game participant since Arizona in 1997 to bring its entire starting lineup back intact.

Conventional wisdom and recent history suggest that all the good Monday Nighters turn pro and their teams rebuild, but '06-07 could be a departure from the norm. The Gators and runner-up UCLA realistically may retain their super-sophs and remain heavyweights. If '05-06 was stacked with surprises -- the rise of the mid-majors, the early departures of the No. 1 seeds, and a non-guard-dominated champ -- why can't '06-07 be the Season The Kids Actually Stuck Around?

Minutes after Noah and his teammates watched an RCA Dome video-board display CBS' One Shining Moment montage -- the final frames of which were a roof-camera looking down on him, atop that press-row table -- he was sitting with his legs dangling off the stage. In response to another inevitable inquiry about his future, Noah made a broad swoop with his hands toward the celebration that was unfurling in front of him, and said "The NBA can't do this!"

And so, unless we receive different news from Noah, the Gators should begin next season the same way they ended this one: at No. 1.

Now, for the rest of the top 10 -- a very similar version of which appears in this week's issue of Sports Illustrated. (We're operating with a few educated guesses on early entrants to the NBA Draft: UConn's Rudy Gay, Texas' LaMarcus Aldridge, LSU's Tyrus Thomas and Gonzaga's Adam Morrison.)

2. North Carolina: The Baby Heels were ahead of schedule this season, finishing second in the ACC on the shoulders of "Psycho T" -- national freshman of the year Tyler Hansbrough. He'll be joined in the fall by the nation's No. 1 recruiting class, which includes the top-ranked high school point guard (Tywon Lawson), shooting guard (Wayne Ellington) and power forward (Brandan Wright). If that trio assimilates into coach Roy Williams' system as speedily as Hansbrough did, UNC will be scary.

3. UCLA: Westwood's fearless defenders will gain some offensive punch with the return of swingman Josh Shipp, who was the Bruins' most dangerous scorer before missing most of the season with a hip injury. If point guard Jordan Farmar eschews the draft to team up with Shipp, two-guard Arron Afflalo and power forward Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, UCLA will have the best 1 through 4 quartet in the nation.

In a somber Bruins locker room after Monday night's loss, Afflalo indicated that he didn't expect any defections. "We lost some pieces this year in [seniors] Cedric [Bozeman] and Ryan [Hollins], but we've got our two leading scorers [himself and Farmar] coming back, our leading rebounder [Mbah a Moute], and Josh will be back, so we should be good," he said. "We're very fortunate to have gone through this this year, and have the potential to come back [to the title game] next year."

4. Memphis: The fastest-paced, most efficient team in Conference USA returns every key player other than Rodney Carney. With athletes like Darius Washington Jr., Antonio Anderson and Shawne Williams running the Tigers' high-scoring show, another 30-win season and No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament are likely. The rest of the C-USA will once again be gunning for second place.

5. Kansas: Sophomores stole the spotlight at this Final Four, and KU's clan of freshman stars -- guard Mario Chalmers, swingman Brandon Rush and elastic forward Julian Wright -- could make a similar push in '07. But first they'll need to overcome their school's recent first-round NCAA woes (the Bucknell-Bradley curse). Will an even more beefed-up backcourt -- after the addition of Chicago stud Sherron Collins, a McDonald's All-American -- make coach Bill Self consider a Villanova-esque lineup in '06-07?

6. Ohio State: The Buckeyes' ranking all comes down to how much one believes in The Oden Factor. Will 7-foot freshman center Greg Oden carry the Buckeyes to a title, a la Carmelo Anthony, in what will probably be his only season in Columbus? Thad Matta's defending Big Ten regular-season champs will be rebuilt around the blue-chip recruiting class of Oden, his high-school teammate Mike Conley (a talented point guard), as well as shooting guard Daequan Cook and small forward David Lighty. Incumbent point Jamar Butler -- the most valuable returnee -- will help OSU's new wave handle the adjustment.

7. Georgetown: With UConn, Villanova and West Virginia all set to lose significant pieces, the new Beasts of the Big East will reside in D.C. Upsets of No. 1-ranked Duke (in January) and No. 2-seeded Ohio State (NCAA second round) this season may foreshadow greater things for the Hoyas, who have NBA-caliber talent in forward Jeff Green and center Roy Hibbert. The 7-2 Hibbert -- whom coach John Thompson III said he needed to teach how to run when he initially arrived on campus -- is only beginning to realize his potential.

8. Texas: Even if Aldridge makes the jump, the Horns retain an elite inside-outside tandem in guard Daniel Gibson and forward P.J. Tucker, the reigning Big 12 Player of the Year. McDonald's All-American Game co-MVP Kevin Durant -- the nation's top recruit not named Oden -- is a sweet-shooting 6-9 forward who could step in and be an instant force. Fellow incoming freshman D.J. Augustin, a vaunted point-guard prospect out of Louisiana, can take ballhandling heat off Gibson and A.J. Abrams.

9. Texas A&M: The Aggies are the perfect top 10 sleeper: On the strength of their lockdown D, they closed the season by winning nine of their final 11 games, nearly upsetting Final Four-bound LSU in the second round of the NCAAs. With guard Acie Law IV and future pro forward Joseph Jones leading the way, this seasoned squad can make a run at the Big 12 crown. A&M loses just one starter (senior Chris Walker), and sophomore guard Dominique Kirk is ready to get national recognition as a defensive stopper.

10. Southern Illinois: If '06 was the Year of the Mid-Majors, what kind of encore will they have in store? The Salukis, who tied for second in the Missouri Valley Conference, have their top nine scorers back, including the senior backcourt of Jamaal Tatum and Tony Young, who will be gunning for their fourth -- and the school's sixth -- straight NCAA tournament appearance. Veteran squad + prior Big Dance experience + strong guardplay = dangerous in March. Blowout loss to West Virginia this year be damned.

ON THE FRINGE: Boston College, Duke, Wisconsin, Wichita State, Pittsburgh, Hofstra, Tennessee, LSU, UConn, Washington, Arizona, Villanova, Xavier.

The Prettiest Shot ...

Luke Winn — Tue, 04 Apr 2006 11:45:00 +0000

(by shot, I mean photo) ... from the title game. SI's Bob Rosato behind the lens.

Bob Rosato/SI

Inside Florida's Title-Game Domination

Luke Winn — Tue, 04 Apr 2006 07:08:00 +0000

Forward Al Horford scored 14 points and grabbed seven rebounds as part of Florida's interior domination.

Andy Lyons/Getty Images

INDIANAPOLIS -- UCLA had seen the looks so many times before. Point guard Jordan Farmar had called them "deer-in-the-headlights" expressions. They'd be all over the mugs of opponents -- like Final Four foe LSU -- who were taken completely out of their offense by the Bruins' swarming defensive schemes.

The problem on Monday night, in the Bruins' biggest game of the season, is that the looks were on their own faces. They turned into the frozen deer, and Florida's offense -- which scored 55 points inside the arc alone in the 73-57 win -- was a set of 200,000 candlepower headlights. "I'm sure they watched a lot of tape of what we've been doing recently," said Farmar -- and by that, he meant holding Memphis and LSU to their two lowest-scoring games of the season. But the Gators, well ... the Gators were a different -- and more disciplined -- animal. "They," Farmar said, "schemed exactly to counter it."

So what did Florida do on offense that so many of UCLA's opponents couldn't during the Bruins' 12-game win streak to reach the title game? Here are five ways the Gators thrived:

1. The Gators struck the first blow -- and actually established their offensive sets. Fellow SEC power LSU got popped in the face by UCLA on Saturday, falling behind 20-8 and never swinging back. The Bruins ran the Tigers into the ground early -- they had Glen "Big Baby" Davis huffing and puffing -- and then deflated the ball in the second half. UCLA would have no such opportunity, as it trailed 11-6 in the first four minutes and was already being subjected to "Gator Bait" chants from the Florida fans. The Bruins trailed 36-25 by halftime, and their offense was too cold to mount a comeback.

"You've gotta come out and punch them right away, because if they come out and punch you first, you've gotta fight from behind, and you can't win basketball games like that," said Florida forward Corey Brewer, who scored five of the Gators' first nine points. "So we came out and we were the aggressor."

Ben Howland's Bruins had thrived on applying intense pressure on the perimeter to take away easy looks and limit execution, but the coach said "Florida did an outstanding job of dealing with it." The Gators had 21 assists -- including eight by point guard Taurean Green -- on their 26 field goals, and turned the ball over just six times.

"The fact that we couldn't [take Florida out of its offense] was a problem," said Farmar. "We gave up almost 40 points at halftime, and that's what teams have been having at the ends of games against us the last few times."

2. Florida made deep post feeds, and neutralized UCLA's double-teams with its big men's passing abilities. "We got the ball down low and attacked them right at the rim," said assistant coach Larry Shyatt, "and that took the wind out of their sails early." The Bruins had used big-to-big double-teams out of their man-to-man to kill LSU's Davis and Tyrus Thomas, but that strategy was rendered ineffective against the Gators' Joakim Noah and Al Horford, both of whom are skilled post passers. Florida's first basket, appropriately, came on a dish from Horford to Noah. "Our bigs really find eachother well," said Shyatt, "and I think that forced UCLA to start going away from their double teams." Noah and Horford went wild, combining for 30 points. (For their full story, check Stew Mandel's postgame column.)

3. Florida pushed the pace to a level where the Bruins were uncomfortable. The Gators used Noah and Horford's ballhandling ability to break UCLA's traps, and found themselves with a host of wide-open, momentum-building slams. "Every time we tried to make a run," said Bruins guard Arron Afflalo, "it seemed like they got dunks back behind us. We're not a team that's intimidated by a dunk, but for them, it's just adding fuel to their energy." With the game turned into a high-speed, high-energy affair, "we made some mistakes getting sped up," Howland said. "We weren't finishing on the other end, and were trying to go too fast." UCLA claimed it could play a faster game, but the stats don't lie: At season's end, they were the 303rd slowest-paced team in the country.

4. The Gators found looks for their shooters in transition. Just like he did against George Mason on Saturday, two-guard Lee Humphrey -- or "Humpty Dump," as Noah calls him -- knocked down dagger 3s at the start of the second half. The difference on Monday was that Humphrey's key trey didn't come out of an offensive set. Because of the strength of Afflalo and Cedric Bozeman's defense, "We never even planned on getting Lee open in this game in the halfcourt," Shyatt said. "We knew they would take him out, because they've done a phenomenal job of defending the 3 all tournament." Humphrey proved tougher to find on the break -- and he scored the Gators' first six points of the second half on treys.

5. Florida got a superb effort out of an unflustered point guard. Farmar -- who had 18 points and four assists -- was the lone bright spot for UCLA, but his peer, the Gators' Green, may have been the game's unsung hero. Green was the guy "who orchestrated everything," said Florida head coach Billy Donovan, and Green finished with an 8:1 assist-to-turnover ratio after averaging 1.4:1 on the season. "[Green] made life so much easier for Horford and Noah because we kept running middle pick-and-roll," said Donovan. "Either he was dumping it off for a dunk, or he's throwing the ball back to Joakim where he could drive it down the lane."

Tourney Blog Pool Is In The Books

Luke Winn — Tue, 04 Apr 2006 11:21:00 +0000

Luke Winn/SI

INDIANAPOLIS -- This was the only way for it to end -- with the Blog Pool winner and the Tourney Blogger both in the front row of the RCA Dome for the national title game. Bradley White of South Bend, Ind., a grad student in biology at the Unversity of Notre Dame (shown at right), rallied to win the Blog Pool by one point after his champion (and only Final Four team), Florida, blew past UCLA. White was hooked up with a front-row spot in the Gators' student section for Monday night's game, and I left my press row seat to pay him a short visit before the tipoff.

Meanwhile, Eric Miller of Lancaster, Calif. -- the pool winner if the Bruins had cut down the nets -- was gracious in defeat, sending in a concession e-mail of sorts at 12:20 a.m. Tuesday. "Thanks for the good blog and running the bracket," Miller's note said. "I saw the picture of Bradley White. Congrats to him."

Congrats, indeed. And thanks to all 328 teams for playing. To all who didn't win -- especially Amit Soni's "The Cobra Kai," which finished last with just 41 points and 26 correct picks -- don't despair. We'll (hopefully) be doing this thing again next year.

Potential Blog Pool Winner, Blogger Converge Courtside

Luke Winn — Tue, 04 Apr 2006 00:10:00 +0000

We found Bradley White -- the dude on the right -- sitting in the front row of the Florida student section an hour before game time. He picked Florida to win it all. And he takes the Blog Pool title if it happens. (That's me on the left.)

Luke Winn/SI

Previews In The Raw, Final Edition

Luke Winn — Sun, 02 Apr 2006 19:55:00 +0000

Farmar and Mbah a Moute: Two parts of UCLA's lockdown squad.

Bob Rosato/SI

INDIANAPOLIS -- West Coast versus (South)East Coast. Tradition-rich against Tradition-light. Businesslike Ben versus Billy The Kid. Overachieving Underclassmen against ... more Overachieving Underclassmen. So many angles for this title game, but the Blog's gonna bury 'em all and break down UCLA-Florida with the cold, hard data.

This, readers, is the final "numbers post" of the season -- your statistical guide to Monday Night. In terms of tempo (possessions per 40 minutes), offensive and defensive efficiency (points per 100 possessions), and efficiency margin (the gap between the two ratings), here's how the Bruins and Gators stack up (all stats are the latest from kenpom.com, and adjusted for competition):

Team   Tempo        Off Eff.      Def. Eff.    Eff.
       (Nat'l Rk.)  (Nat'l Rk.)   (Nat'l Rk.)  Mrgn.
UCLA   63.3 (306)   113.2 (24)    83.8 (3)     +29.4
UF     68.6 (120)   117.7 (6)     87.1 (8)     +30.6

What it means: The general impression of the title game is that it features two elite defenses and only one elite offense (Florida's). The second part just ain't true. The Bruins' unhurried pace -- they're the 306th slowest out of 334 teams in Division I -- keeps their scoring totals low, but their offense, which was running on all cylinders against LSU in the first half, operates at a high level of efficiency. Couple that with UCLA's incredibly stout D, and its Efficiency Margin -- the spread between its offensive and defensive ratings -- is within 1.2 points per 100 possessions of Florida's (at 29.4 to 30.6). In a game that's likely to have a possession total in the low-to-mid-60s, the difference between the teams is miniscule.

Both of the title-game teams are facing a much tougher opponent, efficiency-wise, than who they met in Saturday's semifinals. Although I doubt most readers need stats to confirm that Florida is better than LSU, and UCLA is better than George Mason, here's how it breaks down (the new addition, effective field-goal percentage, or eFG, is a version of standard FG% that gives heavier weight to 3s):

For UCLA, let's compare opponents LSU and Florida:

Team    OffEff       Off-eFG%    DefEeff     Def-eFG%     Eff.
       (Nat'l Rk.)  (Nat'l Rk.) (Nat'l Rk.) (Nat'l Rk.)   Mgn.
LSU     109.1 (48)   50.1 (131)  85.0 (4)    45.7 (32)    24.1
UF      117.7 (6)    57.1 (3)    87.1 (8)    45.2 (17)    30.6
Diff.   +8.6         +7.0%       -2.1        +0.5%        +6.5

What it means: Florida outclasses LSU in nearly every category, especially on the offensive side. UCLA won't be facing two poor shooting teams in a row.

For Florida, let's compare opponents George Mason and UCLA:

Team    OffEff       Off-eFG%    DefEeff     Def-eFG%     Eff.
       (Nat'l Rk.)  (Nat'l Rk.) (Nat'l Rk.) (Nat'l Rk.)   Mgn.
GMU     108.5 (58)   53.7 (25)   89.8 (21)   44.4 (10)    18.7
UCLA    113.2 (24)   53.7 (24)   83.8 (3)    45.8 (34)    29.4
Diff    +4.7         Even        +6.0        -1.4%        +11.7

What it means: UCLA, while close to Mason in eFG on both ends, is on a whole 'nother level of efficiency than the Patriots were -- a margin difference of 11.7, nearly 80 percent higher than the gap between Florida and LSU.

Next, let's look at the two teams' point-distribution spreads:

When Florida has the ball:

Team       FTs           2s            3s
           (Nat'l Rk.)   (Nat'l Rk.)   (Nat'l Rk.)
UF-Off     21.0 (123)    50.5 (222)    28.5 (143)
UCLA-Def   19.5 (203)    57.5 ( 17)    23.0 (306)

What it means: You can ask LSU, the team that didn't make a single 3-pointer on Saturday night, what this means -- basically, that UCLA is stingy as all hell on the perimeter. And Florida, which scored 36 of its 73 points (49.3 percent) on 3s against George Mason, is going to have a difficult time replicating that against UCLA, which drives opposing guards nuts with its double-teaming, man-to-man D. Of Gators shooting guard Lee Humphrey, who nailed 6-of-12 from long distance against Mason, teammate Joakim Noah said, "Humpty was a monster tonight. When he's hitting shots like that, we're tough to beat." The Gators may have to find a way to win a title without a major contribution from Humpty.

That fact that UCLA gives up an overwhelming amount of its points on 2s (57.5 percent) gives the impression that Bruins are vulnerable to getting lit up by Florida's Noah and Al Horford. But UCLA's interior defenders -- the rotating, big-to-big doubling group of Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, Ryan Hollins and Lorenzo Mata -- proved on Saturday night that they're capable of neutralizing the nation's elite big men, holding Glen Davis and Tyrus Thomas to a combined 19 points. "Most the teams in the SEC, when they doubled [Davis] came with a small -- a guard as a opposed to big-to-big," said UCLA coach Ben Howland. "It never even affected him." The Bruins' doubling scheme had its desired effect.

When UCLA has the ball:

Team       FTs           2s            3s
           (Nat'l Rk.)   (Nat'l Rk.)   (Nat'l Rk.)
UCLA-Off   20.0 (173)    52.9 (136)    27.0 (188)
UF-Def     17.8 (268)    53.6 (103)    28.6 (144)

What it means: The way UCLA scores, and the way Florida gives up points, are almost identical. But the Gators may still be able to take the Bruins out of their game. UCLA scored 10 of its 13 first-half field goals against LSU on layups, dunks and shots within the lane, and while Florida's D allows penetration, it does it on purpose -- to funnel players right at talented shot-blockers Noah and Horford.

The Bruins' season stats are weighted toward the backcourt scoring of Jordan Farmar and Arron Afflalo, but against LSU the point distribution between frontcourt and backcourt was almost 50/50: Forwards Mbah a Moute, Mata and Cedric Bozeman, and center Hollins combined for 29 points, while guards Farmar, Afflalo, Darren Collison and Michael Roll combined for 30. If the Gators opt for a zone, the onus will be on the backcourt -- especially Afflalo, who was held to 3-of-11 shooting by LSU's Garrett Temple on Saturday -- to step up and hit 3s.

Which brings us to ... the all-important pick:

In the Final Four round, I balanced two picks -- the "heart" against the "stats" -- and it didn't work out too well, so I'm opting for a more straightforward approach this time. UCLA and Florida are almost even in this efficiency battle, and the Gators' slight advantage in scoring power is offset by the Bruins' ability to derail most of their opponents' offensive sets. UCLA isn't going to neutralize Noah the way it did Davis and Thomas -- but it is going to take away the bulk of Florida's perimeter scoring. And the absence of those Gator 3s, I think, will be the deciding factor. Bruins 62, Gators 61.

Autograph-Seekers Flock To Finish Line

Luke Winn — Sun, 02 Apr 2006 19:20:00 +0000

B.J. Schecter/SI

Blog reporters-in-the-field Ryan Hunt and B.J. Schecter cruised the downtown mall in Indy and found SI and CBS' Seth Davis during his autograph session at the Finish Line shoe store. They called to report that "Yes, there is a line," and snapped the cell-phone cam shot that appears at right.

When I took my digi-cam photo of the Davis promo sign on Saturday, I was immediately accosted by a mall-cop, who was wearing a bike helmet and riding a Segway scooter. I would've taken a picture of him, too, if I hadn't been laughing while he held a list of mall rules in my face -- No. 5: No Pictures! -- and threatened to boot me from the premises.

Diary From Day One (continued)

Luke Winn — Fri, 31 Mar 2006 15:00:00 +0000

Luke Winn/SI

- CBS Jim Nantz trotted out a "special surprise" for the "kids" -- a visit from Indianapolis Colts QB Peyton Manning, who gave a nice "cherish the moment" speech and then met with a player from each team. Naturally, Glen Davis was LSU's handshake-rep, and when Nantz said, "he used to play tailback," Manning responded, "I could use him next year. I just lost mine."

After Big Baby had left the stage, Nantz told the crowd, "Big Baby says he was the best tailback ever out of Baton Rouge." And from his seat, Davis yelled back, "Yessuh!"

- Florida's Lee Humphrey was geeked -- absolutely geeked -- to meet Manning, hustling up to the stage with a star-struck grin on his face. "I don't know if Peyton knows this, but he signed a jersey for me in the fifth grade," Humphrey said of his boyhood hero. Mason's Jai Lewis, meanwhile, was offered a spot on the Colts (by Nantz, not Manning) as a tight end, a la Antonio Gates from former Cinderella Kent State. "I'll take him," Manning said.

Luke Winn/SI

The Night Is Upon Us

Luke Winn — Tue, 04 Apr 2006 00:13:00 +0000

One hour and 20 minutes 'til tip in Indy. A contemplative moment for UCLA's Arron Afflalo.

Luke Winn/SI

Outside, around 7:30 p.m., security guards await the rush of fans.

Luke Winn/SI

Florida Ave., running right into the RCA Dome.

Luke Winn/SI

Fans, discuss the game here while it unfolds. I'll hit you back after midnight ...

UPDATE: UCLA just distributed a press release courtside that reads:

UCLA legendary head coach John Wooden was admitted to a Los Angeles-area hospital on Sunday, April 2. Wooden's hospitalization is not considered serious, and he is scheduled to be released in the next day or two.

Coach Wooden will watch tonight's game in his hospital room with his family.

The New Tradition At UCLA: Defense

Luke Winn — Sun, 02 Apr 2006 07:02:00 +0000

Alfred Aboya and the Bruins' D held LSU to its lowest scoring total of the 2005-06 season: Just 45 points.

Andy Lyons/Getty Images

INDIANAPOLIS -- UCLA finds beauty in ugliness. It derives joy from winning a 59-45 Final Four game that drove half the crowd out of the RCA Dome before the buzzer. It gets pleasure from seeing the total frustration in the faces of LSU's players, who were held to 32 percent shooting and a season-low in points. And the Bruins now find themselves on the brink of winning a national championship almost solely on the strength of the nastiest defense in all of college basketball.

"We are not 'Showtime,'" said UCLA senior guard Cedric Bozeman. "That's not our style. Our staple has been defense all year. That's what we focus on, and that's what we pride ourselves on. It may be ugly, but a win is a win."

If the past two weeks of this wild NCAA tournament have taught us anything, it's that the nation's most stifling defenders weren't from Lawrence, Kan., or Austin, Texas, or Memphis, Tenn., or Iowa City -- they were from the West Coast, in Westwood, studying at the Ben Howland School Of D. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, a representative of the older, flashier UCLA that won 10 national titles under the legendary John Wooden, may have been looking on from the stands in Indy, but Bozeman said of the 2005-06 Bruins, "we take the image of our coach. [Howland] is very tenacious, and we try to carry that on the court." Last Saturday's victim of that tenaciousness was high-flying Memphis, which was suffocated to 45 points, 36 below its average. This Saturday's was LSU, which spent 40 Slow Minutes In Hell, because, as Howland said, "Our intensity defensively ... was really, really incredible."

The Tigers beat Duke and Texas -- no defensive slouches -- in the Atlanta Regional, and were already quite skilled in the art of winning ugly. But they had never seen anything like what UCLA threw at them on Saturday night. Howland's quickly rotating, double-teaming man-to-man that made LSU feel as if it was playing five-on-seven at times. Big Baby (Glen Davis, with just 14 points), Big Hops (Tyrus Thomas, with just five points in 17 minutes) and the Tigers were turned into one Big Discombobulated Mess, falling behind 20-8 early in the first half, and 39-24 at halftime after shooting 9-of-30 and watching their traditional game plan -- work the ball inside-out with easy post feeds -- get torn to shreds. An agitated LSU fan stood up near press row early in the game, his face beet red from watching the Bruins' handiwork, and yelled, "Can we play some basketball, Tigers? What's going on?"

"That's just the way we come out and play defense," said UCLA point guard Jordan Farmar, who aided the perimeter lockdown effort that kept LSU's guards from effectively feeding its star big men. "They don't do the things they normally do. They're looking at each other, pointing fingers. Sometimes their eyes get real big, like a deer in the headlights, like they don't know what hit 'em."

If you saw the game's first eight and a half minutes that led to the 20-8 deficit, you know that Farmar wasn't embellishing. Davis was held scoreless, denied the ball by UCLA freshman Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, and doubled by Ryan Hollins. LSU went 4-of-14 from the field and committed three turnovers -- and only got three shot attempts for the duo of Davis and Thomas. "They came out and they just punched us," Davis said. "We didn't recover from it."

UCLA relentlessly pressured the Tigers and watched its lead grow to as many as 24 in the second half, but the contest was decided by the Bruins' initial blows. LSU coach John Brady opened his press conference remarks by saying, "I thought the first 10 or 12 minutes of the game, UCLA was able to get us back on our heels. We really weren't able to ... make up the deficit that we created for ourselves -- or they created for us." The big boys from the SEC, who had powered their own, magical Final Four run by defense, simply didn't expect to be subjected to that degree of harrassment from the Pac-10. Davis even admitted that LSU was "kind of shocked."

After what it did against Memphis in the Oakland Regional Final, UCLA wasn't remotely shocked by what happened today. In fact, ever since the Bruins' 71-68 loss at USC on Feb. 19 -- a game in which they let their crosstown rival shoot 56.3 percent from the field -- they have been following Howland's master plan: To take every opponent out of its offensive scheme, and win no matter how unattractive the process may be. UCLA has gone 12-0 since that loss, and not a single opponent has shot over 50 percent against the Bruins again. Five squads, including LSU, have been held below 40 percent during the win streak.

"We were definitely embarrassed after the SC game," said Bozeman. "They beat us off the dribble, and they pretty much did everything they wanted. From that day on, we've sunk in and played tough defense."

Howland told his team after that loss that they had all the pieces to win a national championship -- if they committed themselves to his brand of D. It was a statement that, no doubt, has been said to hundreds of teams, by hundreds of coaches over the years. But for these bothersome, ball-hawking Bruins, it's now 40 minutes away from being prophetic.

New Blog Pool Scenarios

Luke Winn — Mon, 03 Apr 2006 17:30:00 +0000

One very important change to the Blog Pool scenarios that were posted before the Final Four: It was brought to my attention that 32 points -- not 24, as I previously thought -- are awarded for correctly picking the champ. Which means that Bradley White of South Bend, Ind., could rally from a 31-point deficit and win the Blog Pool by one if Florida is tonight's victor. If UCLA takes the crown, then the low-budget loot -- a retro CNN/SI fleece, and a few other goodies -- will go to the only dude who chose the Bruins as the champ: Eric Miller of Lancaster, Calif.

One thing has not changed as a result of these developments: I'm still nowhere close to the lead.

Mason's Last Dance

Luke Winn — Sun, 02 Apr 2006 02:10:00 +0000

Florida had four blocks on the night -- all by sophomore forward Joakim Noah.

John Biever/SI

INDIANAPOLIS -- As Florida sprinted out of the RCA Dome tunnel for the final time before tipoff on Saturday night, it was greeted by the sound of the George Mason band, belting out Bon Jovi's Livin' on a Prayer -- the unofficial theme song of the Patriots' Cinderella run to the Final Four.

The song had legs, having accompanied Mason in upsets of Michigan State, North Carolina, and UConn. And as the Patriots' student section, a dense strip of yellow shirts rising up behind the band, belted out the chorus -- Whoaoh, we're halfway there -- there was almost a feeling that the Gators, no matter whom they had trampled to reach Indy, were up against some unstoppable force.

That was, until the Gators showed Mason that it had no prayer against their unmatched group of athletes, and cruised to a 73-58 victory and a berth in Monday's title game. The amazing ride that made the Pats the first mid-major Final Four team since Indiana State and Penn in 1979 finally derailed; not because Mason didn't deserve to be here, but simply because it ran into the most dominant, least-vulnerable team in entire NCAA tournament: Florida.

The Pats knocked down 9-of-18 3s en route to stunning the No. 1-seeded Huskies in Washington D.C. last Sunday; on Saturday against UF's perimeter defense of Lee Humphrey, Corey Brewer and Taurean Green, Mason hit zero treys in the first half, and just 2-of-11 in the game. That Gators trio, meanwhile, combined to light up GMU's previously stout D for 12 3s and a total of 53 points.

Patriots forwards Will Thomas and Jai Lewis took advantage of UConn's lackadaisical post men, Hilton Armstrong and Josh Boone, in the Elite Eight, backing them into the paint and outscoring them 39-14, and outrebounding them 19-11. Facing the tourney's hyper-active breakout star, the Gators' Joakim Noah, however, was another story.

Noah, who initially skipped out onto the floor and shouted, "Let's get pumped!" over the GMU band, overwhelmed Thomas and Lewis with his high-intensity game. After a Humphrey 3-pointer put the Gators up 34-26 just 15 seconds into the second half, Noah came down on the defensive end and swatted Lewis, and Mason proceeded to go into an 0-of-6 funk to start the second half, falling behind 47-30 in the 13th minute. Noah and power forward Al Horford outrebounded Thomas and Lewis 21-14, and as a team, Florida outboarded Mason 40-27. For the first time of the entire dance, the Patriots looked like a mid-major -- a CAA team facing the best of the SEC.

No one in the Mason camp was willing to play the "We're just happy to be here" card earlier in the week, and rightfully so: They had earned their way to Indy with lock-down D and lights-out shooting from the perimeter, and as coach Jim Larranaga said, they "captured the hearts of a lot of Americans" in the process. While the Patriots went out with a thud more appropriate of their band's second song on Saturday -- the Ramones' I Wanna Be Sedated -- they should by no means be dejected. Mason probably just lost to the eventual national champion. And this was one case where, just by making it to Saturday night -- no matter what happened against the Gators -- an underdog had already etched its place in history.

Street Market In Indy Redux (The Below-Face Edition)

Luke Winn — Sat, 01 Apr 2006 19:35:00 +0000

A look down a busy Indy street corner where some scalpers were peddling Final Four tickets on Friday afternoon.

Luke Winn/SI

This is the second in the Blog's series of "scalper walks" -- informal attempts to gauge the Final Four ticket market on the street in Indy. The following dialogue occurred between 1-1:30 p.m. on Saturday. For reference, "books" are packages of tickets for both Saturday and Monday. My main conclusion from walk No. 2: that while lower-deck seats may still command a decent (above-face) sum, one can now get into the upper level for a song (below face).

Scalper No. 5, near the corner of North Illinois and West Ohio Streets:

No. 5, looking desperate, holding up the tickets in his hand: Yo, you need tickets?
Me: I think so.
No. 5: What do you need? Two? (Sort of thrusting them into my hand)
Me: Hold on, what are they?
No. 5: 300s. Singles for tonight. I'll do $100. ($85 is face.)
Me, sensing that this is more than the going rate: I might give you $100 for two.
No. 5: (After consorting with a crony for a few seconds) OK. Two for $100. (Thrusting them at me again)
Me: Never mind. I'm gonna go look for better seats.
No. 5: What? Nothin' wrong with these!

Scalper No. 6, on West Ohio and Capital Avenue:

Me: You selling?
No. 6: How many do you need?
Me: Two lowers.
No. 6: I have two uppers. $250 a book ($170 is face).
Me: Are you throwing in binoculars? 'Cause a guy down the block just offered me uppers for way below face.
No. 6: I'm not selling below face. F--- that. You're lying anyway.
Me: Alright man, good luck then.

Scalper No. 7, on West Washington and North Illinois:

No. 7: You need tickets?
Me: Yeah, lowers. Two.
No. 7: I only have upper books together. Make me an offer, I'm negotiable.
Me: Uh, under face? I'm morally against paying over face value.
No. 7: Under face? (Flashing an incredulous look)
Me: Yeah, I'll give you $300 for two books (a $340 face value).
No. 7: Give me $320.
Me: All I have is $300. That's close enough, right?
No. 7: Fine, $300.
Me: I'll come back with your money.
No. 7: I'll be here, but the tickets won't.
Me: Right.