Sully's Court

A look at the national semifinals:

UCLA vs. Memphis: Memphis is playing the best of any team. The Tigers' victory over Michigan State in the regional final was the best performance of the tournament and they look tremendous in eliminating an excellent Texas team in the South final. UCLA has looked vulnerable at times. The Bruins' guards are talented but are not playing their best right now. Memphis has enough big bodies to give UCLA center Kevin Love some competition in the low post. Memphis coach John Calipari has plenty of fouls to give so Love doesn't take over the game. I don't think UCLA has anyone to defend Memphis forward Chris Roberts-Douglas (then again, who does?). When UCLA beat Memphis in the 1973 national championship game, Bruins center Bill Walton converted 21 of 22 shots. I think it would take a similar effort from Love for UCLA to win this game. Winner: Memphis.

North Carolina vs. Kansas: A classic matchup between two teams that play uptempo, smart offense and tough defense. There is a difference, Kansas is the best defensive team in the country. The Jayhawks, however, don't have an individual player as good as Carolina's Tyler Hansbrough, who should be able to dominate inside and maybe even get Kansas in foul trouble. The Kansas guards, notably Mario Chalmers, have the potential to harass the Carolina guards into a bad game. That's how the Jayhawks could win. What strikes me, however, is the Kansas guards could not dictate the game to Davidson's guards in the Midwest regional final. Winner: North Carolina.

Extra Final Four thoughts:

John Calipari is always interesting. For example, he suspended reserve guard Andre Allen for the Final Four for violating team rules. My imagination runs wild, what could have done that Coach Cal would suspend him?

He had Rev. Jesse Jackson speak to the team. Jackson is in Memphis on the 40th anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King. After meeting with team, Jackson said, "I think Dr. King would find this a source of joy. After all, this couldn't have happened 40 years ago in Memphis. Now we see the flowering and the blossoming of Dr. King coming here 40 years ago."
Not sure I get that. Memphis has had integrated teams since the 60s.

Non-Final Four thoughts:

I have no doubt Tom Crean will be successful at Indiana. It might take a few years because so few players are returning.

Here's the list I would give to Marquette: Virginia Commonwealth's Anthony Grant, Siena's Fran McCaffery, Wright State's Brad Brownell.

How much has the world of college basketball changed that George Mason can keep its coach from jumping to Providence? That would have been unthinkable 10 years ago.

Kent State coach Jim Christian left for TCU. No one has ever really been successful at TCU including Billy Tubbs, who was able to make Oklahoma a national championship contender. I'm not sure he took a better job. At least he'll make more money.

I think Travis Ford has done a great job at UMass and fans should hope he stays. His drive and style of play will produce winning teams in Amherst.