The Final Four and Other Stuff

- With Villanova beating Pitt in the Elite Eight my bracket was essentially busted since I had Pitt winning on Monday night. Now I can just sit back and enjoy the inevitable Tar Heels meltdown either Saturday night (potentially) or Monday night against UConn (far more likely). Yes Roy Williams won a title a few years ago but that was the anomaly. A true Williams team was the performance they put on against Kansas in last year's Final Four. The bigger the game the worse Williams coaches. He tenses up on the sidelines, forgets to call timeouts and shows no leadership for his players. He did it every god damn time at Kansas and he will do it again this year when UConn whips their ass Monday night.

So what about Michigan St. and 'Nova? I think Nova has a really good chance but I just don't think they will get it done. The Spartans were great against Louisville and I had them in the Final Four. I just don't think they have enough firepower to beat UConn. Being in Detroit will help but not enough.

- The only fun part of watching Oklahoma lose to UNC was catching a glimpse of Tyler Hansbrough's NBA career. He was matched up against Blake Griffin and Tyler Griffin and Hansbrough was just pathetic. Blake is going to be a perennial all-star in the NBA and he completely outclassed Hansbrough. But the bigger story was that Tyler, who may never get a sniff of the NBA, outplayed him too. Hansbrough just can't compete with NBA forwards on a regular basis. He is too slow, not strong enough and doesn't shoot that well. He makes his living at the free throw line because he plays for Carolina and gets all the calls (and yes I am aware JJ Reddick had the same thing happen while at Duke). There is no way in hell he will get those calls in the NBA (see Reddick and Adam Morrison as examples). Hansbrough can be an NBA player based on his basketball IQ and work ethic but he will never be more than a 7th or 8th man.

- For those keeping score at home Ms. Skeelo nailed three of the Final Four (Mich St., UConn and UNC) while I got two (Mich St. and UConn). We each missed Pitt and I missed Oklahoma.

- I absolutely love John Calipari going to Kentucky. Some people say it will be harder for him to win at a school like Kentucky than UMass or Memphis and that is kind of true. But what he did by taking to mid-majors like UMass and Memphis to the Final Four is more impressive than Rick Pitino or Roy Williams taking big-time programs their with different schools.

I am not a big Calipari fan but I don't dislike him either. But his personality and schmoozing ability will be perfect for dealing with Kentucky boosters and with the Kentucky name behind him he will annually recruit a top five class. If Kentucky isn't back in the Final Four within 4 years I'll be shocked.

The best part of him going to Kentucky though is that he gets to go head to head with Rick Pitino in the state of Kentucky. It's no secret I absolutely loathe Pitino and I look forward to Calipari whipping his ass for the next three years before Pitino splits for another school.

- The only thing that could put a bigger bounce in my step than spring arriving in Ottawa would be if the Clippers brought in Isiah Thomas to run the team as has been rumoured. I mean my God this is a match made in heaven. The worst franchise in sports history (the Arizona Cardinal making the Super Bowl broke the tie) with the worst GM of the past 20 years? Please let this happen.

And if you're Mike Dunleavy how do you feel? You are basically being told that you have screwed up this disgraceful franchise even worse than usual to the point that we are thinking of bringing in Isiah Thomas to replace you. To me the best case scenario is Isiah as GM and Dunleavy left to coach. That would be funnier than any sitcom on TV.

- Anybody who doesn't think the Cavs and Lakers are meeting in the NBA Finals has never watched basketball or doesn't realize that the league always tends to get the matchup it wants in the Finals (by way of lousy officiating, playoff scheduling, etc). While last year the league needed the Celtics to be great again, this year they absolutely need LeBron vs. Kobe. No fucking way it doesn't happen.