I am looking forward to tonight’s game, I think both teams play a similar style which should make for a very interesting match-up. I believe that Memphis will be fresher than KU partly because they played the earlier game on Saturday and because they controlled the entire game against UCLA. Kansas made UNC look like a high school team for 30 of the 40 minutes on Saturday. The other 10 minutes KU had to use a lot of energy to withstand the UNC run that cut their lead from 28 to 4. KU was able to regroup and pull away eventually winning by 18 but it took all they had and will now have to face a Memphis team that will try to run them off the floor.
The game against UCLA was the first time I watched Memphis all year and I was very impressed especially with Derek Rose who showed why he was getting all of the hype coming out of high school. In the first half he made a couple of moves on the fast break that were just sick and made the UCLA player look silly. He also lets the game come to him something that is rare for a freshman. On Monday he will be the best player on the court and I don’t know if there is anyone for the Jayhawks who can stop him. Chris Douglas-Roberts is also a very impressive player for the Tigers and his posterization of Kevin Love was a nice parting gift for the UCLA freshmen. It will be interesting to see who Bill Self calls on to guard this combo and if he goes to a zone to try and prevent their driving capability.
I think Memphis is going to try and run Kansas out of the gym after the opening tip. Kansas will withstand the initial assault and the game will have a nice flow to it and remain close. But with fresher legs and the two best players on the court Memphis is going to win the title and make it nearly impossible for any college team to break their record for 39 wins in a season. Then we can get to the real highlight of the tournament, “One Shining Moment”.
Final score: Memphis 77 Kansas 69 and Derek Rose will be tourney’s Most Outstanding Player
Recent Comments