TheA_Bomb Posted April 6, 2008 Share Posted April 6, 2008 I apologize to those who took my bracket advice to not pencil Memphis into the Final 4. I based by decision on a few games I saw Memphis play in USM, SMU (in person) and that Tennessee game. They proved me wrong and blew up my brackets in the process. Who would've thought KU would come out and man-handle UNC like that in the beginning of the game. UNC had a SLUish 1st half no scoring for about 4 min straight. Vegas.com betting lines has Memphis favored by 1 1/2 the o/u is 145 1/2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JaleJarr Posted April 6, 2008 Share Posted April 6, 2008 I apologize to those who took my bracket advice to not pencil Memphis into the Final 4. They proved me wrong and blew up my brackets in the process. Who would've thought KU would come out and man-handle UNC like that in the beginning of the game. UNC had a SLUish 1st half no scoring for about 4 min straight. Your not the only one. I had Memphis' free throw shooting stopping them. Now that they have made the finals I can't wait to see the matchup of CDR vs Rush. I like Rush's athleticism but I don't see him creating offense off the dribble vs CDR. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted April 6, 2008 Share Posted April 6, 2008 memphis is winning with authority right now because douglas-roberts and rose are playing like lottery picks. i'd pick rose first in the draft imo. the two of them have been splendid in the tourney and have overcome calipari's lack of game coaching ability. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheA_Bomb Posted April 6, 2008 Author Share Posted April 6, 2008 We have often criticized Calipari's game day coaching on this board and I bought into it. However, in this tournament you can't really find much fault. There are alot of ways to win and getting the right players is one of the biggest elements of all those different methods. You want to slow it down and grind it out by milking the shot clock? Well you should have a bunch of shooters that can take a shot from anywhere on the floor if they are the guy holding the ball when that shot clock gets low. (Soderberg style but we didn't have the shooters to execute) You want to run and gun? You need athletic guys that will create offense off of steals and blocked shots. You want to run a controlled offense of setting picks but play tight D at the same time. Well you need some good big men who are smart and some tenaciouse hard workers who will not give up in a game and practice hard. (Majerus style and we'll see soon if he is getting the players to do it soon) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
huzzah Posted April 7, 2008 Share Posted April 7, 2008 memphis is winning with authority right now because douglas-roberts and rose are playing like lottery picks. i'd pick rose first in the draft imo. the two of them have been splendid in the tourney and have overcome calipari's lack of game coaching ability.I think Calipari, for what ever reason, is coaching well. His team is playing good defense. This will be an interesting match up because of Calipari's Kansas background. Calipari was an assistant coach under Ted Owens at Kansas. Bill Self came out of OK State and joined Larry Brown as a graduate assistant. Brown retained Calipari from the Ted Owens era. Self was promoted to an assistant coach by Larry Brown. Self and Calipari then became friends, and as for as I know still are. Both Calipari and Self were assistant coaches under Larry Brown in 1988, the last year Kansas won the NCAA. Calipari met his wife in Lawrence. Calipari loved Allen Field House because it never has been renovated and it is where the legendary Phog Allen worked. Calipari loved being in the very same building that Allen had been in. I expect a low scoring game Monday because both teams are playing great defense. By low scoring I mean in the 70's. I don't know who will win, but because of the background of the two coaches I am looking forward to watching the game. There was talk on this board about Boon Pickens hiring Self away from KU. The OK State board is excited, but the KU board does not seem worried. Kansas has the history and the tradition. Self has just recruited well. He has an excellent assistant coach in Danny Manning. Watch the baby hooks the KU centers will take. This is Manning's shot. He has done excellent work with the KU big men. My feeling is Self will not move. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thetorch Posted April 7, 2008 Share Posted April 7, 2008 I didn't have much faith in Memphis either. I could never have them favored to win a big game with Calipari on the bench. We are really in for a treat tomorrow night. Both KU and Memphis have multiple players who will play in the league. These might be the two deepest teams to play for a championship in a decade or more. Just tons and tons of talent on both rosters. Both teams have guys who are 8th in the rotation who could start and star for SLU. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kahok Posted April 7, 2008 Share Posted April 7, 2008 I didn't have much faith in Memphis either. I could never have them favored to win a big game with Calipari on the bench. We are really in for a treat tomorrow night. Both KU and Memphis have multiple players who will play in the league. These might be the two deepest teams to play for a championship in a decade or more. Just tons and tons of talent on both rosters. Both teams have guys who are 8th in the rotation who could start and star for SLU. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kahok Posted April 7, 2008 Share Posted April 7, 2008 BTW Roy, A coach that wins at UMASS and Memphis a total of over 400 games has got to be able to coach. I am happy for Memphis because I think it means more respect for a conference like the A 10 and may help more then one team get into the tournament in the future. If Memphis wins then the comittee will have to look at more teams in non BCS leagues. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted April 7, 2008 Share Posted April 7, 2008 BTW Roy, A coach that wins at UMASS and Memphis a total of over 400 games has got to be able to coach. I am happy for Memphis because I think it means more respect for a conference like the A 10 and may help more then one team get into the tournament in the future. If Memphis wins then the comittee will have to look at more teams in non BCS leagues. no he is proof that if you get the best players you will likely win most of the time. i have never said he isnt a good recruiter. he has consistently gotten the best players to come to his teams. and that is how he wins. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WH Posted April 7, 2008 Share Posted April 7, 2008 Far be it from me to convert the unconverted when it comes to Calipari. B-Roy and I have discussed this before. As a Umass fan who witnessed the exalted work of Saint Cal, I am obviously a partisan supporter. Always will be. However, one point I do want to make is this: Calipari did not recruit the "best" players when he was at UMass. We had some really good players, to be sure, but most were not top 100 recruits. The Final 4 team had two kids who were top 100 recruits in high school, the most notable being Marcus Camby of course. The rest were mostly overlooked players who were often undersized for their positions. Nothing like this bounty of supremely athletic, supremely gifted squad that Calipari has now. I don't know what St. Louis and Charlotte fans saw of Cal at Memphis that's led to this view of him that he can't coach all that great. All I know is this: I watched Cal orchestrate the best rebuilding job in college basketball history when he was at UMass during the late 1980s and 1990s. I watched or listened to almost every game for eight years. If you had seen what I had seen, game in and game out, you would not be having a discussion about whether Cal can coach. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DoctorB Posted April 7, 2008 Share Posted April 7, 2008 I thought UNC was the best team but I now say Memphis is the best team I've seen this year and really against UCLA, looked like one of the best teams in recent memory, along with that great Florida squad. Memphis by 12. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3star_recruit Posted April 7, 2008 Share Posted April 7, 2008 no he is proof that if you get the best players you will likely win most of the time. i have never said he isnt a good recruiter. he has consistently gotten the best players to come to his teams. and that is how he wins. Roy, Calipari was winning a ton of games in the A-10 back before Camby came along. He had Western Kentucky-level of talent in those days. The guy can coach. And yes he has been a recruiting monster at Memphis. But notice how he does it. He brings in a big-time point guard and surrounds that guy with long, quick skill players and ferocious rebounders. Some of them are top 50 guys but some of them (Anderson, Dozier, Allen) aren't. He recruits to a style of play -- the sum is greater than their individual parts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NH Posted April 7, 2008 Share Posted April 7, 2008 Roy, Calipari was winning a ton of games in the A-10 back before Camby came along. He had Western Kentucky-level of talent in those days. The guy can coach. And yes he has been a recruiting monster at Memphis. But notice how he does it. He brings in a big-time point guard and surrounds that guy with long, quick skill players and ferocious rebounders. Some of them are top 50 guys but some of them (Anderson, Dozier, Allen) aren't. He recruits to a style of play -- the sum is greater than their individual parts. Imagine how good memphis would be if Shawne Williams hadnt left. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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