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…awfully damn good.

I am going to resist the national psychosis that takes over in the aftermath of noteworthy performances wherein we all try to determine just how great a particular team/event was. I bet a lot of money espn won’t follow suit. Suffice it to say, there was no team roaming the college basketball land that could remotely step to this Tar Heel team, and that was as dominating a run to a national title as we have seen in some time. And it is hard to not feel good for the three Tar Heels that bypassed the NBA in order to make a run at a title and erase the memories of the Kansas Final Four debacle from 2008. Ty Lawson, Wayne Ellington, and Tyler Hansbrough? Well done.

At no point was that a competitive game last night. And that is no slam on Michigan State, which proved themselves more than worthy of the shot at the Tar Heels with their run to the Final. It is just an acknowledgment that when North Carolina was interested, no one had a chance to stand with them. The only slight criticism to be made of Roy Williams’ crew? That they ever lost when they were fully healthy. When interested, no one in college basketball this year was close to them.

That’s two national titles (amidst three Final Four trips) for Williams since he left Kansas. Guess that worked out for him. As for Michigan State, they bring a lot of talent back under a coach who clearly is at the top of his profession himself. Hard not to see the Spartans as the favorites heading into next season.

Some of the better from the chattering heads this morning:

—Luke Winn at si.com on the beatdown

—Gary Parrish on the great collegiate career of Tyler Hansbrough

—Gregg Doyal on what Roy Williams is accomplishing

…50,000 of Michigan State’s friends and family.

In souteastern Michigan, Mitch Albom gets in the Lions’ face:

And that was huge Saturday. Ford Field hasn’t been this loud since — well, the 2006 Super Bowl, because Lord knows the Lions can’t elicit this volume. The Huskies, as they ran out, were booed by the 72,000-plus as if they were a bartender who wanted to close early.

Yeah. The crowd. It’s going to be a factor Monday night. It was a factor yesterday. Mostly, at any point that UConn looked like they might go on a mini-run and take control of the game, MSU got picked up by their fans. A lot of fans. It is a different dynamic to consider as the National Title game approaches.

With regard to the upcoming game, an exact re-match in terms of teams and locale to one back in December, what has changed that gives MSU hope of closing the gap that was a 35-point bludgeoning at the hands of the Tar Heels? Drew Rosenberg in the above link catelogs the reasons. We shall see. It will be a lot closer this time around. But will it be enough?

That is a damn entertaining and talented Tar Heel team, one that appears to get better when Tyler Hansbrough is out of the game and they can fully unleash their athleticism and talent. Down in North Carolina, they are sounding the team of destiny theme themselves, as they try to fully get rid of the memories of the Final Four in San Antonio.

It shapes up to be an intriguing game.

I think I may have to root for North Carolina. I like casinos. Ty Lawson likes casinos. Roy Williams likes casinos. And apparently some panty-bunchers have wadded theirs over Ty Lawson, a 21-year-old, hitting the craps tables in downtown Detroit near the team hotel in the last few days. Roy Williams has THE correct take on this non-story:

Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said Friday that he told his players not to gamble, but North Carolina coach Roy Williams fired back at Lawson’s critics with a fantastic point that wove together common sense and all-you-can-shovel crab legs. “It’s strange,” Williams said. “If we don’t want those kids doing it, don’t put the Final Four in a city where the casino is 500 yards from our front door. And they’ve got a great buffet in there. … You know when we got here? Wednesday. I mean, I’m not gonna tell my guys they got to stay in the room and watch Bill Cosby reruns for four days. Come on.”

Besides, Lawson won’t be the only Tar Heel rolling the dice this weekend. His coach plans to hit the tables before Carolina faces Villanova in Saturday’s national semifinal. Based on past experience, if Willams rolls a few snake eyes, the Tar Heels will beat the Wildcats. “When I came here this year to play Michigan State, we stayed at MGM,” Williams said Friday. “And I went down and shot craps, we lost, and we won the game. I go to Reno, to play Nevada-Reno, and I stayed in a casino, and I went downstairs and shot craps and we lost, and my team won. So you’ve got to be half-an-idiot if you think I’m not going to go gamble and lose money before this game.“

Snicker. Newflash to Puritans out there. Casinos are not dens of sin. You are NOT given a complimentary blowjob upon entering. Lines of cocaine do not greet you at the blackjack tables. Mostly, they are full of people looking for a few hours of diversion with a chance to win some money. And old people spending their social security checks. That part is sad. But still, it is not hell on earth. Stop acting like it is.

As for the games themselves, plenty of places to go around the net for analysis better than anything you read here. As things have unfolded, it sure does look like UConn and UNC will be meeting in the National Title game Monday night, but there’s enough uncertainty that it won’t be shocking if Michigan State and Villanova are the ones standing instead.

I am curious about the venue. I don’t like the idea of packing 71,000 under one roof to see a basketball game. The event would be better served by sticking to somewhat recognizable basketball venues, in my opinion. At any rate, I’m rooting for the Heels. If only because I honor fellow casino afficionados.

The games will be discussed in the Swamp here. Stop by with a thought or two.

They were by far the better team today, and I think, on most days if they were to play Oklahoma on a consistent basis. 72-60. And it wasn’t that close. But, damn, Blake Griffin is ungodly good. 23 points and 16 rebounds does not begin to capture just how much of an impact he had on keeping Oklahoma remotely close. He was the only one to show up for the Sooners today, and single-handedly kept them in the game. He was good enough that tanking to try and increase odds for ping pong balls for the bottom five or six in the NBA is in order. He will have a very positive impact on some previously unlucky franchise. He for damn sure would fill a major gaping hole in Memphis.

As for Carolina, with Lawson healthy, they have to be the odds on favorite among the teams heading to Detroit. Just a devastaing blend of size, speed, and shooting accuracy. Villanova will be a fun match-up though, as Nova will not shy away from running.

Might as well call it the Charlie ticket. Despite the #2 seed, feels improbable.

Yeah, I gave them no chance. I was not alone in that. It wans’t so much the win, as it was the ease of the win. Louisville got punked. 64-52, and it wasn’t that close.

Judging by the Swamp chatter, I was not alone in being stunned by this. Drop by with a thought or two.

Absolutely did not see this coming.

…for Missouri sports?

Feel free to skip this post if you’re sick of Missouri. That’s fine. And I was hoping like crazy that I’d get to type this post as the Tigers headed to their first Final Four.

But they’re not, and are now 0-5 in the Elite Eight.

At various times in the school’s history, the football and basketball teams have been successful. The 1960 football team went undefeated* (but never got a shot at the national title. Screwjob #1 in Missouri’s illustrious history) and not once in the 60s did the football team have a losing record. From 1957-1983, the football team only had a losing record three times.

When Norm Stewart got the basketball head coaching job, the team was coming off of consecutive three win seasons. That’s pretty hard to do. But over the course of Stewart’s 32 years, the Tigers won 13 conference regular season and tournament titles. However, as Stewart led the Tigers’ rise to power, the football team’s success started to sputter, as many of those winning seasons in the 70s were 7-4 and 6-5 campaigns and in the 1980s and early 1990s the team was downright awful. When Larry Smith’s 1998 football team won eight games, it was the first time since 1981 that Missouri had won eight games.

Gary Pinkel took over the football program in 2001, and promptly won nine games in his first two years, and was almost fired after going 5-6 with major–for Missouri–expectations in 2004.

And by now, everyone knows about the Quin Snyder and Ricky Clemons saga, and that Mike Anderson inherited an absolute mess when he arrived in 2006.

But now, it seems that success in both sports is finally shining down on Mizzou. The football team (despite underachieving in 2008 thanks to a supposed Chase Daniel thumb injury and a terrible defense) won 10+ games in back to back seasons for the first time ever, and Anderson took a 16-16 basketball team from 2007-2008 and turned them into an Elite Eight squad.

While it may be hard for both teams to reach their current levels next year, they both are very young, giving Missouri fans legitimate reason to be excited for both the fall and winter, and maybe, just maybe, enough of a reason to stop being so damn pessimistic.

(Oh hell, who am I kidding, you’re not a real Missouri fan unless you fear something’s about to go horribly wrong)

Pitt’s high-wire act finally comes to an end, but only because of a heroic effort from Villanova. Finally, the tournament gets a memorable game, worthy of the stage. Huge plays by each team all game long, big efforts from the respective stars, and a game-winning shot with under a second to go. Villanova punches its ticket to Detroit 78-76.

If Missouri can make a shot in the second half, it could have been them. Instead UConn gets bailed out by its freshman point guard, Kemba Walker, and hits its free throws down the stretch and heads to Detroit with the 82-75 win.

Whatever else Missouri does, it needs to pay the freight to keep Mike Anderson in place. And his style ought to be real saleable to recruits in and around St. Louis, Chicago, Memphis, and Kansas City. No reason why Missouri cannot finish awakening its program. Unless they let Anderson get away.

As for UConn, the rogue NCAA program moves on….apparently rules are hard.

As anti-climatic as most of the games have been this tournament, I keep thinking that we are due to get to some real memorable match-ups as the tournament progresses. And then get hit with another series of blow-outs or near blow-outs. Like last night. With the only somewhat interesting finish being the watch-paint-dry Spartans get past a Kansas team that got admirably far given how much they lost from their national championship team.

In Memphis, Gary Parrish at sportsline on the machine that is North Carolina:

Anyway, that moment. It came with 12:35 remaining, when Jeremy Pargo got a steal and lay-up to cut a deficit that was 21 points less than three minutes earlier to 11, forcing UNC coach Roy Williams to call a timeout. That’s when the Gonzaga cheerleaders started cheering their little hearts out, and the crowd jumped up, too. That’s when I turned to the guy next to me and said matter-of-factly, “Watch this. They think they’re back in it, but it’s about to be over, and it’ll happen fast.” That was my prediction.

Twenty seconds later, Bobby Frasor sank a 3-pointer. Twenty-six seconds after that, he did it again. Fourteen seconds after that, Wayne Ellington got a three-point play. Forty seconds after that, Tyler Hansbrough got a three-point play.

And just like that — quicker than you can say Sunday’s Tyler Hansbrough-Blake Griffin matchup sure is going to be fun! — UNC turned a 68-57 advantage into an 80-57 advantage, which was the knock-out punch in a 98-77 victory that has the ACC regular season champions one way away from consecutive Final Fours. In case you’re too lazy to do the math, that 12-0 run took 100 seconds, meaning UNC averaged a point every 8.3 seconds in that game-deciding spurt, this despite having to actually give the ball to Gonzaga after every made basket, if only temporarily.

It helps, by the way, that Gonzaga cannot play any defense. And UNC is uniquely situated to make them pay for that. Oklahoma should be a compelling game for UNC, as they clearly have the athletes to stay with the Tar Heels, and a point guard good enough to give Lawson some problems. Still, if North Carolina is consistently knocking down shots, OU will have no chance.

—Luke Winn’s blog is solid stop, as usual, as he recounts the things that were learned from last night’s carnage, including this:

Scratch the possibility of an all-Big East Sweet 16. Syracuse is dead. There was a funny moment late in the first half, with 2:41 left, when Jonny Flynn drove to the rim, scored and was fouled by Oklahoma’s Austin Johnson. Flynn’s momentum took him right up to the Sooners dance team, which was seated on the baseline. He took the opportunity to scream, “That’s f—ing right!” in their faces. One of the stunned dancers turned to the rest of her crew and said, “OH MY GOD!” Flynn hit the free throw to make the score 28-22, and the Orange seemed to be showing signs of life.

Less than two minutes later, it was knocked out of them. Flynn chased Griffin on a fast break with the hope of taking a charge, and got there a half-second too late. Griffin ran over him like a bus flattening a pedestrian, and still sunk the layup. Flynn lay on the floor for a few seconds, then got up, wincing and holding his lower back. The collective feeling in the arena, after watching it, was, “Oh my God.” Griffin hit the free throw with 53 seconds left to put the Sooners up 36-26, and they rolled to a 84-71 win. Griffin said he didn’t think the initial contact he made with Flynn was all that rough, but worried that he might have landed on ‘Cuse’s point guard too hard. “I kind of felt bad for him,” Griffin said. We all did, Blake.

Re: the bolded part…heh.

—foxsports.com on how MSU paint-dried their way past Kansas. In case you had fallen asleep.

—The L’ville crush of Arizona doesn’t really need any comment. Perhaps what the tournament will be saved by will be a Louisville/North Carolina final that finishes 111-110 in regulation.

As for today’s games, did Missouri play their perfect game in waxing Memphis? Do they have something left for UConn? I think they do, but it won’t be enough to win. As for Villanova/Pitt? Pitt’s high-wire act runs out, and Villanoa punches its ticket to Detroit.

Blake Griffin is going to be an All-Star candidate on a yearly basis in the NBA. He looks 20/10 waking up out of bed each morning. His ability to run the floor I had under-estimated. Syracuse’s outstanding guard Jonny Flynn is certainly sold.

The Memphis Grizzlies are a bad basketball team. But they do have a couple of pieces in place. One of those pieces is NOT a power forward. Blake Griffin running around FedExForum last night was like having a glass of cold water held in front of a person dying of thirst.

It’s gonna suck watching him come into the Forum every year after David Stern assigns Griffin to the Suns in this year’s lottery “upset”.