So far, a fabulous NCAA Tournament. Some incredible games today as the first half of the Sweet 16 is now in place.
Michigan surprised me. They’ve shown some resolve in their two tournament wins. I thought there were two second half coaching mismatches today… which to me were glaring.
I thought Michigan’s Juwan Howard coached the pants off of Rick Barnes in the Wolverines’ upset win over Tennessee. Rick Barnes looked lost in the last four minutes of the game.
In the last game of the night, I thought Mark Few and Drew Timme out-coached Penny Hardaway and Larry Brown as Gonzaga overcame a 12-point second half deficit to advance over a very athletic Memphis team. I thought Memphis completely misplayed Duren’s foul situation, then misused their timeouts down the stretch.
Baylor losing to UNC didn’t shock me because just eight days ago I saw the Sooners beat Baylor in Kansas City pretty much leading that game from wire to wire. These Baylor guards are simply not as good as last year’s trio of guards which led the Bears to the national championship.
The Gonzaga-Memphis game to me was almost worthy of an Elite 8 type of game.
Let’s make no mistake on this…on this night Chet Holgren was probably Gonzaga’s fourth most effective player behind Drew Timme, Andrew Nembhard, and Joshua Bolton.
Holgren in this game was basically a role player who at times in this game was exposed by his slow feet and emaciated frame. I’m not dogging the kid because why would I care if Sam Presti takes him or not.
But I’ll just say…if Chet Holgren is the best player in this draft…then this draft class is being vastly overrated. This kid for the most part has been sheltered by playing a very soft schedule and by being carried by the two Andrews.
I would take Jabari Smith, Jaden Ivey, and Keegan Murray before taking on the prospect of turning Chet Holgren into an elite NBA player.
If this kid had played in the Big 12 on any roster besides Kansas and Baylor this season, he would have struggled with not only the physicality of the league, but the end-to-end speed of the league as well..
Gonzaga basically plays in a league with one other decent team, that being St, Mary’s.
But back to Drew Timme. I love him. He’s a Texas kid. He may not be an NBA prospect like Chet, but Drew Timme has a set of balls and a college game which makes me wish he had played on a Big 12 team.
I loved what he said to ‘his’ team at halftime with the Zags down by ten points.
He basically said, ” I don’t give a flying fuck if we end up losing this game, but we’re not going out as a bunch of very soft guys.”
Toughness begats toughness…and respect. Don’t ever lose sight of that.
Anyway…I love Drew Timme. I hope we get to see Gonzaga play Texas Tech in the regional finals. That would be a war.