Mike Kelley, left, and Jon Bryant look up after cutting down the nets following Wisconsin's victory over Purdue in the West Region final.
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Player to watch
A.J. Granger. Call him the Spartans' lost starter. After scoring a combined 14 points in Michigan State's first two games, Granger has hit for 19 vs. Syracuse and 18 vs. Iowa State. His sharp shooting eye -- he's 18 for 29 -- keeps defenses from cheating off him to cover Morris Peterson.
Random thought
Are there two more underrated coaches than Wisconsin's Barry Alvarez and Dick Bennett?
Stock Rising
Andy Kowske. Don't let the Wisconsin uniform fool you -- this guy plays with some serious athleticism. He's averaging 11.5 points and 9.5 rebounds in the tourney.
Bracket buster
Like we need to say it. Wisconsin's the lowest seed to make it this far since LSU tore up the 1986 field as a No. 11 seed by beating No. 6 Purdue, No. 3 Memphis, No. 2 Georgia Tech and No. 1 Kentucky.
User Message of the Day
Flintstones, meet the Flintstones, they're an NCAA champ family. From Flint and East Lansing, they're going to be part of history. Let's go to that dome across the states, win the championship -- oh yeah we're great. When you play the Flintstones, you are gonna gonna get beat, yeah gonna get beat, we're gonna beat you yeah! YABA DABA DOOOOO!!!!!
-- marathonrob
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Daily Word: Parity packs a punch
The Michigan State Spartans, kings of late-game heroics, didn't have to save this tournament by beating the Cyclones. Selection committe chairman Craig Thompson is right -- the tournament was doing fine with or without Michigan State in the Final Four.
Putting two teams in the Final Four from the Big Ten, especially a
No. 1 and No. 8 seed, mirrors the regular season. The Big Ten, along with the SEC,
was the best conference during the season. The depth showed whenever the
league stepped out of conference play. The fact that Wisconsin could earn
its way to the NCAA Tournament by beating tough non-conference teams and finishing 8-8
in the league was another testament to the league's depth.
But it also shows that ugly is in right now, and finesse is out. The
Final Four will be physical, slow at times, but the fundamentals will be at
an all-time high.
Basketball fans, television networks and the selection committee should celebrate a
Final Four that gets back to the grass roots of the game.
For more of Andy Katz's Daily Word, click here.
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QUESTION OF THE DAY
Who is the MVP of the NCAA Tournament so far? |
ESPN.com's Andy Katz
Wisconsin's Jon Bryant. All season, the Badgers were criticized for having no offense. To get to the Final Four, they needed to ride a hot hand, and nobody's been hotter than Bryant -- witness his 18-for-36 performance from behind the 3-point line so far. Bryant also gives hope to anyone at the Division II level who dreams of playing in the Final Four but thinks he's not good enough to play D-I ball. Bryant was unwanted, toiled at St. Cloud State in Minnesota and practically begged the Badgers for a scholarshp. Now they wouldn't be in the Final Four without him.
ESPN.com's Greg Collins
Michigan State's Mateen Cleaves. The rest of the Spartans take their cues from him, and judging by how they've finished off their last two games, he's doing something right. In the regional semis, the Spartans put away Syracuse with a 17-0 run to close the game. Against Iowa State, it was a 12-0 run that put Michigan State up for good. Cleaves is a walking intangible -- and that was before he gained perspective by sitting out the first 13 games due to injury.
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TOURNAMENT CHALLENGE
The Madness is under way. This year's pool is larger than ever, with 590,000 brackets submitted. Click here to check your brackets. Some interesting tidbits:
More than 64 percent of all entries breathed a sigh of relief when Michigan State held off Iowa State to make the Final Four. On the other hand, 18.6 percent probably threw a fit when Larry Eustachy did as they saw their Cyclones go down to defeat.
Iowa State was the national champion pick on 3.7 percent of all brackets.
Neither Wisconsin nor Purdue were among the top five picks to make the Final Four out of the West.
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ESPN BRACKETS
Bracket fever has hit ESPN! We have our own Tournament Challenge group, and you can check it out. First, you'll need to log on to the Challenge main page with your entry, and then check out the Featured Group Great Minds of Bristol U. to see our predictions for the NCAA Tournament. Jay Bilas still holds a commanding 50-point led over Andy Katz. |
Cinderella Watch
Major conference or not, the fact that the eighth-seeded Badgers made the Final Four turned the tourney history books upside down. Let's take some time to put Wisconsin's achievement into perspective:
• The Badgers are the lowest seed to make it to the Final Four since LSU went as a No. 11 in 1986.
• Wisconsin joins UCLA (1980) Villanova (1985) as No. 8 seeds to make it to the Final Four.
• Since the NCAA Tournament started seeding teams in 1979, only two teams -- ninth-seeded Pennsylvania in 1979 and No. 11 LSU in 1986 -- made it to the Final Four with lower seeds.
• The lowest seed to make the Final Four in the 1990s was No. 6 Michigan in 1992. The only other team that had a seed worse than No. 4 to make it this far was No. 5 Mississippi State in 1996.
• No team had ever made the Final Four with more than 12 losses (USC in 1954). Wisconsin has 13 losses.
Say what you want about how early entry has robbed the college game of its stars and parity is a euphemism for mediocrity, but Wisconsin has accomplished something most teams only dream of. Like Gonzaga did last year in getting to the Elite Eight, the Badgers give hope to all those teams who operate outside the national media spotlight for most of the season.
Also, Wisconsin proves that you don't need a stable of McDonald's All-Americans to get to the Final Four. This is a team sport, and the Badgers are playing as cohesively as anyone in the country. They stick to their system, fill their needed roles and execute their gameplan just as coach Dick Bennett draws it up every game.
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