2009 Final Four Recap

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The first live blog was a lot of fun but we can make the Final Four blog even better. For that to happen, I'll need you to join in on the action. See you Monday night for my Final Four live blog.

Midnight: National Championship prediction:

Time for the Pontiac Game Changing Performance of this blog. My pick is...

Well, you'll have to come back Monday night for that. That's right, loyal readers. Yours truly will be back one more time for a National Championship blog. It should be fun.

Practically every expert is going to pick North Carolina to defeat Michigan State on Monday night. Instead of putting together a preview, I'm going to quickly discuss how MSU can beat UNC.

Villanova got Hansbrough, Green and Lawson into foul trouble by attacking the rim. If there's anything you learned about the Spartans tonight, it's that they are a squad that needs to run the court for 40 minutes. I expect Michigan State to utilize a game plan similar to the one (not) executed by Nova.

Michigan State will have to shoot above 35 percent from three point range on Monday night. The Spartans made 9-16 three pointers tonight (31.6%) but they did shoot 50 percent against Louisville. North Carolina is the better shooting team and Sparty will not win a 180 point shootout. MSU has to hit open perimeter shots to at the very least keep up with the Tar Heels.

I must repeat that the Spartans need more from big man Goran Suton. Suton only attempted one field goal in the first half against UCONN. That won't get the job done against North Carolina. Michigan State will need to execute down low in order to open up those perimeter shots. If you don't believe me, ask the Villanova guards who will have nightmares of UNC hands in their faces for the next week.

Finally, Michigan State has to play better defense. Allowing Danny Green to have open looks from beyond the arc is just not smart. Wayne Ellington should have a Spartan on him right now let alone on Monday night.

Oh yeah. Anymore than twelve turnovers and Michigan State won't win.

With that, I'm calling it a night. As always, thanks to all my readers, commenters and emailers for making this blog enjoyable for me. I will see you all on Monday evening for the National Championship game.

11:47: Final thoughts on the Final Four:

North Carolina was definitely the most impressive team of the night. There was never a time during the game when I thought to myself "ya know, Nova may just pull this one out." UNC wasn't flawless, though. The Tar Heels only made 22 of 37 free throws. Shooting 60 percent from the charity stripe won't cut it in a championship game.

UNC's defense limited Villanova to about 12 uncontested shots all night. Nova shot only 33 percent from the field and the Wildcats only made five of 27 three point shots. Wayne Ellington may be able to make a three point at Ford Field from my apartment in New Jersey. That young man can shoot.

Michigan State didn't look as good as UNC but the Spartans also played a better opponent. Goran Suton's performance this evening has to make any Sparty fan a little nervous. Suton finished with just four points and he found himself in foul trouble early on against Villanova. MSU will need Suton on the court Monday night or else Mr. Hansbrough may finish with 30 points.

National Championship prediction coming up in my final post.

11:34: The National Championship game will be Michigan State versus North Carolina.

Some final thoughts on the night and the title game coming up. Not done yet, my friends.

11:20: Nova puts a few points on the board and Nantz and Kellogg try to convince us all that the Wildcats are still in it. UNC leads 75-63 with 3:47 left. I'm already working on my wrap-up for the evening.

11:11: Everybody talks about North Carolina's ability to score. What has impressed me this evening, though, is the defense of the Tar Heels. Villanova has had only a handful of uncontested shots tonight and it shows in the stats. The Wildcats have made only three of 25 three point attempts and they're only shooting 32 percent from the field.

UNC is up 15 with about five minutes left.

11:06: Hansbrough picks up foul number four with eight minutes to play. North Carolina is still up by twelve but the Wildcats should now push the ball up the court and look for some easy inside buckets.

If Nova can get them to fall, that is.

11:02: The Wildcats must get some buckets in transition. They are 3-21 from three point range and trailing by 14 with ten minutes left. They're going to have to start playing Michigan State-esque basketball and soon in order to get back in this game.

11:00: The Bob Knight Guitar Hero commercial is awesome. Just wanted to add that.

10:55: UNC starting to play sloppy but they remain up by ten.

Tyler Hansbrough, Ty Lawson and Danny Green all have three fouls with 12:30 to play in the game. Nova's Dwayne Anderson just picked up his fourth.

In the last three minutes, these two teams have missed about seven shots in the paint. UNC up 61-49 at the eleven minute TV break.

10:48: Danny Green buries his fourth three of the night and UNC is up 13 at the first TV timeout of the second half.

10:43: ...and UNC scores five straight points. Ty Lawson just picked up his third foul, though.

AND HE'S CUT!! HANSBROUGH IS CUT! Hansbrough has a cut on the back of his hand and will have to go to the bench for a few minutes.

Those of you who had the 16 mark in the "Bloody Hansbrough" pool get the victory tonight.

10:42: Don't go to bed yet, folks! Villanova is within five with lots of basketball left.

10:38: Two quick North Carolina fouls and they look...a little off early on. Villanova can't capitalize, though.

A championship team would have drained a three there. Just sayin'.

10:28: Tom Izzo looks afraid of the Tar Heels. I look forward to seeing Deadspin make fun of this.

Second half will begin in a few minutes. Yes, this is a shorter halftime than the break in game one. No, I don't know why.

10:17: Well, things could definitely be worse for Villanova. Despite making only two of twelve three point attempts, the Wildcats only trail North Carolina 49-40 at the half.

In my prediction, I said that the Wildcats had to score more than 75 total points and had to shoot better than 30 percent from beyond the arc in order to pull off the upset.

For what it's worth, North Carolina went 6-11 from three point land in the first half.

Quite frankly, Villanova is lucky to only be trailing by nine.

10:10: Seven straight points by Villanova and the Wildcats cut it to nine.

One thing to watch out for: The Michigan State crowd. They sure don't want to have to sit through a blowout and many of them probably don't want to see UNC on Monday night. If the Wildcats cut this game to five, expect the stadium to get very loud very quickly.

10:05: Reader Abby asks: Should I shut this game off now?

AC editors would tell me to say that this is the Final Four and that Villanova is a good two minutes away from being right back in this game. Stay tuned till the end!

(If UNC is up by 20 at halftime, you can start watching either Braveheart or the WWE Hall of Fame ceremony).

10:00: North Carolina isn't playing great defense but they don't have to. Nova has no answer for the UNC guards and the Tar Heels have made six of nine from downtown. North Carolina guard Danny Green did just pick up his third foul, though. The Wildcats will take any good news at this point.

UNC up 43-29 with five minutes to play in the first.

9:52: Villanova brought it to within ten for about 20 seconds. North Carolina is up eleven with just under eight minutes remaining in the first half.

The Wildcats have made only one of seven three pointers and UNC is shooting 56.5 percent from the field.

9:47: Villanova is having serious problems getting a hand in the faces of UNC shooters. The Tar Heels are far too good to allow them to shoot open threes. UNC is already 5-8 from three point range.

9:40: AC writer Michael made me chuckle: nobody bleeds in college basketball like Blake Griffin. I'm pretty sure no one is beating North Carolina, not even the homer Michigan State club.

That would be a worse first blood match than Flair v. Hogan.

North Carolina is up by 14 at the eleven minute timeout. If this game turns into a blowout, I'll start taking Wrestlemania predictions.

9:35: UNC doing a good job of shutting down Dante Cunningham early on. Nova looks a little wide-eyed playing against the Tar Heels. North Carolina is up 11 with over 13 minutes left in the first half.

9:29: Nova is 0 for their first 4 three point attempts. Yuck. They trail North Carolina by four at the first TV timeout.

The standard Hansbrough text from my buddy comes in at 9:27:

When will Hansbrough begin bleeding? I say the ten minute mark of the second half.

I'm feeling a first half bleed for Tyler this evening. We'll see.

9:23: Hansbrough missed two free throws. It appears that the world did not come to an end.

Wait...

No we're cool.

9:20: The second game of the 2009 Final Four will also start slightly later than expected.

Anybody want to send me a Coke Zero? I could really use one...

9:10: Prediction: Nova will keep things close for about 38 minutes but North Carolina will be too much. I like the Tar Heels to advance to Monday night.

Reader email from Michael: Name one thing Villanova must do to beat North Carolina

The Wildcats have to shoot better than 30 percent from three point land. A 6-20 performance from beyond the arc won't get it done against the Tar Heels. Yes, Villanova is a physical, defensive team but they're going to have to score more than 75 points in order to beat UNC.

With that said, Nova has scored more than 75 points in each of their four previous games.

8:57: 45 minute long break before the second Final Four game? Lame.

Tip off is scheduled for 9:18. Prediction and reader email are next.

8:37: And my dad's bracket is officially dead.

Michigan State advances to the championship game after defeating Connecticut 82-73 in the first Final Four game of the evening.

After watching Michigan State these past two hours, I'm thoroughly convinced that they're going to beat either Villanova or UNC.

Break time. I shall return in roughly 20 minutes or so.

8:28: Remember this: Thabeet goes down after being fouled by Suton and Craig Austrie nails two FTs for UCONN.

Summers makes a circus layup and is fouled for his troubles, giving MSU a five point lead.

And he converts the free throw. Clutch.

8:22: Draymond Green, "The Dancing Bear," has fouled out. UCONN actually makes two FTs and they trail MSU by eight with under two minutes to play.

Hey, crazier things have happened before.

8:14: Kalin Lucas buries his third three of the game and then MSU gets yet another easy bucket in transition. They're up 11 with three minutes left.

How's that Big Ten looking now?

8:08: ONIONS!! MSU's Durrell Summers just posterized Stanley Robinson with one of those dunks that you'll look at five years from now and still get pumped about it.

Michigan State is up 10 with 5:30 left. I'll be honest. Nothing in the Huskies right now makes me believe that UCONN can win this game.

8:02: I'll be fine if I never hear Clark Kellogg say "The Dancing Bear" again. Ever.

The Huskies are falling apart and allowing Michigan State to grab offensive rebounds at will. The seven minute TV timeout was sorely needed. MSU is up by eight.

UCONN is now 12-22 from the free throw line. Gross.

7:55: Kemba Walker, freshman guard for the Huskies, is 1-6 from the charity stripe.

MSU makes their first three point attempt of the half. They shot 14 threes in the first 20 minutes. The Spartans lead 58-52 with ten minutes remaining.

7:52: Blog reader James: The home court is really starting to play a factor. You can see that the Huskies are beginning to press on offense and defense.

This TV timeout is crucial for UCONN. Calhoun needs to settle his players and slow this game down. Connecticut is two successful possessions away from quieting the crowd once more.

7:47: Jim Calhoun has to call timeout after MSU scores two quick buckets. The Spartans can't stop Connecticut inside but the Huskies absolutely cannot run with Michigan State. The Spartans lead by four with 13 minutes to play.

7:45: If the Huskies lose, they will only have themselves to blame. They're currently 9-17 from the free throw line. That's a pretty big stat considering the fact that MSU leads by only two.

7:34: The two teams trade six-point runs as Michigan State remembers that they can score when speeding up the tempo of the game. Suton has scored, by the way.

7:32: Instead, Suton picks up foul number three two minutes into the second half. Bad news for Sparty.

7:27: Second half about to start. Let's see if Goran Suton will actually shoot the ball more than once in the next 20 minutes of basketball.

7:21: Got a few texts/comments from individuals who believed that Jeff Adrien should have received a flagrant foul on the play mentioned at 6:59. I disagree. Walton tried to grab Adrien's arm when fouling Adrien and then was sent to the ground. Yes, Adrien tried to push him off but he didn't make contact on the shove attempt. It's the Final Four. The refs shouldn't decide things and they handled that situation flawlessly.

It was good, tough basketball that you should expect during the Final Four. Don't like it? The Golf Network is showing the Stonebrae Classic live. Michael Sim is 9 under par.

7:08: Michigan State leads 38-36 at halftime. Not the prettiest Final Four game I've ever seen but it sure is competitive. Should be a great second half.

Key stats of the first half: Michigan State has 12 personal fouls. UCONN has six.

Michigan State made 4 of 14 three point attempts in the first half. UCONN is shooting 52 percent from the field. The Spartans are up by two at the break.

How?

Field goal attempts and free throws. The Spartans finished with 13 more FG attempts in the first half and Connecticut missed five FTs.

I say again: You've got to make your foul shots, kids.

6:59: The Huskies' Jeff Adrien just bulldozed MSU's Travis Walton and a small get-together assembled under the rim. Walton committed the shooting foul and was then sent to the ground when Adrien ran over the Spartan. Some pushing and shoving followed. Good job by the refs to break it up and not give out any technical fouls.

By the way, that's Walton's second foul, making him the fourth Spartan with two personal fouls.

6:54: AC TimS says This is one sloppy game being played right. It's amazing MSU is only down a couple with the way the Spartans are shooting.

Right as I paste that, Lucious drains an open three for MSU. Jinx Jinx Jinx.

If you would have told me that MSU would be 3 of 10 from three point land with two and a half minutes to go in the first, I would have guessed that the Spartans would be trailing by 8-10 points. The Spartans have TWELVE more FG attempts than UCONN, though. WOW.

6:50: Michigan State's Goran Suton, Idong Ibok and Draymond Green all now have two fouls. With Suton picking up his second foul, the Spartans are going to have to start actually making some perimeter shots.

6:47: Michigan State missing open shots. They are 2-6 from beyond the arc. That won't get it done against the Huskies.

Yet when they hurry down the court, they get an easy two. As Mr. Kellogg just stated, the Spartans must play this Final Four contest "on rollerskates."

MSU's Chris Allen couldn't hit sand if he fell off a boat right now. The Spartans only trail by two with four to play, though.

6:37: Kevin in NC asks: What do you think about the Final Four being played in a football stadium?

I'm not crazy about it but I don't have a problem with it, either. I understand why it's done ($$$$) so it's kind of a "whatever" thing in my mind.

Michigan State looks almost scared when taking the ball in the paint. Adrien and Thabeet would make me think twice about driving to the hole, too. The Spartans cannot win this game by being passive, though.

Connecticut is shooting 59 percent so far. The Huskies lead with just under eight minutes to play.

6:29: A few friends of mine are complaining to me about the fact that UCONN has been called for a single foul thus far. I have no complaints about the officiating thus far.

Michigan State looks very over-matched when trying to stop Thabeet and Stanley Robinson. Connecticut leads 19-16 at the eleven minute TV timeout.

Reader email is next.

6:25: Dear CBS,

Stop with the overhead view. I'm getting motion sickness.

It's the Spartans with five team fouls in the first seven minutes of the game.

6:21: First TV timeout comes at the 14:27 mark. Connecticut has settled down and they trail 14-10. Thabeet has two blocks in the first six minutes of the contest. And no fouls.

Whoops.

Michigan State is six of eleven from the field so far and UCONN has gone two for two from downtown.

6:17: Connecticut definitely looks a little shaky playing in front of the Detroit crowd.

MSU's Travis Walton went down in the key and is walking off of the court. He was bumped by Thabeet and went right down to the ground. Yeah, I'd probably be unconscious right now. That young man is a beast.

Michigan State seems eager to run with Connecticut early on. They're definitely out-hustling the Huskies in the first four minutes of the game.

6:09: I'm fairly confident that Michigan State's Delvon Roe dropped the "SH" bomb when being introduced. I see that as a good sign.

Lots of boos for UCONN from the pro-Sparty crowd.

Prediction: Hasheem Thabeet will pick up two fouls in ten minutes. You read it here, first.

Tip off will be about four minutes later than scheduled. And to think I could have watched the beginning of The Pacifier on USA during this time. Shucks.

6:02: Great news from my father just moments before the tip.

Bill Raftery is doing commentary for Westwood One's coverage of the Final Four. Guess I can turn my TV off.

And no, nobody has come up with a good Bill Raftery drinking game as of yet. You've all disappointed me thus far.

5:57: Both experts on CBS have gone with UCONN.

So I'm obviously picking Sparty to win.

Michigan State is playing in Detroit, after all. Besides, the Big Ten has bee completely disrespected by NCAA fans/experts all season. Digger Phelps may actually pass out if Big Ten teams wins both the NIT and the Big Dance.

Look for Michigan State to find open shots similar to the way Syracuse did against Connecticut in the Big East tournament. MSU lit it up against Louisville and I expect them to do it again "at home."

Tip off coming up soon.

5:46: The most popular question so far?

Is the wife still beating you in your bracket challenge?

Both of our brackets are deader than a New York Mets season in October but I did eventually pull ahead. Not that it matters as I had Memphis, Kansas, Syracuse and Villanova in my Final Four.

One out of four. Woo.

With that said, my dad is still very much in it as he has UCONN winning it all. I have a feeling he's going to be upset with my predictions...

5:36: Before I begin, I have to say congrats to Penn State on their NIT victory. Yeah, the three-letter tournament, the "Not Important Tournament," the "Nobody's Interested Tournament." For those of us who camped out for PSU bball games in January of 2006 and cheered on a 15-15 basketball team, Thursday night was quite the event. I know that Penn State probably won't be playing in the real Final Four in 2010. The NIT victory, however, could be the start of, well we'd take anything at this point.

All programs have to start somewhere.

5:30 pm: Here we go again! I'm jumping the gun slightly and beginning my second live blog of the NCAA tournament roughly 30 minutes before Michigan State and Connecticut tip off. Just as last time, you can send a question or comment to zacsacblog@gmail.com. This is key because without you, my faithful readers, I'm just some weird college basketball fan typing to himself for four hours.

Predictions and a few questions are on their way.