And yes, I will try to bring up Kevin Ware's injury in as many situations as possible. We can keep track!
Promising ball players become household names. Young college kids find ways to dazzle hoards of people in new and exciting ways, and each player does it in a different way. Whether it's Malcolm Armistead seemingly forgetting that Wichita State doesn't carry FBS football, or Trey Burke's science experiment to balance the powers of Chris Paul and Derrick Rose into one uncontainable force of brilliant speed and agility, players continue to dazzle us. Russ Smith plays as flashy a game as the great Allen Iverson once did, and Michael Carter-Williams may be the most annoying defender since Gary Payton. What matters even more than the players' displays of brilliance and their effect on us, are the match ups pitting these brand new superstars against each other.
THE KEY MATCHUPS
MICHIGAN VS. SYRACUSE
CENTER
Any one who's watched basketball lately is familiar with the emergence of Mitch McGary, or as I have dubbed him, the Michelin Man. During the Wolverines matchup with Florida, Patric Young squared off on the block with Mitch McGary several times, and each time, I wondered, "Is it possible that we could forgo the game and watch Patric Young and Mitch McGary have a fight?" As I've stated before, with his fists, Patric Young could kill a man, or a hippo. Mitch McGary on the other hand, looks indestructible. He's not particularly toned, nor will he blind you with athleticism. However, I believe, and you may quote me, that Mitch McGary could receive 100 blows to the head from any basketball player, and still be just fine. He has a football helmet built into his skull, he hustles everywhere, and he is BIG and VERY strong. His opponent will come in the form of several long athletic Syracuse bigs, primarily Rakeem Christmas and Baye Keita. Both Syrcause big men understand how to execute their roles, and have shut down previous big men such as Cody Zeller and Davonte Gardner. The edge in the post will play a critical role in deciding a winner.
It's like they're twins...
WINGS
Stauskas, Southerland, Robinson, Fair, Hardaway, and Triche. All of these guys will one day play in the NBA, and currently, all of them are capable of changing a game in a major way. Michigan seems built to beat a team like Syracuse, they've got a capable post, a slashing point guard, and shooters everywhere. They even run the court in a way that could disrupt Syracuse's halfcourt defense. If basketball were that simple, and if madness obeyed logical rules, Michigan would pick the Orange apart like they did the Gators and Rams. So, what did Indiana have? Taking inventory, the Hoosiers had: a lottery pick bigman, a top five slashing player of the year candidate, shooters everywhere, and crazy good ball movement. And then the Orange happened. The Hoosiers never found the range from deep, players became stagnant and Cody Zeller got blocked more times than Kevin Ware was mentioned on ESPN. (That is a lie, Kevin Ware was mentioned exponentially more than anyone since Tim Tebow.) When Southerland hits threes, the Orange open up their easybake 2-3 oven and begin to melt opposing players patience and shot opportunities. When C.J. Fair does C.J. Fair things, which is everything, the Cuse find a rhythm, and that rhythm has been in place since Louisville disrupted it.
POINT GUARDS
This, this is potentially the single most important matchup of the tournament. If at all possible, I would like CBS to find Morgan Freeman to do the intro of this game as a ten minute Burke/Carter-Williams montague plays. Hans Zimmer's latest piece to set the mood for the game is nothing less than spectacular, and both players walk into the building with the demeanor and quiet presence of nightmarish assassins.
Morgan Freeman: The battle of Atlanta was underway, as two giants engaged in a battle that left both the city and nation on notice. One craft was driven by the unholy serphant of the night, The loathsome Mage Carter-Williams. With arms which stretched far and wide as any man could, the Mage began to take form of a spider, whose legs were cubits upon cubits in length. With these limbs of slithering silence the mage stole and disrupted the city as nothing ever had before. Across from him lay hunched over the son of Hades and bringer of scorching heat, the Warmonger Burke. As Burke continued to dodge every blow and predict every obstacle, he became hotter, and hotter, until finally the heat bursting forth from him scorched his opposition, smothering him with smoke, depriving him of his hopes.
LOUISVILLE VS. WICHITA STATE
BACKCOURT
From the beginning, I've said that Louisville's demise would be the implosion of the backcourt that led the charge to Atlanta. Until this point, we have yet to reach an instance of that being an issue. In this game however, two problems seem to be ready to appear. Obviously, Kevin Ware is out, and while this hurts the team from a units perspective, all the players will play inspired ball right? Probably, we say Louisville wear their emotions on their sleeve in the blowout win over Duke last week. Unfortunately for Peyton Siva, it means his backup is gone, which could mean forty minutes of action. One of Siva's greatest areas of weakness is his tendency to foul, especially dramatic at the point guard position. Peyton will be forced to play less aggressively, which could be a serious issue against the Shockers. On the flip side, the deep Shocker backcourt is going to have to find a way to match Russ Smith's production. Russdiculous will get his, and if the Shockers can't score or limit turnovers, this Cardinal backcourt could eat them alive.
MENTALITY
One thing this Louisville team does exceptionally well, above all the rest, is frustrate the heck out of other teams. They force turnovers, pound the ball inside, run and gun, and they have Russ Smith. Wichita State is in the position it is right now because the lights never blinded them, the stage was never too big, and they never bought into the David versus Goliath mindset. Wichita beats the literal and hyperbolical snot out of their opponents, and typically other teams submit to their physically dominating style. Unlike all of their previous opponents, Louisville can take a game over in a matter of seconds. If Wichita feels threatened, play scared, or losses the "Junk Yard Dog" swagger they've recently adopted, the Cardinals will knock them out faster than Kevin Ware's leg bones. (In all seriousness, Kevin Ware's injury was nothing to laugh at. It was horrific and I don't mean to mock him, I just realized what it sounded like.)
