Final Four Recap & Finals Prediction

One was supposed to be this year’s version of Carmelo Anthony, a freshman leading his team to the NCAA Championship. The other has been called the best shooter in all of college basketball. But on Saturday night, Luol Deng and J.J. Redick helped ruin Duke’s chance at a national title.
After 37 minutes of basketball gave Duke an eight-point lead over favored Connecticut in their national semi-final game, the Blue Devils collapsed in the final three minutes after their big men fouled out and Emeka Okafor finally took over the game.
Coming out of the last TV timeout of the game, Duke was up eight points with 3:25 on the clock.. Uconn got the ball into Emeka Okafor, who was being defended by Shavlik Randolph. Okafor is usually impossible to defend in that position, but against Shavlik Randolph it looked like a Mack truck versus a Geo.
Randolph should have let Okafor get his easy two, but he instead stuck his chest out, bumped Okafor and fouled out.
This was not a turning point in the game, despite the fact that Randolph had 13 points on 6-6 shooting. All but two of those points were accumulated with Okafor on the bench in the first half after he picked up two ridiculous fouls in the first 3:55 of the game.
(The calls on Okafor were so ridiculous that after the second (a supposed push, that never happened), Okafor clearly screamed “what the f---??!” repeatedly in the ref’s face and didn’t pick up a technical or even a warning. Why? Because the referee knew how ridiculous the call was and how much the dynamic of the game would change with Okafor riding the pine for the rest of the first half. And it did. Duke was up seven at the break.) So Duke fans complaining about the Randolph fouling out can shut it. They blew a whole lot of opportunities to win after that.
Randolph went out, Okafor went to the line and missed the front end of the 1-and-1. Duke, still up eight, was looking to get the ball to one of their shooters for a back-breaking three.
Instead, Luol Deng, with a hand in his face and 11 seconds left on the shot clock, took an ill-advised shot that bricked, Taliek Brown grabbed the rebound, pushed the ball down the court and found Rashad Anderson wide open in the corner, who then hit a three.
In an 11 second span, Duke had a chance to extend their lead to double digits, took a stupid shot, then failed to get back on defense and had their lead cut to five. That was the turning point of the game.
On the very next possession Daniel Ewing took another ridiculous shot with plenty of time on the shot clock and then fouled Ben Gordon on the other end out of frustration. Gordon calmly made his two free throws and the Duke lead was only three.
Duke then decided to put the ball in the hands of its apparently injured senior leader Chris Duhon. (More on him later.) Duhon, bad ribs and all, decided to drive into the lane and lost control of the ball, which was recovered by Josh Boone with 1:35 left.
Down the floor, Okafor played Ike to Nick Horvath’s Tina and cut the deficit to one.
After another awful three-point attempt from Deng, Okafor battled at the other end for two points to give Uconn their first lead of the second half.
Coach K called a time-out and apparently called a play that would send J.J. Redick (who handles the ball in the open court about as well as Shaq) driving to the hoop against the premiere shot blocker of his generation, Emeka Okafor. But Okafor didn’t even get a chance to reject his drive because the ball was stripped cleanly from Redick before he could think about getting stuffed by Okafor. Duke quickly fouled Anderson, who had gotten the rebound, while Coach K screamed that Redick had been fouled. He actually stomped his feet on the ground while whining to the refs about what had been a clean strip. When he does that, he seriously looks like a toddler that had his favorite toy taken away. I wonder if after the game when he was watching the tape, Krzyzewski feels like an ass for acting that way. Probably not.
Uconn converted both free throws and Duke, down three, got exactly what they wanted on the next possession: an open look for J.J. Redick. The shot barely touched the iron, and Uconn advanced to their first final since 1999.
In the end, Duke was done in by poor decision making. They had their chance when the best player in the country was on the sideline for the first half but couldn’t build up enough of a lead. When Okafor came back in, he took over and sent Duke back to Durham wondering what would have happened if J.J. Redick were as good a shooter as everybody says he is.

- Chris Duhon’s average career at Duke finally came to a close Saturday night. Seriously, that guy had been in college longer than Bluto. I know they retired Duhon’s number and all, but if you look at his numbers, they were merely mediocre.
Duhon played well his freshman year, when he teamed up with Jason Williams on Duke’s national championship team. But on a team with Shane Battier and Jason Williams, Duhon was like a B.J. Armstrong.
In his sophomore year, Duhon, still in a complimentary role, average 6.4 assists per game, but only scored 9.4 and Duke bowed out in the Sweet 16.
With Williams and Battier gone, Duhon was the new floor leader in Durham. He was named ACC Preseason Player of the Year thanks to the Dukie mystique, but had a horrible season in which he averaged 9.2 points, 6.5 assists and 3 turnovers per game. Duhon was consistently outplayed by every guard in the ACC, and by his own teammates, but still was one of 20 finalists for the Wooden and Naismith award (for the best college basketball player) and even made 3rd team All-ACC.
I’m trying to figure out why everybody thought Duhon was going to be so good. It surely wasn’t because of his play, so the only thing I can figure out is that the media believes every word Coach K says. If he told ACC beat writers that the world was flat, those guys would go find Christopher Columbus’s ancestors to kick them in the shins. So when Krzyzewski kept telling everybody that Duhon was going to be the next great star at Duke, it didn’t matter that his play didn’t back that up. If Coach K said it, it must be true.
In his senior year, Duhon once again averaged less than 10 points (I would love to find out the last guy to make All ACC teams for four years in a row without averaging more than 10 points). He still had his six assists a game (which game him 100 less career assists than Steve Blake), but proved time and time again that he wasn’t a leader.
After his fake injury in the ACC Tournament, CBS showed Duhon so much love that one would think they were grooming him to be Dan Rather’s replacement. Showing no signs of the injury except a Kobe-esque wince when the camera was on him, Duke advanced in spite of Duhon’s play.
On Saturday night, in his final college game, Chris Duhon made a meaningless three-pointer at the buzzer. It was purely cosmetic, as it did nothing to change the outcome of the game. Kind of fitting, isn’t it?

Championship Game Prediction

#2 Connecticut vs. #3 Georgia Tech

I have picked against Georgia Tech all season. When Tech beat Uconn (playing without Emeka Okafor) in November, I dismissed it as a fluke. When they lost to Georgia and North Carolina in back-to-back games at the beginning of 2004, I thought Tech was finally being exposed.
But they kept winning. They beat Duke at home, Wake Forest at home, swept Maryland and knocked off UNC twice. Still, I couldn’t pick Georgia Tech. Weren’t they the same mediocre team from last year, except without Chris Bosh?
No. They were much better than that. Jarrett Jack is making Coach K wish he had given him that last scholarship two years ago instead of handing it to Sean Dockery. Luke Schenscher is rekindling America’s love affair with all things Australian, an era not seen since Young Einstein was in the theaters. And Paul Hewitt did the best coaching job in the country this year, despite what Associated Press voters might say.
I like Georgia Tech and will be rooting for them to win tonight.
But, Uconn has Emeka Okafor. And Ben Gordon. And Jim Calhoun, who has been in this situation before.
Schenscher, for as well as he has played the past two months, hasn’t seen a player in the paint anything like Emeka Okafor. Their battle will go a long way in deciding this game.
If Schenscher can get a few buckets early, Okafor will have to concentrate on him, which will free up the middle for Tech’s other scorers.
I think the key to the game will be offensive rebounds, and I really like Josh Boone’s ability in that area. He reminds me of a young Dennis Rodman, the way he outworks and outthinks players to get to the loose ball.
Even though I’ve been wrong about Tech all season, I’m still picking against them tonight. I think Uconn will cut down the nets tonight in San Antonio. That should make Georgia Tech fans feel better about their chances tonight.
Pick: Connecticut - 78-71

Tomorrow: NCAA Championship Recap
Wednesday: Baseball Preview Extravaganza
Thursday: Masters Preview