Well OK. Ya win some, ya lose some. Between Michigan and Michigan State in the NCAA hoops tourney -- yours truly went one for two. I picked MSU to win against UConn (they didn't), and UM to go down to Kentucky (they did). Regardless, no matter how you want to slice it and dice it -- the representatives of the Mitten State got kicked to the curb within a few hours of each other in the Elite 8. There will be no joy in Sniderville.
Across the stat sheet, State seemed to enjoy a slight advantage in most categories over UConn, including shooting %, rebounds, and assists. Plus, they didn't turn the ball over that much. However, one glaring stat jumped out. UConn went 21-22 from the free throw line, while MSU only had 8 attempts, making 7 of them. A 14 point swing at the charity stripe. And that, as they say, pretty much summed up game, set, and match. Despite their supposed superior talent, the Sparties committed too many fouls against a lights-out free throw shooting team, and it wound up coming back to bite them in their collective green and white butts.
Most Michigan fans no doubt think their team lost a heart-breaker on an improbable long-range last-second shot by a Kentucky player. True, it was a low percentage shot, but it went in and that's just the way it goes sometimes. Yet I would submit something else finally came home to roost on the Wolverines in a bad way. The absence of big man Mitch McGary, lost for the season due to back surgery. Time after time, a Kentucky shooter would miss a shot, only to have their own big men crash the boards, and dunk/slam a short offensive rebound back into the basket. If McGary was there -- that probably doesn't happen. UM was well-known for prospering or struggling depending on how well their bevy of 3-point sharp-shooters fared on any given night. But what got overlooked in the whole process was their lack of size and physicality close to the basket. Kentucky exposed that in a big way, no pun intended. So yeah, that last second shot could easily have been off the mark resulting in overtime, and then who knows? Yet the Maize and Blue faithful can zip it when it comes to the whining I suspect we'll be hearing out of Ann Arbor in the next few days. Though it was indeed a close game, their team ultimately got beat fair and square by another team that found a way to exploit a weakness that has been there all along.
All of which contributed to creating a couple very interesting match-ups in the Final Four. That will take place down in Jerry Jones' Big D North palace next week -- sometimes referred to as YEE-HAH land with the giant yippee-ki-ay boob tube overhead. And c'mon. A Final Four just wouldn't be a Final Four without a platoon of bimbo cheerleaders shaking their -- um -- pom-poms, right?
Taking a look at those games -- next time.
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