Open Game Day Thread: Final Four

Spartans are off to a quick start and are hitting the offensive glass well.

UConn a little sloppy to start but has settled down in the last couple of possessions.

Spartans hot early from the floor and executing their offense to perfection. UConn needs to do a better job in transition D and on the defensive glass. Huskies with two three-pointers already but can’t settle for the outside jumper, ala Louisville. UConn needs to feed the post and attack off the dribble.

Not sure I like five subs on the floor at the same time for Michigan State. I don’t care how deep you are—starters matter.

Huskies having their way near the basket, especially Jeff Adrian.

Spartans staying close with good looks in transition.

Nice to watch two teams who are so efficient on offense.

is exactly right. The faster the game, the better Michigan State will be.

A half court game is exactly what UConn wants and where they can take advantage of their bigs.

hot shooting from three a real bonus for Izzo. Michigan State had a significant cold spell for a lot of the first half.

Price, Adrien, and Thabeet all playing well for UConn.

MSU excelled in transition and on the offensive glass. While UConn dominated as they should in the post and in most of their halfcourt sets.

Michigan State takes a four pt lead. Spartans are really, really good at turning good defense into easy offense.

Texas’ “homecourt advantage” when they played in Houston in last year’s tournament? Not so much.

MSU killing UConn on the glass and Connecticut unable to take advantage of MSU foul trouble at the line.

Spartans in great spot.

MSU pulling away. What’s scary is they should be pretty good next year despite losing Suton and Summers. They’re getting 2 high rated centers next year also. Perhaps Morgan and/or Lucas leave early.

Tom Izzo might be the best overall coach in the nation when you talk about recruiting and X’s and O’s

I look for UConn to make it interesting down the stretch.

Both AJ Price and Stanley Robinson are trying to play one on five and failing miserably.

How many times has a UConn player had the ball stripped cleanly in the 2nd half. Might not be so interesting an end after all.

and I think Izzo was going nuts after it.

They had an opportunity to waste a good 25-30 seconds but instead Walton jacked it up immediately after they got the off. rebound

Price with a nice drive and finish. UConn at line for two more.

and with Thabeet going down, UConn gets to use a real good FT shooter.

Back to a 4 point game

Down just four. 1:18 left.

is a freaky athlete.

but Mich State still in good spot.

Tournament Tom Izzo works his magic again. Spartans executed extremely well on both ends. They ran and finished n transition, crashed the offensive glass, and did their best to neutralize Connecticut’s advantage in the paint.

UConn helped with some poor perimeter shooting, untimely turnovers, and shaky foul shooting.

has reached at least one Final Four. Amazing.

Michigan state looked really good, with that crowd and the way they are playing I would not be surprised if they win it all on Monday.

10-8 UNC, under 16.

Nova fans should like this start. Wildcats are attacking the offensive glass and refs have swallowed their whistles, for the most part. The more physical this game is the better for Nova. The more finesse and up and down it is the better for Carolina.

UNC with a quick 9-0 run. Tar Heels hitting jumpers, while Nova is not.

The Nova pressure is speeding up the game—the opposite of what you want against UNC.

This game already feels out of hand. When Carolina is scoring in tranistion and hitting jumpers, they are the best team in the country and it’s not even close. That is exactly what we’re seeing through the first eight minutes.

7-0 run cuts 16 pt lead to single digits.

Need to finish last two min of this half just as strong.

Lead only being single digits is a small miracle for Nova. This game hasn’t felt competitive since the opening minutes.