ACC
Today has a pretty cool chart up about the Final Four teams with a fair
amount of useful information. We think they are underestimating Wisconsin though
- these guys almost beat Michigan State on the road. They've had three attempts
to figure them out and have played them tough 2 out of 3 - and they clearly are
playing their best ball now.  There's no question in our mind that
they are capable of winning this game. We're pretty sure Izzo is sweating this
matchup big time.
Here's one person
predicting UNC will win both games, the first we've seen, and no doubt that
would be sweet for Bill Guthridge, who has taken a ton of abuse this season from
UNC fans, and here's another on
Cota pushing Gut
to take Pepper.
Incidentally, a subtext of the UNC-Florida game is the tension between the
very aggressive Billy Donovan and Roy Williams, who thought he recruited
unethically, or illegally, and Eddie Fogler, who was firmly in Roy's
corner. As you might remember, the controversy was partly over Bret
Bearup's taking high school All-Stars on international tours, interesting since
Bearup has popped into the news this week also after extending Erick Barkley a
line of credit after Barkley decided to go pro. He does business with Andy
Miller, who is Barkley's agent, and Miller is in trouble for contacting athletes
at Tennessee and Florida, which is against the law in both states without also
informing the Universities. Among the athletes contacted was Mike Miller,
Florida's star, who was at the heart of Roy Williams' complaints.
Did we remember that correctly? It seems right, but we might have
misremembered. Anyway, it's an interesting, if not much-discussed
subtext. Our guess is that Guthridge would never comment on it publicly,
regardless of any feelings he might have, and Donovan might still be irritated,
but he's not stupid enough to mention it in public. The Miller thing could be a distraction, though, and we still think UNC will advance. Anyway, just an interesting
sidebar.