Final Defense

After three weeks of the most exciting basketball I've seen in a long time, the stage is set for the biggest show in College Athletics: the Final Four.

I can honestly say I cannot remember being more excited for the final weekend as I am this year; each team is richly sugared with inspiring side stories, two teams suffered what was thought to be crippling injuries during the tournament, one team is literally living a Hollywood dream by playing in their home town, and the only No. 1 seed left was strongly considered the weakest 1 seed.

Above all the candy-coated sweeteners, the story I love the most is how all four teams reached Indianapolis. In a world overwhelmed by a high-powered offense, it was defense that won each Regional.

Most everyone, from experts to casual fans, see the Big Ten as the most boring Power Conferences, simply because of their "inability to score." At least, that's how people portray the Big Ten. "No offense." "Too slow." "No premiere scorers." Too bad the general public can't see what really separates the Midwest Powers from the other Big Six Conferences: it's called defense. Shut-down defense. In-your-jersey, hand-in-your-face, smothering defense. The scoring's low because, yes, the defense is exceptional, but it's also low because of the unique style all eleven teams tend to play. It's a simple half-court offense, wearing the shot-clock down on every possession, playing for an efficient possession during each sequence. To the outsiders, this would be dubbed "boring basketball." But, to me, this is brilliant basketball; it's the way the game was played back in the days of Bill Russell, Jerry West and Wilt Chamberlin (before Wilt went nuts and scored 100 in a game). Michigan State is a prime example of Big Ten basketball; highly ranked preseason, loses a few close games in conference, receives an undeserving seed in the tourney, shrugs off the seed and shuts down team after team with its unique style of defense. That is why Tom Izzo and the Spartys are dancing in the Final Four for the second consecutive year and the sixth time in 12 seasons.

Sparty's opponent, the Butler Bulldogs, are the darlings of the tournament, and could be argued as one of the all-time darlings in March Madness history. Why? Well, they're from the Horizon Conference, a low/mid major conference incapable of having a representative for a Regional Final, much less a Final Four appearnce. The Dogs are the 5-seed out of the West Region, which might not seem like an insurmountable feat, considering Michigan State is also a 5-seed. Take one glance at who Butler had to beat to get here, though, and it's a completely different story. Gordon Hayward and co. killed any talk of a first round upset by controlling the second half of a 77-59 beatdown on UTEP. Butler then escaped the second round on a brilliant steal by Hayward in the waning seconds to secure a 54-52 victory over 13-seed Murray State. The Bulldogs really showed up in Salt Lake, dethroning top seed Syracuse in the Sweet 16, 63-59, and shocked the world with a 63-56 upset over 2-seed Kansas State. Cuse and K-State are considered two of the top offenses in the nation, with both teams averaging at or near 80 points/game (Syracuse averages 80.7, Kansas State averages at 79.7). So, naturally, Butler's slow, methodical, yet overwhelming man-to-man defense held both teams under 60 points. That's 20 points under both teams' season averages!

When the brackets were unveiled on Selection Sunday, there was a mad uproar, including this kid, about Duke's cream-puff South Region. To draw Villanova as a 2-seed and Baylor as a 3-seed, the Blue Devils were licking their chops at the prospect of making their first Final Four since '04. While their road may not have been as taxing as the other 1-seeds, give Coach K and his Dukies much deserved credit for proving the country that Duke is still a powerhouse in basketball and can still beat anyone on any given night. The Blue Devils fully convinced me of that statement with a clutch win ove a Baylor squad basically playing at home (the Regional Final was set in Houston, a mere 180 miles from Waco). Duke also showed its toughness and power, outplaying the Big Bears down low, something Duke has been very weak at for many years. With their classic Duke Defense and the finesse of Scheyer, Singler and Smith, the Blue Devils find themselves back in the big stage.

When I tell people I'm a West Virginia fan, they look at me incredulously and ask, why? I can see why they're in shock; West Virginia's not the cleanest team in the world, the state itself is widely ridiculed as the dumbest state in the Nation, and, as ESPN's Rick Reilly so blatanly pointed out in this article, the Mountaineers are coached by Bob Huggins, the grumpiest coach in basketball, also a coach who had a 0.0 graduation rate with his Cincinnati players back in 1998, and that's usually frowned upon, especially by the NCAA. In hindsight, this is generally NOT a team I would root for, but it's for these reasons why I DO root for them. They might look like thugs on the court, but they know how to play together better than almost any team in college. The people of West Virginia are hard-nosed, stubborn people, but they are incredibly hard workers and don't care what anyone else thinks about them, which is a trait I respect, and somewhat admire. Above all, regardless of what Bob Huggins has done in the past, his ability to create a family out of his team is awe-inspiring. He doesn't do it the conventional way; he tells his players that he'll yell at them so much that they'll have no choice but to band together, even if it is sharing their dislike of his hard-ass work ethic. That's why Huggy Bear is a perfect fit in West Virginia; he is a hard-nosed, blue collar worker that you typically find in a coal mine in the 50's, and he doesn't give a damn what you think of him. When he took over the program three years ago, he flawlessly eased his gritty 1-3-1 zone into the old John Beilein Princeton offense-style of play, and it has turned out to be the perfect storm. With John Beilein, nobody could stop the Eers from scoring, but the Eers also couldn't stop the bleeding on defense. Huggy changed all that in a few short years. Although the offense isn't where it used to be, the back-door cuts are still vicious, and nobody can score on WestVa, which has turned them into - in my mind - the clear favorites of this Final Four.

The Deseret News came out with an article a week ago stating that "BYU can learn something from Butler's Final Four run." While this is indeed true, DesNews writer Mike Sorensen was way off with his explanation, as, admittedly, most journalists usually are in this situation. Sorensen thinks the schools in Utah, namely BYU, Utah and Utah State can mirror Butler's magical run by creating a tougher schedule and having a big-time coach. Ok, it's pretty easy to say that a tough schedule and a big coach will get you to the Final Four, but there's so much more involved than that; consider Siena's murderous non-conference schedule this year. They limped through to a 10-6 record, having to go 17-1 in the MAAC and eventually win their conference tourney just to make the Big Dance. You don't see them in the Final Four, do you? In fact, they bowed out in the first round to a Robbie Hummell-less Purdue squad. As all coaches will say this time a year, a big factor in making the Final Four is the draw you receive and who you play to get there. Look at Michigan State, who didn't play a seed higher than 4-seed Maryland; how about Duke, whose biggest competition didn't come until the Elite Eight in 3-seed Baylor; what about West Virginia, who didn't play a single-digit seed until they knocked out 1-seed Kentucky in the Elite Eight; Butler had the toughest road of all, but they barrelled through with their masterful man-to-man defense and methodical half-court offense. So insteaed of saying "we need better scheduling," let's focus on the coaching itself, and that includes better defense, which is precisely what created this year's Final Four.

Some good articles for tonight's games:

No superstars, no problem, Dana O'Neil wirtes.

Hometown all in for Butler, writes Mark Schlabach



Scott Powers says that Scheyer's making memories.

Draymond Green's smarts smart off bench, writes Pat Forde.

Games are about to start, it's been a pleasure watching these teams, can't wait for some great games tonight!