In addition to writing about politics and current events up at Outside the Beltway, I am now “on staff” at the Cigar Review site CigarJack.net. You can read my first review of the La Gloria Cubana Wavell here.
I know what you’re thinking, though–what about this site?
Well, I have plans. Big plans. There probably won’t be much posting here for the next month or so, but I’d urge you to come back on June 1. It’s going to be a whole new thing…
Do you hear that strange, horn like sound in the distance? That’s the First Trump, marking the beginning of the Apocalypse. In other words, Guns N Roses is actually going to release Chinese Democracy.
Guns N’ Roses stated on its website that the band is ”in negotiations for the release of Chinese Democracy and things are going well.” The statement about the ridiculously long-awaited album was included as part of a post about the band’s new management. No other information was included about the record, which was most recently scheduled for release in March 2007.
Time to get Born Again now, kids. Rapture can’t be that far off.
“I mean, who could possibly think that any sort of tyranny could fall upon a country like this one? Obviously, that is a ridiculous proposition. If we were falling under the yoke of tyranny, there would be warning signs. The state would be building torture chambers, dragging people away without trial, and instituting massive programs of indiscriminate surveillance of citizens. There would be wars of aggression, built upon lies for the purpose of lashing out at the world and seizing territory. Until such things happen, what do we have to fear?”
– Thoreau
Okay, I’ll be the first to admit that my bracket was terrible–I had Texas beating Memphis to advance to the Final Four, which just goes to show what I know. But I’m going to throw myself on the mercy of the court because I simply didn’t have much time to follow basketball this year, so my pro-KU, pro-Big 12 prejudices dominated my thinking about the brackets.
I’ve gotten caught up in a hurry so that I can fully savor tonight’s game.
On Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, all I heard about in the media was about how there was simply no way that Kansas could beat UNC. After all, they had a high speed offense led by Tyler Hansbrough that had been shutting down defenses all year.
Well, after reading that I did some stats looking, and determined that while it was true that UNC had a high powered offense, it’s also true that KU does too–only one that’s more balanced and doesn’t depend on a single player for execution. So that real battle, I decided was going to be on the defensive end. It didn’t take long to conclude that here KU had a monster advantage–UNC’s defense was, at the time, ranked only 17th in the nation, and its performance tended to be worse against top-25 teams. So I went around obnoxiously telling everyone I talked to the game about on Friday and Saturday (before the game) that KU’s defense was going to be the reason why KU wins the game.
And, as it turns out, I was right.
Defense, however, is not Memphis’s weak point. They’ve got some great action and good shot blockers, and have been consistently performing well all year. Indeed, as every sports columnist in the country has noted–KU and Memphis boast similar offensive strategies. I agree–we should be looking at a fast-paced, high scoring game. In all probability. And in a fast-paced, high scoring game, I have to give a slight edge to the Jayhawks. The simple reason?
Depth. KU is balanced enough down the bench that will simply have the ability to out-rotate players over Memphis. In a fast paced game, that can make all the difference. It certainly made a big difference against UNC, who staged a pretty scary comeback but couldn’t make it stick because their players just. got. tired.
There is also, I admit, something nagging me in the back of my mind. As noted above, I do agree with sports pundrity that we’re likely to see a fast-paced, high scoring game–lots of intensity and crowd pleasing steals and alley oops.
But here’s thing…
Bill Self likes to mix it up. He likes to focus on other team’s weaknesses and stab at them, like he did with weak side defense against UNC. KU and Memphis typically play with similar styles–fast pace, etc. But where KU almost stumbled in the tournament was against Davidson–who managed to slow down the tempo of the game and make it a grinding defensive and outside shooting battle.
Here’s the thing–when it comes to the frontcourt and post, KU has an edge over Memphis. I can’t help but wonder if it might not be a bad strategy for KU to simply slow the game down by playing a zone and keeping Memphis to the perimeter, creating a lower-scoring, outside shooting battle. That’s the kind of game Self liked to coach for Illinois. I don’t expect to see that, but I might not be too suprised if it happens.
In either case, I do think that if KU can keep their mistakes to a minimum, they have an edge over Memphis and will take the national title for the first time in 20 years. We’ll know for sure tonight.
“What Roy Williams needed was a comeback for the ages. What he got was a disappointing dose of payback - a chance to see what it feels like when Kansas breaks his heart.”
– whoever wrote the AP wire story on KU’s absolute THUMPING of North Carolina
