21 Years Later, Coach K vs Pitino Again

Last night, Louisville and Duke both won their Midwest Region games. For the Cardinals, they outgunned an Oregon team who gave them problems on defense, but had no answer for Louisville's athleticism and spacing. The Blue Devils completely shutdown Michigan State's offense enroute to their win. The Spartans only hit one basket during for about 15 minutes in the second half, at which Duke turned a tied game into a comfortable 10-point win. This means that the only matchup of 1 and 2 in a region will be played in Indianapolis on Easter Sunday. This also means the Rick Pitino and Mike Krzyzewski will face in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since March 28th 1992, when the greatest college basketball game of all-time took place at The Spectrum.

Are we in store for more theatrics at Lucas Oil Stadium tomorrow? Unlike that fateful game in 1992, Pitino's team will be expected to win as Louisville has run roughshod over everyone they faced. Even Oregon, who found a way trail by only single digits late in the second half, never made it more interesting than that as the Cardinals found something to exploit. Duke will be in the underdog role by definition, though to refer to Duke as an "underdog" is an exercise in futility. It's like referring to the Yankees and Lakers that way. Wait, that's a bad example of late? Well, then it's like referring to Manchester United in that way. Plus, Duke beat Louisville this season back in November, though the Cardinals were missing Gorgui Dieng in that one and seem to be playing at their highest-level at this point.

In a couple of years, Duke-Louisville will be an ACC matchup and Coach K and Pitino will see more of each other. Games like this one tomorrow will be needed to be thought of as precious before they become thought of as commonplace, and when either coach leaves, a letdown.

In the meantime, Florida ended the run for Florida Gulf Coast last night by putting the brakes on their uptempo game. It was superbly coached by Billy Donovan after the Eagles were ahead 15-4 early. Now, the Gators have a date with Michigan in an Elite 8 matchup better suited for the Sugar Bowl than the NCAA Tournament. Then again, both teams basketball programs are better than their football programs anyway (yes, I know Florida could have been in the title game, but they aren't the best team in the SEC in football like they are in basketball). That should also be a tremendous matchup tomorrow.

Midwest Region Preview

Earlier we looked at the South region, now it's time for the other region that has all 16 teams set, the Midwest. One thing that I will say before we go in-depth; this is clearly the toughest region. Duke could have been a 1-seed, Michigan State might have been a 2 if they could have beaten Wisconsin and Saint Louis probably gets a higher seed if they aren't in the Atlantic 10. Here's the Midwest region:

THANKS FOR ATTENDING

North Carolina A&T (16) won last night against Liberty, getting their first NCAA Tourney win in the process. Their reward: the right to lose to Louisville by 35. Albany (15) is back in the tourney for the first time since 2007 when they gave a scare to UConn as a 16th seed. It's probably the one school in the tournament that I know the most alums. Too bad that Duke isn't going to allow another Lehigh to happen.

ONLY BECAUSE THEY ACTUALLY WON NCAA TOURNEY GAMES BEFORE

Valparaiso (14) and New Mexico State (13) have been to the Sweet Sixteen in the past. Bryce Drew is coaching Valpo and was there when they reached the Sweet 16 in 1998. It's too bad both teams go against Michigan State and Saint Louis. Different region might have led to an upset.

MIGHT AS WELL BE A GAME FROM THE NIT

Colorado State (8) vs. Missouri (9). I hate to shortchange Colorado State here, but after they beat Missouri, the matchup against Louisville is a killer for Colorado State since the Cardinals will speed it up. They will have to settle for beating up the Tigers down low, led by Colton Iverson.

BIG EAST LEFTOVERS

Cincinnati (10) will have their hands full with Doug McDermott and Creighton will speed up tempo to get the win. Memphis (6) has yet to win a game in the NCAA's under Josh Pastner and if you look at their schedule, 3 of their 4 losses came against tourney teams. They will be fun together in the Conference Formally Known As Big East.

FODDER FOR THE TOP SEEDS

St Mary's (11) won their First Four matchup last night and for the first two instances, this meant that one of those teams won the First Round game. They will against Memphis, but Matthew Dellavedova won't be enough to get past the size of Michigan State. Doug McDermott gets Creighton (7) past Cincinnati, but Duke will have multiple scorers who can do the job that Creighton can do. Oregon (12) was screwed with their seed and got stuck with a tough matchup against Oklahoma State (5). I think the Ducks win the rock fight between these teams who are great defensively. It won't really matter who wins since Saint Louis will be waiting.

REALLY WANTED TO PICK THEM FURTHER

Well, in the case of Duke (2), I'm not that upset that I'm picking them to be finished in the Sweet 16. Michigan State is too big for Duke and the Blue Devils get too dependent on the three-ball. Plus, Tom Izzo always extracts as much out of his team as possible once the tourney begins. Saint Louis (4) has the size to beat Louisville, but the Cards are better in the backcourt and uptempo doesn't work in the Billikens favor. Would be very interested to know if Rick Majerus would have been able to outwit Rick Pitino in this one.

ELITE EIGHT

Louisville (1) vs. Michigan State (3). Rematch from last year when the Spartans couldn't score much against the Cardinals. With Louisville more experienced and seemingly more explosive as the second half of the Big East title game showed. Louisville is looking to be the fourth straight Big East Champ to reach the Final Four and I (along with almost everyone it seems, something that makes me hesitant) believe this will happen.

Midwest Region: Louisville

Randomness While Making 40 Cents On The Dollar Trades

-In order to avoid trading Donovan McNabb to the Raiders, the Eagles panicked a traded him for two draft picks to the Redskins. Now Washington gets a properly motivated QB who allowed to play for a rival of the team he's only known. Sounds like Favre parallels to me. Also, wait five years Philly fans on how you feel about McNabb. Believe me, the Ewing/McNabb comparisons are true and you'll find out soon enough. At least when the Eagles trade their guy with one year left, they didn't ruin any chance at competing in free agency like the Knicks did.

-Baseball has started and I didn't give picks. Nothing in my eyes has changed in the past week, so my AL playoff teams are the Yanks, Red Sox, Tigers and Angels, with the Yanks winning the AL. The National League will have the Phillies, Braves, Cards and Giants in the playoffs with the Phillies winning again. This time, the Phils get revenge over the Yanks and win the World Series. As for awards, Miguel Cabrera and Albert Pujols win MVP's, Tim Lincecum and Felix Hernandez win the Cy Young, Bobby Cox and Jim Leyland win MOY and Jason Heyward and Austin Jackson will be your top rookies.

-Biggest game of the Rangers season is on Friday as they start a two game series with the Flyers at MSG. Honestly, I've wanted the Rangers to just lose out and improve draft position and add a cornerstone forward, like they have on the blueline with Marc Staal and Michael Del Zotto. Unfortunately, they decided to beat up the teams they should beat and now have a chance to get swept by the Caps make the playoffs. It wouldn't matter how they did because making the playoffs and charging Ranger fans for two or three playoff games is enough for Jim Dolan. He remains the only good reason for me to stay with DirecTV, though FIOS is something I might end up getting.

-My Tiger Woods boycott ended with the first round of the Masters, since he was playing golf instead of this over apologizing in this ridiculous scandal that gets too much attention than it should. Of course the latest story was the creepy commercial of Tiger's father voicing over a long take of Tiger staring into the camera. Do yourselves a favor, search through YouTube for all the parodies. This one's my favorite.

-I'm sure it's been said, but if Gordon Hayward makes the halfcourt three to win the National Title for Butler over Duke, it's the greatest shot in the history of basketball. I guess we have to settle for the greatest screen in basketball history that Matt Howard laid on Kyle Singler. Anything to avoid talking about Duke's victory.

-I don't know if league saying they screwed up calls are a good thing or a bad thing. If you haven't watched it, Kevin Durant was clearly fouled at the end of a 140-139 loss to the Jazz, marring the end of a brilliant duel between he and Deron Williams. If the NBA actually punishes the officials who they admitted missed the call, then it's a good thing they told us. If not, then you can take your apologizes and stuff them in a sack. I rather my intelligence insulted by denial, not allowance.

-I agree with Joe West, these Yanks/Sox games are way too long. However, if he can criticize the players like that with no kind of reprimand, then don't reprimand or fine managers and players who criticize umpires. What's fair is fair.

-Finally, on a night where Steven Stamkos scored his 48th and Sidney Crosby scored his 49th goal, the highlight of the night is Mike Smith challenging Chris Neil after Neil slew footed him in the 2nd period of Sens/Lightning. Anytime you see a goalie start fighting or showing anger, it's something that must be shared.