NCAA Alumni Bracket Part II: The Second Half Of The Sweet 16

The second part of our alumni bracket takes a look at right side of this year's Sweet 16 bracket: Kansas, Michigan, Florida, Florida Gulf Coast, Indiana, Syracuse, Marquette and Miami. 

Each team is gathering their alumni to suit up one last time in an attempt to figure out which school has the greatest all-time team.

If you missed part one, you can catch up here.

Once again, I asked writers Alex, Kyle and Dakota to vote on which team they feel would win if they faced off.

Kansas:

Point Guard: Aaron Miles ‘01-’05

Shooting Guard: Kirk Hinrich ‘99-’03

Small Forward: Paul Pierce ‘95-’98

Power Forward: Danny Manning ‘84-’88

Center: Wilt Chamberlain ‘56-’58

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Michigan:

Point Guard: Jalen Rose ‘92-’94

Shooting Guard: Cazzie Russell ‘63-’66

Small Forward: Glen Rice ‘86-’89

Power Forward: Chris Webber ‘92-’93

Center: Juwan Howard ‘92-’95

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Kansas:3

Michigan: 0

Chamberlain (Via http://www.jakestakeonsports.com)

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Florida:

Point Guard: Andrew Moten ‘84-’87

Shooting Guard: Joe Hobbs ‘55-’58

Small Forward: Ronnie Williams ‘81-’84

Power Forward: Al Horford ‘05-’07

Center: Neal Walk ‘66-’69

_____________________________________________________________

Florida Gulf Coast:

Point Guard: Brett Comer ‘13

Shooting Guard: Bernard Johnson ‘13

Small Forward: Sherwood Brown ‘13

Power Forward: Chase Fieler ‘13

Center: Erik McKnight ‘13

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

Florida: 3

Florida Gulf Coast: 0

Neal Walk (via. gatorzone.com)

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________________________________________________________________

Indiana:

Point Guard: Isiah Thomas ‘80-81

Shooting Guard: Calbert Cheaney ‘90-’93

Small Forward: Scott May ‘74-’76

Power Forward: Alan Henderson ‘92-’95

Center: Don Schlundt ‘52-’55

_____________________________________________________________

Syracuse:

Point Guard: Sherman Douglas ‘86-’89

Shooting Guard: Gerry McNamara

Small Forward: Carmelo Anthony ‘02-’03

Power Forward: Derrick Coleman ‘85-90

Center: Rony Seikaly ‘84-’88

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_____________________________________________________________

Indiana:3

Syracuse: 0

 

Isiah Thomas (via spokeo.com)

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________________________________________________________________

Marquette

Point Guard: Doc Rivers ‘80-’83

Shooting Guard: Dwyane Wade ‘02-’03

Small Forward: Don Kojis ‘58-’61

Power Forward: Maurice Lucas ‘72-’74

Center: Walter Downing ‘85-’86

________________________________________________________________

Miami

Point Guard: Dick Hickox ‘59-’61

Shooting Guard: Don Curnutt ‘67-’70

Small Forward: Tim James ‘95-’99

Power Forward: Rick Barry ‘62-’65

Center: Tito Horford ‘87-’88

________________________________________________________________ 

________________________________________________________________

Marquette:3

Miami: 0

Dwyane Wade ( Via. http://www.dwyane-wade-flash.com)

The winners will be moving on as we continue our quest to crown the greatest alumni team. Keep checking back during the next few days for the next round.

Agree or disagree with our writers? Let us know in the comments below.

NCAA Title Game Sends College Basketball Out On High Note

Louisville won a national championship Monday night in a game college basketball needed to see. (washingtonpost.com)

All year the discussion has been the product of college basketball has been down. The game lacked a truly dominant team. Scoring had been down all season. Officiating has been as big of a topic as the actually play on the court.

The college basketball season ended last night with the national championship game between Louisville and Michigan and with all the negative talk around what's wrong with college basketball, this game took the season out on an extremely high note.

The season still lacked a 2012 Kentucky-like team and officiating, even in the title game, was questionable at best. Aside from that, the championship game had everything fans love about college basketball.

In a season where games have looked to be in slow motion and teams were happy to score 70 points a game, Monday's game was played at a fast-paced tempo with enough plays to pack a highlight reel and offenses that were not missing in action. Both teams shot at least 45 percent from the floor - Michigan actually had the better percentage at 52 percent - as Louisville held on to win 82-76.

While an underdog team was missing, two bench players, Spike Albrecht for Michigan and Luke Hancock for the Cardinals, took on that role and were the talk of the first half, scoring 17 and 16 points respectively. Neither player was highly recruited, and it is these stories of players getting their chance making the most of the big moment that draws fans to the college game. Then it was the stars' turn to shine at the end, as Peyton Siva and Trey Burke traded blows and crucial shots in a highly contested game that came down to the final minutes.

It wasn't error-free basketball, but it was competitive, intense and it was obvious from the stands or TVs at home these two teams were leaving all they had on the court in this final game. Louisville climbed back from an early double-digit deficit in the first half to trail by just one at halftime. The Cardinals and Wolverines exchanged leads throughout the first part of the second half before Louisville pulled away for good. Aggressive defense, high flying dunks and clutch 3-pointers will be remembered, not the sloppy play, horrible passes and bad offensive sets that we've seen before.

Plenty of ugly games have taken place throughout this basketball season, and the NCAA has plenty of changes to think about in the offseason for next year. That is still true. But Monday night's championship game showed how beautiful, entertaining and intense college basketball can be; a friendly reminder that the product so many love is not completely lost.


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Louisville vs. Michigan: No. 1 Offense, Defense Face Off In Title Game

Louisville's No. 1 defense will take on Michigan's No. 1 offense in the NCAA Championship game tonight. (washingtonpost.com)

It was close to happening in the BCS National Championship game and was the matchup everyone wanted to see; the No. 1 offense in Oregon against the No. 1 defense in Alabama. But Stanford ended those chances and instead the championship game was a bulldozing victory for Alabama over Notre Dame.

Stanford wasn't around to end this opportunity for college basketball as Monday Louisville, the No. 1 defensive team in the country according to Ken Pomeroy, faces Michigan, who Pomeroy has as the No. 1 offensive team.

Something will have to give when Michigan's athletic guards and rising freshman forward try to break Louisville's stingy pressure defense. John Beilein needs not to look any further than Louisville's game Saturday for examples of breaking the press. Wichita State and coach Greg Marshall handled the pressure beautifully for 35 minutes, and it nearly earned the Shockers a victory.

For Louisville, it's not just about stopping Trey Burke, even though he's the main target and National Player of the Year. Burke only had seven points on 1-for-8 shooting Saturday against Syracuse and the Wolverines still lead comfortably for most of the game. Michigan has so many offensive weapons that it will take a complete defensive performance from every Cardinal on the court to shut down the Wolverines' scoring.

Both coaches are known for preparation, so both teams should be ready when the ball is tipped.

For years people have said that defense wins championships. Monday night will be a great opportunity to test that theory.

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Friday Roundtable: Final Four Team Most Likely To Repeat Next Season

Can the Louisville Cardinals, or any of the other three Final Four teams, return next year? (yahoo.com)

BDD's Friday Roundtable is a weekly discussion among a group of our writers on a trending NBA or college basketball topic.

This week's question: Which Final Four team is most likely to return to the Final Four next season?

Kyle:

I actually would be surprised if any of the teams in this year's Final Four returned next year. Every team is losing key talent and the one-and-done rule evens out the playing field on a yearly basis (except for Kentucky this year, who needed a dreadful season by their standards to return some players to Lexington to mix with this insane recruiting class and be stacked). The fact that this is Louisville's second straight Final Four is impressive.

But I won't take the easy way out and say none.  The question was which is most likely, and while I would love to say Wichita State, because that would make a tremendous storyline, the team is Louisville. If this happens, Louisville would be the second team in quite a while (UCLA 2006-08) with three straight Final Four appearances. Peyton Siva will graduate and even if Russ Smith and Gorgui Dieng go pro, both are juniors, the Cardinals have Chane Behanan, Wayne Blackshear, and Luke Hancock most likely back. Couple this talent with the No. 8 recruiting class coming in, according to ESPN, and a Hall of Fame coach in Rick Pitino and Louisville should still find plenty of success in 2013-14.

Alex:
Michigan. Trey Burke is heading for the NBA, in all likelihood, but the Wolverines' run to the Final Four has showcased a rebuilt program ready to compete as a whole rather than as a vehicle for one star.

Replacing Burke is essential, but the other core players like Tim Hardaway, Jr. and Glenn Robinson III (presuming they don't declare for the NBA draft) and a supporting cast with Mitch McGary and Nick Stauskaus will make the transition easier. After McGary's freshman year, though, things are only going to get tougher for opposing teams, in tournaments and otherwise.

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A Woman in the NBA: Why Mark Cuban's Dallas Mavericks Would Draft Baylor Star Brittney Griner

What are the odds Brittney Griner stays in Texas with the Dallas Mavericks? (tvweek.com)

Brittney Griner has been an enigma in college basketball since her freshman year in 2009-10. She has a list of achievements to her name that most players — male or female, NCAA or NBA — will never fathom, let alone accrue. Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban knows this. That's why Cuban mentioned he may steer the team toward drafting the Baylor post player, if she is the best option on the board this summer. But not to be overlooked is the caveat that Cuban acknowledged: the financial coup of marketing the NBA's first female player.

See, Cuban is a businessman first and foremost. That is what allows him to be an NBA owner. The fact that he happens to be a good one is a direct reflection of his business acumen and intense interest in his investment. When he spoke about taking a flyer on Griner as a draft pick, Cuban did so knowing the Mavs will likely miss the playoffs after a predictably rocky season; that his team will soon be out of the headlines as its already aging star player comes off a campaign in which he missed nearly 30 games to injury; that even with possibility of a future with O.J. Mayo as a first scoring option and the fully realized potential of Jae Crowder, the Mavericks are not a particularly attractive franchise right now.

Enter the idea of drafting one of the most dominant players in NCAA women's basketball history. An all-conference and All-American selection several times over, a four-time Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year, and an Olympian before college graduation, Griner would seem to have the easiest transition to make for any woman hoping to play in the NBA to date.

Ann Meyers, a former UCLA guard, tried out for the Indiana Pacers in 1979, when the pro game was much different than it is in the league's current iteration. At 5'9", 134 pounds, Meyers would have been out-muscled and outmatched, a common argument against the idea of a woman playing any professional sport alongside men. However, that is not the exact case being leveraged against Griner. The Baylor star is 6'8", 208 pounds, according to last summer's Team USA roster.

A survey of every NBA player on an opening night roster in 2007-08 returned an average height of 6'6.98" and a mean weight of 221 pounds, putting Griner an inch above most Association players, albeit slightly leaner. There have been plenty of skinny NBA players — Tayshaun Prince and Kevin Durant, to be current; Reggie Miller, Manute Bol to drop names — that overcame their perceived disadvantage to make professional careers, be it with unorthodox or traditional, one-dimensional or well-rounded skill sets.

Griner's issue would not be a physical unpreparedness, but rather a need to change the fundamental basics of her game. She would have to learn to guard players on every inch of the court, not just the interior. Her scoring prowess has been predicated on muscling through defenses in the low post, being able to dunk over the usual women's NCAA ilk. Griner would not be able to do this against players like Tyson Chandler or Zach Randolph. With an improvement in lateral quickness, Griner could use her already solid footwork to score in the paint, but she could not feast there like she has while at Baylor. Even in the midst of the positional revolution, Griner would be more suited to play as a small forward than in the four or five spot in the NBA. Furthermore, she would need to greatly improve her ball-handling and extend the range of her jumper, moving outside of the 10-foot arc surrounding the basket. Griner has been reliable from 3-point range, shooting 40 percent from downtown through four years, but going two-of-five from long range through 148 games is not exactly a large sample size. If her jump shot is true, it is not unthinkable that Griner could become a spot-up option in the NBA, particularly as a complement to a slashing guard or on possessions against zone defenses.

First, though, Griner has to enter the NBA Draft and get selected. Cuban properly summed up her stock:

"Right now, I'd lean toward yes, just to see if she can do it. You never know unless you give somebody a chance, and it's not like the likelihood of any late-50s draft pick has a good chance of making it."

The hypothetical if of drafting Griner is compounded by where she would be picked. Draft picks, especially those in the first round, are more valuable than ever under the new CBA, but a "late-50s" pick relegates her to one of the last five spots, which rarely produce viable players from the droves of men's college players or the overseas stock. Fairly, if she was the best option available, this is where Griner would be chosen. It is where history would be made. She would proceed to go through the normal rigors of an NBA freshman, attending the NBA rookie symposium and possibly playing in the summer league. The latter is something Cuban is also aware of, saying "That'd sell out a few games."

He's right, of course. Assigning her to the Mavs' D-League affiliate would do the same for the Texas Legends, a team experienced in making splashy moves. Bringing her onto an NBA roster would do the same. To the general public, Griner would be a novelty until she proved she could compete and, based on Dallas' roster management in recent years, Griner could very well be an option for the Mavericks if she proved herself to Cuban.

On paper, Cuban can break down a defense. He knows what Griner would need to do to help the Mavericks win. Cuban can also break down an expense report and a budget, and he knew exactly what he was doing when he mentioned a chance of the Mavs drafting Griner. It created a buzz about a floundering franchise and executing such a plan would attract a previously unmined interest in attending games, whether they are in the Las Vegas summer league or on Dallas' home court.

Beyond the questions of "Could she compete with men?" and "Could she get drafted?" is another, less bandied but equally buzzworthy query: "Why would an NBA team draft Brittney Griner?" Cuban knows the answer to this question and he knows it is not all about which remaining player is best on draft night.

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VIDEO: Detroit's Doug Anderson Steals Show At Dunk Contest

Two days before the Final Four tips off, fans in Atlanta were treated to a show thanks to Detroit's Doug Anderson.

ESPN.com - YouTube

Anderson won the college slam dunk contest with an incredible display of athleticism and leaping ability. Make sure to watch every dunk, because the final one at the 53-second mark has to be a candidate for dunk of the year.

It is also similar to the dunk thrown down by No. 1 high school recruit Andrew Wiggins at the McDonalds All-American game earlier this week, which shows amazing athletic potential and has to make his college suitors even more excited about landing this kid.

Ballislife - YouTube

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Wichita State Is Better Than A Cinderella

Wichita State is in the Final Four as a No. 9 seed, but don't confuse them with a Cinderella. (usatoday.com)

The Wichita State Shockers are a No. 9 seed in the Final Four, but don't call them Cinderella. This is more a goal than a fairy tale for the Shockers.

Sure, not many were picking Wichita State to be in Atlanta, but this is not a team that came out of nowhere from a no-name conference to steal the spotlight and pull a few upsets.

The Missouri Valley Conference has a great track record of getting teams into and winning games in the NCAA Tournament. Wichita went overlooked in the regular season because the MVC also has a mid-major powerhouse and national player of the year candidate with Doug McDermott at Creighton. The Shockers also didn't play the toughest schedule, but did beat VCU on the road and Creighton when the Blue Jays were ranked No. 12.

Still, if this is the first you're hearing of them, you weren't paying close enough attention.

No, this isn't a Cinderella. This is a team built for success in March. 

This is a team that expects to win and will come out hitting teams in the mouth, which is evident in its strong, tough play. The physicality is most notable in the rebounding category, where the Shockers ranked No. 27 in the country this year with 38.4 per game, yet the two forwards logging the most minutes are only 6-foot-8. Carl Hall is the leading board grabber on the team, averaging 7.2 rpg, and Cleanthony Early is second with just over five, only accounting for about 31 percent of the team's average rebounds. Head coach Gregg Marshall has made rebounding a team effort and fundamental instilled in every player.

This is a team with senior leadership from Hall and Malcolm Armstead – who paid his own way to WSU by working at a car dealership – a junior in Cleanthony Early, who made the most of his junior college days getting better. Also logging key minutes are a pair of freshmen, Fred Van Vleet and Ron Baker, who have shown no fear of the big stage in the tournament. Armstead was the third-leading scorer on the team during the regular season, averaging 10.9 ppg, yet has been the leading scorer in three of the four NCAA Tournament games.

This is a team that has been efficient on offense, not shooting less than 35 percent from the field since the tourney began and not turning the ball over more than 15 times in a game. The Shockers will need that efficiency against Louisville, which will be by far the toughest defense the Shockers have faced this season.

This is a team that, like fellow Final Four contenders Louisville and Syracuse, had a three-game losing streak at some point in the regular season, yet regained momentum toward the end of the season and never lost faith. The schedule is long and the play of the first part of the season is almost irrelevant. What matters is now, and the Shockers are as good as anyone in the country.

This is not a team like many high seeds that find success; it's not an undersized, scrappy group that relies on making a ton of 3-pointers to stay in the game. Wichita State has strong players that will battle inside but can score in a variety of ways and can suffocate opponents on the defensive end.

The Shockers do have one quality in common with typical Cinderellas; they don't see themselves as underdogs. This team knows it can beat you and that kind of confidence can go a long way.

But no, this isn't Cinderella. This is a Wichita State team that has dominated its run to the Final Four by playing like the power teams.

This is a team built for success in March and has proven it.

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