Post by JSS on Mar 19, 2009 8:11:10 GMT -5
North Carolina (1)
Best Case: Ty Lawson's troublesome toe stops throbbing. Opponents start sobbing. Tar Heels bend their knees and play defense for 40 minutes. Then they do it again. And again. And again. That's four times against a weak region, resulting in a Final Four berth. Then they do it again. And again. That's six times, and that equals a national championship. Tyler Hansbrough ties title game against Memphis by scoring while being knocked down an NCAA-record 2,360th time, then wins it on a free throw with no time left. Ol' Roy is classy in victory again, chasing down John Calipari to console him as he did Bruce Weber in 2005. Duke loses to Texas.
Worst Case: Lawson's troublesome toe never fully recovers, and neither do the Heels. They're beaten in the Sweet 16 by Gonzaga, the only team in the region with the talent to trade open shots with Carolina and win. Hansbrough gets no calls after jumping into Gonzaga players an NCAA-record 26 times in a single game. Ol' Roy overuses his bench, gets uptight, loses and gets misty-eyed postgame. Says he's gonna frickin' miss these guys, but does not ramble incoherently the way he did after Kansas loss last year. Because he really won't miss their frickin' lax defense. Duke wins it all.
Radford (16)
Best Case: Armed with a game plan from little brother Seth at Virginia Tech, Highlanders coach Brad Greenberg keeps North Carolina nervous well into the second half before submitting in the closest of the four 1-16 games. Fans can at least drive to Greensboro for the game. Center Art Parakhouski, a 6-foot-11 tower of Belarusian power, hangs with Carolina's big men and impresses NBA scouts -- but decides to return for his senior season. Radford becomes new Big South power, filling vacuum left by the demise of Winthrop.
Worst Case: Fans wish they hadn't driven to Greensboro for the game. Team that gave up 80 or more points 12 times barely gets in the way of the Carolina fast break, surrendering 62 points in the first half and 114 for the game. Parakhouski is run off his feet chasing the Carolina big men down the floor. Greenberg gets another job. Someone else fills the Winthrop vacuum.
LSU (8)
Best Case: Team that blitzed to the SEC regular-season title shows up in Greensboro, flush with poise and experience. Marcus Thornton hits shots, Tasmin Mitchell is a matchup problem and Collis Temple III plays junkyard-dog defense as the Tigers wallop Butler and lose a close one to North Carolina. LSU brass congratulates itself on hiring Trent Johnson away from Stanford, signs him to extension. Mitchell comes back for senior year. Other two SEC schools both win first-round games as well, staving off spring football talk another day.
Worst Case: Famously angry Johnson reprises his NCAA meltdown of last year and gets tossed from close game against Butler. Bulldogs respond by making technical free throws and win at the end. LSU completes late-season tailspin, losing for the third time in its last five games. Mitchell goes pro, and the SEC goes 0-3 in first-round games. Johnson reconsiders career move after seeing NCAA results dwarfed by LSU baseball and spring football.
Butler (9)
Best Case: Preposterously young Bulldogs (three freshmen in the starting lineup) play beyond their years, slow down LSU and win a tight tussle, 61-59. Freshman Gordon Hayward makes game-winning 3 at the buzzer. Comically young-looking coach Brad Stevens wows announcing crew by spending most of witheringly tense game with arms folded, face blank. Butler nearly pulls off double against North Carolina in the second round but loses late. Bulldogs positioned for top-10 season next year and possible Final Four run in 2011.
Worst Case: Preposterously young Bulldogs wet the bed against experienced LSU, finding themselves at a quickness deficit and being beaten on the glass. With a 12:20 ET tip-off Thursday, Butler is the first team eliminated from the Dance. Sometime thereafter, Stevens follows predecessors Barry Collier, Thad Matta and Todd Lickliter out the door to a bigger job. Potential '11 Final Four team splinters.
Illinois (5)
Best Case: Refusing to be kept out of his final NCAA tournament, guard Chester Frazier ignores his broken right hand and plays anyway, teaching himself to shoot left-handed. Frazier declares Chuck Norris a wuss, then leads the Illini past Western Kentucky and Gonzaga into the 16. Bruce Weber is once again hailed as a great coach instead of the lunkhead who whiffed on Eric Gordon and Derrick Rose. Meanwhile, Bruce Pearl and Tennessee lose by 36 to Oklahoma State.
Worst Case: In a stunning development that Illinois just might have known all along, Frazier's season is done. He cannot play against Western Kentucky, which takes advantage of the defensive stopper's absence to shoot the Illini out of the tournament. Weber is hammered anew for not bringing in enough good players.
Western Kentucky (12)
Best Case: Ty Rogers isn't walking through that door, but Orlando Mendez-Valdez is. The senior and Sun Belt POY knocks down the winning 3 to beat Illinois in Portland. That sets up a Western-Gonzaga second-round game, which the Hilltoppers also win in an upset. WKU gets to a third Sweet 16 under a third different coach in the past 16 years. First-year boss Ken McDonald, who isn't big on suit coats, wears impeccably pressed white shirts.
Worst Case: Even without the injured Frazier, Illinois illustrates to Western what big-time defense is truly like. Hilltoppers fail to get decent 3-point shots and fall behind 36-20 at halftime. There is no rally. McDonald sweats through pressed white shirt, panicking in first NCAA tournament game as a head coach. Big Red, the ambiguous/amorphous/androgynous blob mascot, gets run over on the sideline.
Gonzaga (4)
Best Case: Mark Few's lavish assemblage of talent continues to play like the team that has gone 18-1 in 2009, blitzing Akron and Illinois behind newly urgent Micah Downs. In the Sweet 16, the Zags put it all together offensively and get just enough stops and rebounds to stun North Carolina. From there they beat Syracuse in the regional final and advance to the first Final Four in school history, where even a loss to Pittsburgh cannot lessen the euphoria. Few turns down Arizona, and underclassmen Austin Daye, Matt Bouldin and Steven Gray all stick around.
Worst Case: Talent continues to not quite equal the sum of its parts, as a group that lost five of its last six against NCAA tournament teams backs down in the face of a second-round challenge from Illinois. Fast December start is never rediscovered. Zags face backlash after steadily transforming over the past decade from gritty overachiever darling to annual NCAA sucker pick. Few bolts for Arizona. At least one player turns pro early.
Akron (13)
Best Case: Program making its first NCAA appearance since Bob Huggins was the coach in the mid-80s rises to the occasion, frustrating Gonzaga with solid defense that slows down the Zags. Akron team that showed its toughness by winning four games in four days in the MAC tournament turns back every Gonzaga challenge and scores one of the biggest upsets of the first round. Local product of some renown, LeBron James, texts congratulations to the Zips.
Worst Case: MAC weakness is evident when the Zips are zapped by the Zags from the opening tip. Unable to compete with Gonzaga's firepower, Akron struggles to score and is down 15 at halftime and 20 at the first media timeout of the second half. LeBron forgets to tune in. Then it's a long trip back home from Portland.
Arizona State (6)
Best Case: Sun Devils team whose past six victories all are over NCAA tournament teams shows up on the other side of the country focused for its first NCAA tournament appearance since 2003, and just its fourth since 1981. James Harden puts on a multifaceted pro audition. Jeff Pendergraph scores inside and out. Herb Sendek shows North Carolina State fans one more time what they're missing as ASU crashes the Elite Eight before losing to North Carolina. Arizona, also in Miami, loses its first game.
Worst Case: Eleven fans travel from Tempe to Miami to support the Sun Devils, who continue the late struggles that led to a 3-4 record over their last seven games. Harden misses shots in volume and nobody else steps up, as ASU is bum-rushed by 11th-seeded Temple in the first round. Arizona wins two in Miami and becomes the darling of the tournament.
Temple (11)
Best Case: Owls continue the roll that won the Atlantic 10 tournament championship by upsetting struggling Arizona State in the first round and heavy-legged Syracuse in the second. Dionte Christmas becomes the talk of the first weekend, stroking 3s and getting to the foul line. Coach Fran Dunphy's push-broom mustache inexplicably becomes trendy. Villanova is ousted early.
Worst Case: Dunphy drops to 1-11 in NCAA tournament play in a blowout loss to Arizona State -- part of a three-team Atlantic 10 implosion. Mustache approval rating dips to new low. Christmas is canceled by Sun Devils defense, as he shoots 4-for-17 from the field. Meanwhile, Big Five rival Villanova embarks upon Final Four run.
Syracuse (3)
Best Case: Given six days and a trip to Miami to recuperate from the absurdity of the Big East tournament, the Orange sustain the mojo without the fatigue. Jonny Flynn resumes slicing defenses. Eric Devendorf and Andy Rautins resume cashing 3s -- and, in Devendorf's case, the occasional 60-footer. Paul Harris looks like Tarzan and actually plays like Tarzan for longer than one game at a time. Cuse slips into the Final Four. Jim Boeheim smiles. It stops snowing back home.
Worst Case: Spring blizzard hits, Boeheim frowns, mentally fried Syracuse is beaten in the first round by underappreciated Stephen F. Austin. Orange players are left trying to explain how you beat UConn and West Virginia in seven overtimes over the course of two days, but cannot beat the Lumberjacks of the Southland Conference. Flynn and Devendorf turn pro. Harris gives up basketball to become a strong safety.
Stephen F. Austin (14)
Best Case: The "F." stands for Fruition. After 50 victories over the past two seasons, the Lumberjacks validate their first-ever NCAA tournament appearance by stunning a sleepwalking Syracuse. They control tempo, deter Flynn's forays into the lane, get a hand up on the Orange's shooters and ride senior center Matt Kingsley into the second round. SFA is SOL there against Arizona State, but who really cares?
Worst Case: The "F." stands for Flop. Lumberjacks arrive in Miami and see things you don't find every day in Nacogdoches, Texas. Suitably unfocused, SFA doesn't react well to the 12:15 ET Friday afternoon tip-off and is run out of South Florida. By nightfall, the "F." stands for Forgotten. Nobody even remembers the Lumberjacks were in the tournament.
Clemson (7)
Best Case: Inscrutable Tigers finally level out and play with some late-season consistency -- pressuring Michigan into defeat, swarming Blake Griffin in an upset of Oklahoma and taking care of Syracuse to reach the regional final before losing to nemesis North Carolina. Trevor Booker inside and the combo of K.C Rivers and Terrence Oglesby outside give Oliver Purnell the offensive balance needed to make one of the best runs in school history.
Worst Case: Team that lost six of its last 10 -- three of them to teams not in the NCAA field -- continues that Clemson trademark: the weak finish. Tigers are frustrated by Michigan's unorthodox style and lose handily, returning conversation to Dabo Swinney and overhyping the football team once again.
Michigan (10)
Best Case: John Beilein rolls up his sleeves one more time and takes the Wolverines to the regional final, well ahead of schedule and expectation. With Manny Harris outside and DeShawn Sims inside, Michigan has enough balance to defeat Clemson, surprise Oklahoma and defeat Syracuse. The Wolverines max out in the Elite Eight by losing to North Carolina -- this time not on a called timeout they didn't have. Meanwhile, Ohio State and Michigan State both lose early.
Worst Case: Harris and Sims are talented but easily frustrated. Combine that with a lack of supporting talent, and Michigan is in for a long game against Clemson's chaos-inducing defense. Wolverines are dismissed in the first round, and their first NCAA victory since 1998 is delayed another year. Meanwhile, Ohio State upsets Louisville and Michigan State makes it to Detroit, forcing the Wolverines to avoid the big city during Final Four week.
Oklahoma (2)
Best Case: Blake Griffin becomes the larger and more muscled version of Stephen Curry, throwing the Sooners on his sculpted back and carrying them to the Final Four. He averages 25 points and 15 rebounds, and with Willie Warren back to taking good shots and Austin Johnson back to creating with his passing, Oklahoma gets its groove back. Despite losing to Pittsburgh in the national semifinals, it's one of the best seasons in school history. After it's over, AD Joe Castiglione convinces Jeff Capel to stay. (Convincing Griffin to stay is another matter.)
Worst Case: Last-season slide that resulted in losing four of their last six continues for the Sooners. They're stunned in the first round by Morgan State, which frustrates Griffin with double-teams the way Missouri did earlier this month and Louisville did last year. Not only does Griffin go pro, but Warren unwisely follows. Capel has his choice of other jobs and takes one of them. Meanwhile, Oklahoma State and Texas both go further than the Sooners.
Morgan State (15)
Best Case: Bears' first-ever NCAA tournament appearance does not leave them starry-eyed. Instead, the team that beat Maryland and won 13 of its last 14 somehow finds a way to keep Griffin from going Wilt Chamberlain. Guard Reggie Holmes hits the game winner, and Morgan State is the biggest story out of the MEAC since former Hampton coach Steve Merfeld was being carried around with his legs kicking like an upside-down beetle. Coach Todd Bozeman handles his return from violation-induced exile with equanimity as opposed to bitterness.
Worst Case: Griffin dunks an alley-oop on Oklahoma's first possession and goes on to score 38 points on the overmatched Bears, who are beaten by halftime. It was fun while it lasted, but it didn't last very long. Fans in Kansas City who remember the California scandal haze Bozeman, but he gets another job and jilts the school that gave him his second chance.
Best Case: Ty Lawson's troublesome toe stops throbbing. Opponents start sobbing. Tar Heels bend their knees and play defense for 40 minutes. Then they do it again. And again. And again. That's four times against a weak region, resulting in a Final Four berth. Then they do it again. And again. That's six times, and that equals a national championship. Tyler Hansbrough ties title game against Memphis by scoring while being knocked down an NCAA-record 2,360th time, then wins it on a free throw with no time left. Ol' Roy is classy in victory again, chasing down John Calipari to console him as he did Bruce Weber in 2005. Duke loses to Texas.
Worst Case: Lawson's troublesome toe never fully recovers, and neither do the Heels. They're beaten in the Sweet 16 by Gonzaga, the only team in the region with the talent to trade open shots with Carolina and win. Hansbrough gets no calls after jumping into Gonzaga players an NCAA-record 26 times in a single game. Ol' Roy overuses his bench, gets uptight, loses and gets misty-eyed postgame. Says he's gonna frickin' miss these guys, but does not ramble incoherently the way he did after Kansas loss last year. Because he really won't miss their frickin' lax defense. Duke wins it all.
Radford (16)
Best Case: Armed with a game plan from little brother Seth at Virginia Tech, Highlanders coach Brad Greenberg keeps North Carolina nervous well into the second half before submitting in the closest of the four 1-16 games. Fans can at least drive to Greensboro for the game. Center Art Parakhouski, a 6-foot-11 tower of Belarusian power, hangs with Carolina's big men and impresses NBA scouts -- but decides to return for his senior season. Radford becomes new Big South power, filling vacuum left by the demise of Winthrop.
Worst Case: Fans wish they hadn't driven to Greensboro for the game. Team that gave up 80 or more points 12 times barely gets in the way of the Carolina fast break, surrendering 62 points in the first half and 114 for the game. Parakhouski is run off his feet chasing the Carolina big men down the floor. Greenberg gets another job. Someone else fills the Winthrop vacuum.
LSU (8)
Best Case: Team that blitzed to the SEC regular-season title shows up in Greensboro, flush with poise and experience. Marcus Thornton hits shots, Tasmin Mitchell is a matchup problem and Collis Temple III plays junkyard-dog defense as the Tigers wallop Butler and lose a close one to North Carolina. LSU brass congratulates itself on hiring Trent Johnson away from Stanford, signs him to extension. Mitchell comes back for senior year. Other two SEC schools both win first-round games as well, staving off spring football talk another day.
Worst Case: Famously angry Johnson reprises his NCAA meltdown of last year and gets tossed from close game against Butler. Bulldogs respond by making technical free throws and win at the end. LSU completes late-season tailspin, losing for the third time in its last five games. Mitchell goes pro, and the SEC goes 0-3 in first-round games. Johnson reconsiders career move after seeing NCAA results dwarfed by LSU baseball and spring football.
Butler (9)
Best Case: Preposterously young Bulldogs (three freshmen in the starting lineup) play beyond their years, slow down LSU and win a tight tussle, 61-59. Freshman Gordon Hayward makes game-winning 3 at the buzzer. Comically young-looking coach Brad Stevens wows announcing crew by spending most of witheringly tense game with arms folded, face blank. Butler nearly pulls off double against North Carolina in the second round but loses late. Bulldogs positioned for top-10 season next year and possible Final Four run in 2011.
Worst Case: Preposterously young Bulldogs wet the bed against experienced LSU, finding themselves at a quickness deficit and being beaten on the glass. With a 12:20 ET tip-off Thursday, Butler is the first team eliminated from the Dance. Sometime thereafter, Stevens follows predecessors Barry Collier, Thad Matta and Todd Lickliter out the door to a bigger job. Potential '11 Final Four team splinters.
Illinois (5)
Best Case: Refusing to be kept out of his final NCAA tournament, guard Chester Frazier ignores his broken right hand and plays anyway, teaching himself to shoot left-handed. Frazier declares Chuck Norris a wuss, then leads the Illini past Western Kentucky and Gonzaga into the 16. Bruce Weber is once again hailed as a great coach instead of the lunkhead who whiffed on Eric Gordon and Derrick Rose. Meanwhile, Bruce Pearl and Tennessee lose by 36 to Oklahoma State.
Worst Case: In a stunning development that Illinois just might have known all along, Frazier's season is done. He cannot play against Western Kentucky, which takes advantage of the defensive stopper's absence to shoot the Illini out of the tournament. Weber is hammered anew for not bringing in enough good players.
Western Kentucky (12)
Best Case: Ty Rogers isn't walking through that door, but Orlando Mendez-Valdez is. The senior and Sun Belt POY knocks down the winning 3 to beat Illinois in Portland. That sets up a Western-Gonzaga second-round game, which the Hilltoppers also win in an upset. WKU gets to a third Sweet 16 under a third different coach in the past 16 years. First-year boss Ken McDonald, who isn't big on suit coats, wears impeccably pressed white shirts.
Worst Case: Even without the injured Frazier, Illinois illustrates to Western what big-time defense is truly like. Hilltoppers fail to get decent 3-point shots and fall behind 36-20 at halftime. There is no rally. McDonald sweats through pressed white shirt, panicking in first NCAA tournament game as a head coach. Big Red, the ambiguous/amorphous/androgynous blob mascot, gets run over on the sideline.
Gonzaga (4)
Best Case: Mark Few's lavish assemblage of talent continues to play like the team that has gone 18-1 in 2009, blitzing Akron and Illinois behind newly urgent Micah Downs. In the Sweet 16, the Zags put it all together offensively and get just enough stops and rebounds to stun North Carolina. From there they beat Syracuse in the regional final and advance to the first Final Four in school history, where even a loss to Pittsburgh cannot lessen the euphoria. Few turns down Arizona, and underclassmen Austin Daye, Matt Bouldin and Steven Gray all stick around.
Worst Case: Talent continues to not quite equal the sum of its parts, as a group that lost five of its last six against NCAA tournament teams backs down in the face of a second-round challenge from Illinois. Fast December start is never rediscovered. Zags face backlash after steadily transforming over the past decade from gritty overachiever darling to annual NCAA sucker pick. Few bolts for Arizona. At least one player turns pro early.
Akron (13)
Best Case: Program making its first NCAA appearance since Bob Huggins was the coach in the mid-80s rises to the occasion, frustrating Gonzaga with solid defense that slows down the Zags. Akron team that showed its toughness by winning four games in four days in the MAC tournament turns back every Gonzaga challenge and scores one of the biggest upsets of the first round. Local product of some renown, LeBron James, texts congratulations to the Zips.
Worst Case: MAC weakness is evident when the Zips are zapped by the Zags from the opening tip. Unable to compete with Gonzaga's firepower, Akron struggles to score and is down 15 at halftime and 20 at the first media timeout of the second half. LeBron forgets to tune in. Then it's a long trip back home from Portland.
Arizona State (6)
Best Case: Sun Devils team whose past six victories all are over NCAA tournament teams shows up on the other side of the country focused for its first NCAA tournament appearance since 2003, and just its fourth since 1981. James Harden puts on a multifaceted pro audition. Jeff Pendergraph scores inside and out. Herb Sendek shows North Carolina State fans one more time what they're missing as ASU crashes the Elite Eight before losing to North Carolina. Arizona, also in Miami, loses its first game.
Worst Case: Eleven fans travel from Tempe to Miami to support the Sun Devils, who continue the late struggles that led to a 3-4 record over their last seven games. Harden misses shots in volume and nobody else steps up, as ASU is bum-rushed by 11th-seeded Temple in the first round. Arizona wins two in Miami and becomes the darling of the tournament.
Temple (11)
Best Case: Owls continue the roll that won the Atlantic 10 tournament championship by upsetting struggling Arizona State in the first round and heavy-legged Syracuse in the second. Dionte Christmas becomes the talk of the first weekend, stroking 3s and getting to the foul line. Coach Fran Dunphy's push-broom mustache inexplicably becomes trendy. Villanova is ousted early.
Worst Case: Dunphy drops to 1-11 in NCAA tournament play in a blowout loss to Arizona State -- part of a three-team Atlantic 10 implosion. Mustache approval rating dips to new low. Christmas is canceled by Sun Devils defense, as he shoots 4-for-17 from the field. Meanwhile, Big Five rival Villanova embarks upon Final Four run.
Syracuse (3)
Best Case: Given six days and a trip to Miami to recuperate from the absurdity of the Big East tournament, the Orange sustain the mojo without the fatigue. Jonny Flynn resumes slicing defenses. Eric Devendorf and Andy Rautins resume cashing 3s -- and, in Devendorf's case, the occasional 60-footer. Paul Harris looks like Tarzan and actually plays like Tarzan for longer than one game at a time. Cuse slips into the Final Four. Jim Boeheim smiles. It stops snowing back home.
Worst Case: Spring blizzard hits, Boeheim frowns, mentally fried Syracuse is beaten in the first round by underappreciated Stephen F. Austin. Orange players are left trying to explain how you beat UConn and West Virginia in seven overtimes over the course of two days, but cannot beat the Lumberjacks of the Southland Conference. Flynn and Devendorf turn pro. Harris gives up basketball to become a strong safety.
Stephen F. Austin (14)
Best Case: The "F." stands for Fruition. After 50 victories over the past two seasons, the Lumberjacks validate their first-ever NCAA tournament appearance by stunning a sleepwalking Syracuse. They control tempo, deter Flynn's forays into the lane, get a hand up on the Orange's shooters and ride senior center Matt Kingsley into the second round. SFA is SOL there against Arizona State, but who really cares?
Worst Case: The "F." stands for Flop. Lumberjacks arrive in Miami and see things you don't find every day in Nacogdoches, Texas. Suitably unfocused, SFA doesn't react well to the 12:15 ET Friday afternoon tip-off and is run out of South Florida. By nightfall, the "F." stands for Forgotten. Nobody even remembers the Lumberjacks were in the tournament.
Clemson (7)
Best Case: Inscrutable Tigers finally level out and play with some late-season consistency -- pressuring Michigan into defeat, swarming Blake Griffin in an upset of Oklahoma and taking care of Syracuse to reach the regional final before losing to nemesis North Carolina. Trevor Booker inside and the combo of K.C Rivers and Terrence Oglesby outside give Oliver Purnell the offensive balance needed to make one of the best runs in school history.
Worst Case: Team that lost six of its last 10 -- three of them to teams not in the NCAA field -- continues that Clemson trademark: the weak finish. Tigers are frustrated by Michigan's unorthodox style and lose handily, returning conversation to Dabo Swinney and overhyping the football team once again.
Michigan (10)
Best Case: John Beilein rolls up his sleeves one more time and takes the Wolverines to the regional final, well ahead of schedule and expectation. With Manny Harris outside and DeShawn Sims inside, Michigan has enough balance to defeat Clemson, surprise Oklahoma and defeat Syracuse. The Wolverines max out in the Elite Eight by losing to North Carolina -- this time not on a called timeout they didn't have. Meanwhile, Ohio State and Michigan State both lose early.
Worst Case: Harris and Sims are talented but easily frustrated. Combine that with a lack of supporting talent, and Michigan is in for a long game against Clemson's chaos-inducing defense. Wolverines are dismissed in the first round, and their first NCAA victory since 1998 is delayed another year. Meanwhile, Ohio State upsets Louisville and Michigan State makes it to Detroit, forcing the Wolverines to avoid the big city during Final Four week.
Oklahoma (2)
Best Case: Blake Griffin becomes the larger and more muscled version of Stephen Curry, throwing the Sooners on his sculpted back and carrying them to the Final Four. He averages 25 points and 15 rebounds, and with Willie Warren back to taking good shots and Austin Johnson back to creating with his passing, Oklahoma gets its groove back. Despite losing to Pittsburgh in the national semifinals, it's one of the best seasons in school history. After it's over, AD Joe Castiglione convinces Jeff Capel to stay. (Convincing Griffin to stay is another matter.)
Worst Case: Last-season slide that resulted in losing four of their last six continues for the Sooners. They're stunned in the first round by Morgan State, which frustrates Griffin with double-teams the way Missouri did earlier this month and Louisville did last year. Not only does Griffin go pro, but Warren unwisely follows. Capel has his choice of other jobs and takes one of them. Meanwhile, Oklahoma State and Texas both go further than the Sooners.
Morgan State (15)
Best Case: Bears' first-ever NCAA tournament appearance does not leave them starry-eyed. Instead, the team that beat Maryland and won 13 of its last 14 somehow finds a way to keep Griffin from going Wilt Chamberlain. Guard Reggie Holmes hits the game winner, and Morgan State is the biggest story out of the MEAC since former Hampton coach Steve Merfeld was being carried around with his legs kicking like an upside-down beetle. Coach Todd Bozeman handles his return from violation-induced exile with equanimity as opposed to bitterness.
Worst Case: Griffin dunks an alley-oop on Oklahoma's first possession and goes on to score 38 points on the overmatched Bears, who are beaten by halftime. It was fun while it lasted, but it didn't last very long. Fans in Kansas City who remember the California scandal haze Bozeman, but he gets another job and jilts the school that gave him his second chance.