UNC, 2009 National Champions!
Tuesday, April 7th, 2009
Tyler Hansbrough got the hero’s sendoff he wanted.
After becoming the only team outside the Big East to earn one of four no.1 seeds for the tournament, after limping towards the 2009 NCAA Final Four with a hurting point guard and after simply dominating the tournament hosts, the North Carolina Tar Heels are the 2009 NCAA college basketball champions.
How about that huh? In Tyler Hansbrough’s senior year, the North Carolina Tar Heels became the 2009 national champions, sending off the face of their franchise like a hero.
Of course, Tyler Hansbrough could not be denied. And with the help of Wayne Ellington and Ty Lawson, who was playing hurt, the Tar Heels simply destroyed Michigan State, 89-72, in a blowout win that was already over as early as the first half.
‘’I felt like it was fitting for us to do what this group just accomplished,’’ UNC coach Roy Williams said.
Hansbrough, playing his last game with the Tar Heels, scored 18 points. Wayne Ellington had 19 while Ty Lawson managed to score a game-high 21 points despite playing hurt.
But the story here is Tyler Hansbrough, a guy who came back for his senior year in North Carolina for one thing, win the championship. Of course, he didn’t want their embarrassing loss to Kansas last year in the Final Four to be the last game he would be remembered for.
‘’Sounds like I made a pretty good decision,’’ Tyler Hansbrough said, referring to him returning for his senior year. ‘’Nothing beats this feeling right here.’’
For the Michigan State Spartans, I guess playing for …
The 2009 NCAA Final Four is ON
Friday, April 3rd, 2009
The final four teams in college basketball will collide this weekend.
The cliché ‘’time flies when you’re having fun’’ is an old and dusty one, but it really holds true when it comes to the 2009 March Madness bracket tournament.
It seems like it was only yesterday when it was just Selection Sunday and with a blink of an eye, the opening round, the Sweet 16 and the Elite Eight are all in the rearview mirror and now, the 2009 NCAA Final Four is here.
Last year, there weren’t really any surprises as each of top four seeds; the Memphis Tigers, the North Carolina Tar Heels, the Kansas Jayhawks and the UCLA Bruins all made the Final Four.
While there are two no.1 seeds this year with the North Carolina Tar Heels (again) and the Connecticut Huskies making it, the Michigan State Spartans and the Villanova Wildcats decided to crash the party as well, shocking some college hoops fans in the process.
Of the four, SPORTSBETTING.COM has UNC as the odds-on favorite to win the NCAA championship at -125 followed by the Connecticut Huskies at +250. Michigan State is listed at +500 and Villanova at +600.
Listed as a -7.5 point favorite, North Carolina will try to prevent the Villanova Wildcats from reliving its magical 1985 run (shocked Georgetown), while UConn, favored by 4.5-points, will try to punch a ticket to the final by defeating Michigan State.
With the big match-ups come a full menu of…
Michigan State is in the Final Four
Thursday, April 2nd, 2009
Detroit needed the Spartans to be this good.
The Big East may have two teams in the 2009 NCAA Final Four, but it’s Michigan State who will be hosting the party.
The Michigan State Spartans rode by its trademark, defense and rebounding, and threw in some balanced scoring to get to play in a Final Four just 90 miles from campus.
The Spartans capped the four-game run by beating overall no.1 seed Louisville, which was looking to join fellow Big East teams Connecticut and Villanova in the national semifinals.
Eight Spartans scored in double figures over the four games, but it was the steady play inside and sudden offense from Goran Suton allowed the Spartans to reach the Final Four for the fifth time since 1999. They will play the Connecticut Huskies next.
The regional semifinal win over defending national champion Kansas will become the signature win in what is turning out to be Michigan State’s Cinderella run, as the Spartans overcame a 13-point first-half deficit and went 16-of-17 from the free throw line to rally for the win.
Tom Izzo has taken Michigan State to the Final Four four times, winning it all in 2000, with his last appearance in 2005. Every player who has stayed for years under Izzo has reached the Final Four.
Kalin Lucas, the Big Ten’s player of the year…
Sweet 16 heat up March Madness
Tuesday, March 24th, 2009
We’re down to the final 16 teams.
And when we only have 16 teams remaining in the biggest tourney of college hoops, that only means one thing, the regional semifinals of the 2009 March Madness bracket tournament is on with only two more rounds to go before we determine which two teams will be advancing to play for the national title.
There’s no more room for error. And as far as the Louisville Cardinals are concerned, they shouldn’t allow themselves to make the same mistakes they made against Siena if they still have plans of advancing to the 2009 NCAA Final Four.
Sure, all four no.1 seeds in the tournament advanced but it wasn’t smooth sailing for the top-seeded Louisville Cardinals when these Sienna Saints refused to cooperative. You see, the Cardinals had a comfortable double-digit lead over Sienna and it did look like Louisville was on its way to advancing comfortably. But when the Saints, all of a sudden, erased that huge lead, the Cardinals started to panic.
For a team that has the overall no.1 seed in the tournament, Louisville struggling this early into the bracket was surprising. And while their fellow no.1 seeds like the North Carolina Tar Heels, the Connecticut Huskies and the Pittsburgh Panthers all took care of business as expected, Louisville struggling against Sienna in round two was surprising, and a reason to be concerned about if you’re a Cardinals fan.
If it wasn’t for Louisville Cardinals head coach Rick Pitino challenging his team, they wouldn’t be able to hold on to a 79-72 win. Pitino called a timeout after the Saints made a late rally. He told his team, ‘’you’ve got to prove to yourselves now you’re a great basketball team.’’ Luckily for him, his senior Terrence Williams got the message.
Terrence Williams led the Cardinals to counter…
UNC kicks off 2009 March Madness
Thursday, March 19th, 2009
And they have the Radford Highlanders first.
Aside from the fact that North Carolina is the ONLY no.1 seeded team not coming out of the Big East, the Tar Heels are coming in the 2009 March Madness bracket tournament looking to win the national title in Tyler Hansbrough’s last hurrah. Hansbrough has been the face of UNC the last four years and it is only fitting for them to go and win the big one in Hansbrough’s senior year.
But will North Carolina be a good bandwagon to ride on to win a lot of dough until the end of the tournament? Sure, they have Tyler Hansbrough and Ty Lawson but can these guys be enough for UNC to end up with the national title?
No.1 has been a tenuous position atop the polls all year and the North Carolina Tar Heels demonstrated this again last week, when they were dumped by the Florida State Seminoles in the ACC semi-finals. They were beat 73-70, failing to cover as 8.5-point favorites.
While the Tar Heels were hot down the stretch going 16-4 straight up in their last 20 games, they were far from profitable for their backers, as they limped to a 7-13 mark against the spread.
Bettors actually made out okay in the tilt between UNC and Florida State, as the No.1 team in the nation was only getting 54 percent of the betting action at the online sportsbook SPORTSBETTING.COM (you just know I had to mention those guys right?) by tip-off. It appears many had this one handicapped right, feeling that was too many points to lay.
SPORTSBETTING.COM reported steady early action flowing in on UNC to win the South Region of the bracket this year, but bettors have been less enthusiastic so far on the Tar Heels to win it all. Perhaps the visions of them dropping that game to the Seminoles is still fresh.
They are still the favorites to cut the…
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