Blogs > Lions Lowdown

One thing you can count on with the Detroit Lions is that they are never, ever boring. Follow the latest news including injuries, roster moves and more here daily from Oakland Press beat writer Paula Pasche. Plus you'll find regular commentary about the team.

3/28/2008

My Sweet 16 pick: Memphis over MSU

Before I get into why I picked Memphis over Michigan State today, I have two suggestions for the folks at Reliant Stadium next time they host a NCAA tournament regional. First, give the rodeo at least a week to leave town before welcoming in city folks for a basketball tournament. The smell walking up to the arena the last two days has been a mix of puke and horse manure. Not mood setting. Second, if circumstances occur where a traffic is out less than a mile from the arena, rather than post a cop car on the side of the road while cars come to a four-way stop, have an officer in the middle of the street directing traffic. In only makes sense to avoid a severe backup on the way into the arena.

Now that that's out of the way, I see Memphis winning a close game tonight for a couple reasons. First, the Tigers are underrated defensively and I expect their length and athleticism to give MSU problems on the perimeter. Drew Neitzel has struggled to score against longer defenders (see: Temple), and I can see Travis Walton committing about five turnovers (again, see: Pitt). MSU needs to win the transition game, not just beating Memphis down court but limiting the Tigers' fast-break opportunities, and Raymar Morgan can't afford early foul trouble trying to defend Chris Douglas-Roberts.

Despite Memphis coach John Calipari's insistance otherwise, free-throw shooting could be a huge factor. In the end though, Memphis has the two best players on the floor in Douglas-Roberts and freshman Derrick Rose and that's enough to lead the Tigers to victory, 74-69.

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]

<< Home