Of Huskies and History
Posted by lukethompson on March 28, 2009
The upstart Missouri Tigers will take the court once again Saturday night to face a team who has been one of the most dominant in the entire tournament thus far. If they survive, they’ll head to Detroit next weekend for the first Final Four in school history. A loss would end the career of three beloved seniors who also happen to be Missouri’s leading scorers (Leo Lyons, DeMarre Carroll and Matt Lawrence).
The Connecticut Huskies have bulldozed UT-Chattanooga, Texas A&M and Purdue by 56, 26 and 12, respectively, to get to the Elite 8. They have a Big East co-player of the year in Hasheem Thabeet, and one of the top guards in the country in A.J. Price. They’re one of four Big East teams in the Elite 8 (The Big 12 has two, and the Big Ten and ACC have one each).
Once again, Connecticut is clearly the better team on paper. But Missouri has shown time and again that its uptempo style and depth can overcome the kind of talent and size disparity they’ll see tomorrow. Even UConn coach Jim Calhoun expressed concerns about his team’s depth, although his players seemed confident they’ll be able to handle the pressure and slow the tempo.
The Tigers have been getting off to great starts their last two games, and they may need another one at the University of Phoenix Stadium tomorrow. Connecticut raced out to a 9-0 lead against Purdue, and although the Boilermakers got most of the way back, they never really looked like they’d be able to top the Huskies. Missouri can ill-afford another second half letdown, which Leo Lyons said can be attributed to the relative youth and inexperience of this team. Even after the dismantling of Memphis, all five of Missouri’s starters agreed that the team still hasn’t played its best for 40 minutes yet. Tomorrow might be a good time to make that happen.
The Tigers got to see just how tough the Big East is when they barely escaped Boise with a 4-point win over Marquette in the second round. Now they’ll face an even better team that presents some serious matchup problems, although that could work the other way as well. It’s hard to imagine Connecticut has seen two forwards as good and as athletic as Carroll and Lyons. The play of Marcus Denmon and Kim English off the bench could be crucial as well. So far they’ve combined for at least 11 important points in all three tournament games so far and provide Missouri’s best three-point threats other than Lawrence.
Connecticut has won their last five games in the West Regional, and both years (1999 and 2004) they went on to win a national title. Missouri is 0-3 all-time in the Elite 8, although UConn isn’t much better at 2-6. Seven of the last eight Final Four teams have won their conference tournaments, and the Huskies lost in the six-overtime classic in the Big East quarterfinals.
Tipoff is set for 3:40 p.m. CDT. It should be a good one.
