Once you're in the gym, you're in range

Last night, the University of Michigan Wolverines squared off against the Louisville Cardinals in the NCAA Men's National Championship game.  Please excuse the delay of this week's Tweener, as I felt this was a prime opportunity for another retro-diary. And yes, I chose to do this at least in part because in nearly every bracket I filled out I had a Michigan-Louisville final.

8:53PM - Tip off is in one hour. I just finished my dinner of pizza bites and an apple, so my night is off to a great start.

Here's my prediction of how this goes: Early offense from both teams. Pitino asks his guys to slow things down. Russ Smith forgets that strategy in two possessions. Louisville goes into the half up two. Michigan comes out hot. Stauskas hits a couple "white-man-corner-threes"prompting celebrations from his bench like the one below. It gets close. And then.....TREY BURKE. The national player of the year shows up, goes 5-for-6 from the free throw line, hits a couple of tough drives, and then is accidentally left open for 3 on a possession where Russ Smith thought he was already on a fast-break but forgot the basketball. Dagger. Wolverines, 79-74.

The Eye Test: Final Four Edition

Each week I compare my impressions of a player or team to statistics, to see if they confirm the "eye test." I first started out by looking at Bobcats legend Byron Mullens. This week I'm going to put the Final Four teams to the eye test.

Wow, what a tournament it's been. One for the ages. Think of all the memories we'll have: La Salle. Florida Gulf Coast. Aaron Craft's shot. Trey Burke's shot. And of course, the injury to Kevin Ware (no freaking way I'm including a video) that was one of the more surreal scenes in recent sports history. While it was undeniably awful, his attitude and the reaction of athletes everywhere epitomizes everything we love about sports. Anyone not rooting for Louisville at this point is either a Wichita State, Michigan, or Syracuse fan. Or maybe you need one of those other teams to win for your bracket's sake. Or Louisville beat your team. Ok, not everyone is a fan. But if you didn't get choked up watching Ware's teammates cry when he was carted off, you don't have a soul.

Alright, where were we? This week I'd like to put the eye test on each Final Four team based on what I've noticed while watching the tournament this year. Without further ado:


Louisville
Observation: Kevin Ware needs to drink more milk Russ Smith is the best finisher around the rim for a player 6'0" or less since Allen Iverson