Sweet 16 thoughts

First of all, the Sweet 16 round was the round where I officially kissed my bracket goodbye. I had Miami winning it all, they lost to Marquette Thursday night. One of my final four teams, New Mexico, was done after the first weekend, a casualty of Harvard's first ever NCAA tournament win. And of course Georgetown was done in by Florida Gulf Coast and their high-flying up-tempo attack. The only one of my Final Four team's remaining is Louisville. So there's that.

Marquette shocked me with the way they manhandled a deep Miami team for 40 minutes, that's a team with a number of different pieces that they can mix and match to make some crazy lineups.

Syracuse did not shock me with their strong win over Indiana. IU had been beaten by physical teams all year as exemplified by losses to Wisconsin, Minnesota and Butler. IU was a team with a lot of star power and skill, but at the end of the day they're soft and will back down if team's continuously wear them down.

My personal favorite team remaining is Wichita State, which means they will now probably lose tonight against Ohio State. The Shockers are physical and deep, so they're built to succeed in these tournament formats as they just wear down opponents with their hard-nosed defense and variety of scoring options.

I'm not particularly fond of Duke or Michigan State, but the right team won. Duke has more talent and stands a shot at challenging Louisville, who has by far been the most impressive team in this tournament. Michigan State would've wilted under Louisville's pressure, of this I'm sure.

Which brings me to Michigan. The performance by them in overcoming a 10 point deficit with 2 minutes remaining against Kansas last night was as impressive as any comeback I've seen, regardless of sport. Trey Burke really is unparalleled as a point guard. A Louisville-Michigan final would be outstanding as they both match up with each other well, specifically Burke against Louisville's press.

Lady Vols in the Sweet 16

For the fourth straight year. the University of Tennessee Lady Volunteers have advanced to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Women's basketball tournament. For the third time in those four years. The Lady Vols are likely stating at a date with Baylor and the 6'8 all-world player Brittney Griner. By the way, in her final "home"-and I put that in quotations because OKC will be a pro-Baylor crowd- game, Griner poured in 33 points, collected 22 rebounds and dunked 3 times to put a cap on her career in Waco, Tx.

This current Lady Vols team is not as talented or as experienced as Lady Vols teams in the last few years. There are only 2 seniors on this year's team and both of them were role players for the Lady Vols until this inaugural season under new head coach Holly Warlick. Junior guard Meighan Simmons is the only Lady Vols who really had proven herself heading into this season, and her inconsistent play is still a hot topic for Lady Vols fans. But, those seniors have shown an ability this year to not melt in the spotlight, unlike past Lady Vol players since Candace Parker left.

But perhaps the youth and inexperience of this team could serve the Lady Vols well against Baylor. After all, the Lady Vols have been manhandled by Griner and her Baylor Bears since 2009 when the Lady Vols beat them 74-65 in Griner's first NCAA game. The Vols did suffer a double-digit beating in Waco earlier this season, but they've already surpassed expectations by finishing first during the SEC regular season after being picked 5th in the preseason by the SEC coaches.

When the Lady Vols beat Brittney Griner in her first career college game, they did so by taking the fight right to her. They got her in foul trouble early by rotating players on her on defense and by matching her up against different players on offense.

Unfortunately for the Lady Vols, Griner has evolved as a defender and offensive player. She doesn't commit dumb fouls anymore and usually doesn't let her emotions get the best of her (this has happened in the past).
On offense, she's near automatic all the way out to 15 feet and has very good footwork in the post to position herself for easy buckets.

So how do the Lady Vols beat Griner? One strategy would be to try to get her in foul trouble, but again she's not prone to do that. Another would be to turn this game into a track meet, negating Griner by beating her up and down the floor, but the Lady Vols don't appear to have the depth to do that.

As stupid as this sounds, the simplest way for the Lady Vols to compete and maybe beat Baylor is to make shots. Griner is a defensive force, but her presence alone doesn't explain the Lady Vols shooting no greater than 32% in the last five meetings. In those five losses, the Lady Vols often looked rushed in all shot attempts and executed the offense poorly and often looked intimidated by Griner. To beat Baylor, the Lady Vols must shoot at least 40% and can't be intimidated by Griner even if she blocks a shot.

Welcome

My name is Thomas Duggins. I'm from Marietta,Ga and am a senior Journalism and Electronic Media major at the University of Tennessee. I'm particularly fond of sports. Football,basketball,baseball and soccer are my favorites to watch. I was raised a Tennessee fan and a fan of all the Atlanta pro sports teams.

This blog will reflect my sports opinions (and there are many).

There will be more to come, but for right now. Enjoy.