Butler Going to Championship Game

Butler gave Tom Izzo and Mich St. a Easter Basket the bunny will remember for the rest of his life as Butler beat Michigan St 52-50 to advance to the championship game. I’m sure there will be some complaints from the Mich St fans but they held Butler without a field goal for what ten minutes and they couldn’t take a lead so to me it looks like Michigan St and Izzo ran out of luck. It was a great coaching job by Brad Stevens who should be the coach of the year if there was a vote held after the final four.

World Champions

Congratulations to Darius Miller and the USA U19 team for winning the U10 world championship for the first time since 1991.

Darius Miller had 8 points and 3 steals in the 88-80 win over Greece. He averaged 5 points, 3.1 rebounds, 1.3 blocks (5th in his position in blocks), 1.6 steals (3rd in his position in steals), 1.3 assists and shot 73% from the field while playing 14.4 min. a game. Playing like that against teams in a world competition shows how dependable he is going to be for the Cats.

Jamie Dixon had this team primed to win and even surrendering big leads a couple of times during the last two games didn’t faze the team a bit. Dixon had the kids playing the way you have to play to beat the European champions. Dixon “This team was unique in terms of US teams, in that it was best suited for international play. We may not have had as many name guys as other (US) teams but it really was suited, and I think we selected guys who were suited to the international style of play.” Thinking like that shows that we have learned to compete on the world stage again. These kids were fundamentally sound in their skills rather than being flashy.

A panel of accredited media representatives covering the 2009 FIBA U19 World Championship selected the MVP and the All-Star Five of the Tournament. The All-Star Five of the 2009 FIBA U19 World Championship featured Taylor (Kansas / Jersey City, N.J.) and Gordon Hayward (Butler / Brownsburg, Ind.) of the USA, Toni Prostran (Croatia), Nikos Pappas (Greece), and Mario Delas (Croatia), who was also selected MVP of the championship.

Things I learned from the games. Darius Miller is going to have a good year. Washington St. and Butler are probably going to be real good teams if their representatives in the games are any example of their teams. Toni Prostran (Croatia), Nikos Pappas (Greece) are possible future NBA players. Mario Delas (Croatia) who was selected MVP of the championship is a future NBA player. World basketball is worth watching if ESPN can get their foot in the door with FIBA for telecast rights. Jamie Dixon is a smart coach and is one of the best coaches in the county and I hope coaches the USA again.

For the betterment of the sport.

For the betterment of the sport the NCAA needs to look at increasing the scholarship limit to 15. Not to make sure we have a better team next year but for the simple reason that if there are 15 on a team like Kansas, NC, Duke or Kentucky its entirely possible that the number 14 or 15 player might decide to play for a team like Butler, Gonzaga or Nevada rather than sitting behind a stream of one and I’m out of hears.

I’m looking at this from a guys point of view sorry lady’s. But come on if a guy could increase his stable to 15 from 13 does anyone think Britney Spears is gonna stay around as number 15 when she could contribute to another team.

Increasing the stable err scholarship limit to 15 will defiantly help the sport to grow stronger besides I’d really like to see a major underdog win the NC before I go on to the big court in the sky.

Latest Top 25

This weeks top 25. With a good week by LSU and a few losses by others the SEC could climb into the rankings

AP Top 25
1. Connecticut (67) 22-1 1,795
2. Oklahoma (3) 23-1 1,710
3. North Carolina (2) 21-2 1,672
4. Pittsburgh 21-2 1,583
5. Louisville 18-4 1,423
6. Duke 20-3 1,350
7. Wake Forest 18-3 1,242
8. Memphis 20-3 1,237
9. Michigan State 19-4 1,214
10. Marquette 20-3 1,137
11. UCLA 19-4 1,131
12. Clemson 19-3 1,097
13. Villanova 19-4 989
14. Xavier 20-3 893
15. Butler 21-2 762
16. Kansas 19-4 751
17. Missouri 20-4 395
18. Arizona State 18-5 389
19. Gonzaga 17-5 361
20. Purdue 17-6 353
21. Utah State 23-1 317
22. Illinois 19-5 303
23. Syracuse 18-6 280
24. Ohio State 17-5 216
25. Florida State 18-5 182
Others Receiving Votes
LSU 167, Washington 135, Texas 106, Florida 66, Minnesota 43, Dayton 31, California 16, Kansas State 8, West Virginia 8, South Carolina 7, Davidson 7, Miami (FL) 7, Utah 4, Arizona 4, San Diego State 2, Siena 2, Northeastern 2, Robert Morris 1, Boston College 1, Green Bay 1.
Dropped From Rankings
Texas 16, Minnesota 19, Washington 22.

ESPN/USA Today Poll
1. Connecticut (30) 22-1 774
2. Oklahoma (1) 23-1 735
3. North Carolina 21-2 711
4. Pittsburgh 21-2 689
5. Duke 20-3 604
6. UCLA 19-4 554
7. Louisville 18-4 553
8. Wake Forest 18-3 541
9. Michigan State 19-4 521
10. Memphis 20-3 486
11. Clemson 19-3 456
12. Marquette 20-3 446
13. Villanova 19-4 416
14. Xavier 20-3 375
15. Butler 21-2 346
16. Kansas 19-4 300
17. Utah State 23-1 258
18. Arizona State 18-5 214
19. Missouri 20-4 162
20. Illinois 19-5 143
21. Gonzaga 17-5 124
22. Syracuse 18-6 115
23. Purdue 17-6 114
24. Washington 17-6 86
25. Florida State 18-5 62
Others Receiving Votes
Ohio State 55, Texas 50, LSU 50, Dayton 34, Minnesota 30, Florida 26, Davidson 9, Utah 9, South Carolina 7, Saint Mary’s 5, Brigham Young 5, California 3, San Diego State 3, Penn State 2, UNLV 1, Arizona 1.
Dropped From Rankings
Texas 17, Minnesota 19.