(H-L photo)
Big Blue Links and Sunday lunchtime notes:
- Kentucky-North Carolina tips at 5:05 p.m. today. Kansas-VCU in San Antonio will tip at 2:20 p.m., followed by the Cats and Heels from Newark. CBS has both games. Jim Nantz, Clark Kellogg and Tracy Wolfson are the broadcast team here.
- No, I don’t know the refs yet for today’s game. They are normally announced not long before game starts. They aren’t announced in advance.
- Kentucky and North Carolina have both evolved since their December meeting in Chapel Hill. Jerry Tipton of the Herald-Leader writes, “It sounds like basketball blasphemy. A Kentucky-North Carolina game in which history is meaningless. But it’s true, at least in terms of recent history. When UK and UNC play here Sunday for the NCAA Tournament East Regional championship, the game the two college basketball titans played in December might as well have taken place in an alternate universe.”
- Kentucky had not beaten Ohio State in the NCAA Tournament before Friday night. The Cats have not beaten North Carolina in Elite Eight games, losing the previous two. Mark Story of the H-L writes, “The hexes keep going by the wayside. Bob Huggins had John Calipari’s number. Going into the NCAA Tournament meeting between Kentucky and West Virginia, the slate read Huggy 8, Cal 1. Then the scoreboard said Kentucky 71, West Virginia 63. The Ohio State University had Kentucky’s number. Five times the two schools had played under NCAA Tournament pressure, five times the Buckeyes won.Then the scoreboard said Kentucky 62, NCAA tourney No. 1 overall seed Ohio State 60.”
- My column is an ode to John Calipari, who after losing five first-round draft picks has Kentucky right back in the Elite Eight.
- In case you missed it, Hubert Davis, Jay Bilas and Digger Phelps all picked North Carolina to win today’s game. Dick Vitale is going with Kentucky.
- Ken Pomeroy says the probability of a Kentucky win stands at 57 percent.
- Tyler Zeller has starred down the stretch for the Tar Heels. Robbi Pickeral of the Raleigh News and Observer writes, “Especially during the postseason, when Zeller has made his biggest plays of all. During the ACC tournament, he followed a game-winning layup against Miami with another last-second shot to force overtime (then an eventual win) against Clemson. And in three NCAA games, he is averaging 27.3 points; his 82-point output is the most for a UNC player in three consecutive NCAA tournament games since Charlie Scott recorded 83 points in 1969.”
- How about those Butler Bulldogs? How about Shelvin Mack, who hit the two big free throws in overtime to seal Butler’s 74-71 win over Florida in the Southeast Region final. Thought it was interesting you could see Butler coach Brad Stevens telling Florida coach Billy Donovan “You outcoached me,” when the two shook hands after the game.
- Indianapolis Star has a photo gallery of Butler returning home after the big win.
- Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel writes that Florida showed some questionable late-game shot selections.
- People everywhere can’t stop talking about Josh Harrellson. Rick Bozich of the C-J writes, “Josh Harrellson has become Kentucky’s most dependable player in the NCAA Tournament, the team leader in points, rebounds and steals. He’s also the guy who needs to remain the Wildcats’ most dependable player today in the East Regional final against North Carolina because Harrellson is matched against the Tar Heels’ most dependable player – Tyler Zeller, who grew up in Washington, Ind.”
- Harrellson has made 21 of 27 field goals in his three NCAA Tournament games. He’s also grabbed 28 rebounds, including 13 off the offensive board. He’s blocked five shots.
- Terrence Jones has 18 rebounds in the last two games.
- Brandon Knight has made just 13 of 38 shots for the NCAA Tournament, including just four of 15 from the three-point line.
- Remember, Doron Lamb scored 24 points in the first game in Chapel Hill. That didn’t stop North Carolina coach Roy Williams from calling him “Doran Lamb.” Williams later corrected himself.
- DeAndre Liggins’ 15 points on Friday night was the most he scored since 19 versus Tennessee back on Feb. 8.
- Kentucky’s Brandon Knight, Terrence Jones and Doron Lamb all know North Carolina’s Kendall Marshall and Harrison Barnes from the AAU circuit and McDonald’s All-American game.
- This year’s McDonald’s All-American game is Wednesday in Chicago.
- Kentucky is third in the nation in blocked shots per game at 6.4. That’s pretty amazing when you don’t really think of this team has having a shot-blocker in the middle. The Cats blocked 11 Ohio State shots on Friday.
- North Carolina is 12th nationally in blocked shots at 5.5 per game.
- So far in the Final Four, we have a No. 8 seed in Butler and a No. 3 seed in Connecticut. Could we have a No. 4 with Kentucky and a No. 11 with VCU? The last time not a single No. 1 seed made the Final Four was 2006, the year Florida won its first of back-to-back titles.
