Great Title Matchup…
I am pumped for tonights game and not just because I have about 200 dollars riding on it with our company office pool. I’m pumped because this is the matchup I’ve talked about all season long. Both teams want to run and put pressure on you and both teams have incredible athletes. Kansas is a very deep team with height and skill positions with 3 guys coming off the bench who would start anywhere else. Memphis is athletic and really gets after teams on defense.
Let’s look at some of the key matchups:
Who guards Derrick Rose? Russell Robinson and Mario Chalmers will take turns getting after Rose and it will be Rose’s toughest test to date. He dominated smallers guards Augustin and Collison but Chalmers is a bit bigger and Robinson plays very physical defense. It’s important to note that Texas gave Kansas a hard time during the regular season with Augustin and we now know how much better Rose is than DJ. Rose will attack Kansas and do all he can to get in the key and shoot over Robinson but he won’t be able to get away with it as much when Chalmers guards him. If you’ll remember from the UCLA game, when Westbrook guarded Rose he wasn’t nearly as aggressive with the ball because of Westbrooks size and athleticism. This will be fun to watch because Kansas guards love challenges and they’ll be up for this one.
Can Dorsey stay out of foul trouble? This is where Memphis needs some help. They need Dorsey on the floor. He is a great gifted shot blocker and intimdator but Kansas can run bigs at him all night. They’ll run Arthur, Kaun, Jackson, Aldrich at Dorsey to see what he can and can’t do. If Taggart can be a threat on offense and rebound on defense then Dorsey can just focus on defense and not letting Kansas get easy buckets.
Lastly, Douglas-Roberts vs Brandon Rush…Both are very good athletes and basketball players. I was very impressed with Rush in the Carolina game because he finally looked like he was ready to lead the team on a big stage. Normally i don’t see that from him. Douglas-Roberts likes to get some easy baskets early and isn’t very smooth on offense. I’m not impressed with his ball handling skills but for some reason the guy can get stuff done. His shot is ugly but goes in and his team feeds off his energy. If he gets going early and they can withstand that initial energy that Kansas will have they will be fine.
I see Memphis winning it all and making me 200 dollars richer with money that i’ll never tell my wife about.
