Mindless Dribble: Memphis Owns UCLA in Semifinals Win
April 5th, 2008 Final Four, Game Recaps, Memphis, UCLA, NCAA Tournament
By Shawn Siegel
Once Memphis took the lead after 5 minutes.. they never looked back, rolling to a 78-63 win over UCLA.
- Coming in, I think most (including myself) would have ranked Howland ahead of Calipari as in-game coaches.. but this win was all about Cal. As much as Rose outplayed Collison, it was Cal's decisions that shut down UCLA's offense. Doubling Love at every touch, and then using an extra big to block Collison from even getting near the lane worked perfectly.
- Perhaps Cal got his inspiration for shutting down Collison from Washington State's win back in February. Besides the debacle tonight, that was really the only other time UCLA's PG got shut down. He was 1-8 with 8 turnovers that night.. similar stats to tonight's 1-9 with 5 to's.
- People love to talk about the athletic ability of Memphis, but this win was about more than that. Sure, their height and length played a factor as always.. but even when down 5-0, they played the smarter & more composed game. There was never really any sense that Memphis was phased by the big moment.
- Joey Dorsey's trailing block on Westbrook with 4 mins to go in the game was SICK. Also, the 15 boards he pulled down were the most since February.
- Collison giving up a foul near half-court to get DQ'd from the game with 3 minutes to go was mind-boggling.. but the way he played, it didn't really hurt.
I'll be the first to admit that while others said Rose's size difference would play a huge factor against Collison, I gave DC enough respect to think he'd overcome that. I was wrong. 25 points to 2 is all you need to know.
- Everybody loves Derrick Rose, but CDR needs to start getting more respect as a legit NBA prospect.. he makes plays on O that very few can make.
- Amazing that it took Billy Packer 33 minutes of game-time to finally concede that the flow wasn't going in UCLA's direction..
- Nice to hear that Luc Richard Mbah a Moute's parents were at one of his UCLA games for the first time ever. Though he missed some open jumpers (credit Cal for forcing the ball into his hands), the junior gave a good effort and was one of the few Bruins to play at a high level (along with Westbrook).
- How did James Keefe go off for 18 & 12 against WKU? Against Xavier and UCLA, he looked more like a walk-on..
- I love when Cal puts in Pierre Niles for 30 second stints.. it makes me happy when he's on the court. Niles might lead the country in appearances that don't even count as a minute played in the scorebook.
- The Alamodome court looked good on High-Def. I'm not big on the overdone stars and stripes theme.. but the court was sharp.
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