jonnyb and all west coasters (ucla)

[hurricanes6]

i see lsu-1 already and wonder your thoughts. from what i have been ready around the web so far people are laughing at ucla and saying this line is a trap take lsu all the way. my read is it stinks the other way and are begging people to take lsu.
one defensive mother of a game and a weak offensive output and everyone wants to hang ucla. NOT ME. thanks to directv i have been watching all year and the last 11 wins in a row. this is a team that can slow it to a grind and win and this is a team that can run and gun and still beat you. TALK TO ME.

 

[johnnyb.]

ya interesting line... to be very sincere, i know very little of the bayou tigers.
i'm sure by friday alot will be discussed about both teams/i'm out of town this week till friday.
ucla has seniors, wing players, bench, decent center, great d and very good coach. tough to match but lsu looks determined.

 

[MACH1]

I'll add my 2 cents..

Please don't use my info. to determine your pick, because I'm one of those guys that can't win a game if I had BIRD, JORDAN, MAGIC, CHAMBERLIN, & BAYLOR. As I'm typing this DICKY V just gave LSU the kiss of death and picked them to win. However, I see it differently. I think Howland must be one of the most underated coaches in America. Everyone on this board thinks UCLA is the worst team to make the final four in yrs. Some people make good points, because west coast teams never get the coverage on ESPN that the Big East and ACC get, so no one knows who Hollins is or Farmar. By the way, you can find Farmar's picture in Disneyland next to Dumbo. LOL! My point is that Howland has taken a team of no-names and seems to put them in the right position to get a win, game after game after game. No the Pac Ten is not one of the best conferences in America, but Washington should have won against UCONN the other night and Arizona gave Nova all they wanted in Philly.

OK, back to LSU and UCLA. I don't know anything about Brady, but he seems to know how to take the #1 player out of the game. The problem with this is that UCLA plays a team game and gets everyone involved. If they keep UCLA under 40% then I think it's an easy win, because UCLA can't shoot well from the line. I don't think I'm spewing anything that all you great cappers on Madjacks already know, however LSU hasn't impressed me outside of their front court. ESPN gave an incredible stat about today's game, of the 66 shots LSU took today the back court only scored on 7 of 30. LSU is NOT a three point shooting team and IF UCLA gets out to a DD lead then I think it will be tough for LSU to bring it home.

Howland and his assistants must be the best half time coaches in America and is a huge reason why this team keeps opponents under 60 pts a game the past 10. As good as Howland is, I would think that the Baby Bull gets doubled every time he touches the ball. UCLA is deep and athletic on the front line and I would expect UCLA to make someone else beat them.

Bottom line, I'm taking a proven coach to win over a team that looked like they won the entire tournament beating Texas.

GL on your play...

 

[JCDunkDogs]

Nice write up! Here's more info off public sources:

By JIM O'CONNELL, AP Basketball Writer
March 25, 2006

A look at LSU and UCLA:

GETTING THERE

Fourth-seeded LSU (27-8) needed an extra five minutes to get to its first Final Four since 1986, beating Texas 70-60 in overtime on Saturday to win the Atlanta Regional.

Second-seeded UCLA (31-6) beat Memphis 50-45 to reach the Final Four for a 16th time, tying North Carolina for the most ever. The Bruins were last in the national semifinals in 1995 when they went on to win their record 11th NCAA championship.

THE ROAD

LSU beat No. 13 Iona 80-64; No. 12 Texas A&M 58-57; No. 1 Duke 62-54; No. 2 Texas 70-60, OT.

UCLA beat No. 15 Belmont 78-44; No. 10 Alabama 62-59; No. 3 Gonzaga 73-71; No. 1 Memphis 50-45.

THE COACHES

John Brady has taken LSU to the NCAA tournament four times in his nine seasons there and this is the first time the Tigers have gotten past the regional semifinals.

Ben Howland has taken three schools to five NCAA tournaments (Northern Arizona, Pittsburgh, UCLA) and this is the first time one has gotten past the regional semifinals.

OFFENSE

LSU averages 74.1 points per game and three of the Tigers' four double-figure scores are frontcourt players. Glen "Big Baby" Davis, the hard-to-miss 6-foot-9, 300-pound-plus forward, leads the team with an 18.5-point average, and throughout the tournament 6-9 freshman Tyrus Thomas, third on the team at 12.3 points per game, became more of a factor on offense, scoring 21 points in the win over Texas. The Tigers shoot 47 percent from the field, a testament to their power inside, but still hit 34 percent from beyond the arc with the majority of the 3s coming from Darrel Mitchell, who averages 17.2 points and hit 82 of the team's 147 3-pointers.

The Bruins average 68.8 points per game and the two leading scorers are sophomore guards Arron Afflalo (16.2) and Jordan Farmar (13.6). Afflalo shoots 48 percent from the field, including 37 percent from 3-point range, while Farmar averages 5.2 assists per game. Freshman forward Luc Richard Mbah a Moute saw his numbers improve throughout the season to a 9.1 scoring average. The frontcourt combines for some impressive shooting percentages as Mbah a Moute shoots 56 percent, while Cedric Bozeman is at 51 percent and 7-footer Ryan Hollins shoots 62 percent.

DEFENSE

LSU was a more than solid defensive team all season but the Tigers really turned it up in the tournament, holding Duke to its lowest point total since 1996 in the regional semifinals and then holding Texas to 30.4 percent shooting from the field in the regional final.

UCLA has become one of the better defensive teams in the country under Howland, whose Pitt teams were known for holding teams well below their average numbers. The Bruins are 10th in the country in team defense (58.7) and only Gonzaga in the regional semifinals scored more than 60 points in their 11-game winning streak. Memphis entered the regional final eighth in the country at 81 points per game and UCLA held the Tigers to 45.

REBOUNDING

Davis, the Southeastern Conference player of the year, pulls down an average of 9.8 rebounds per game and Thomas gets 9.2 as the Tigers outrebound opponents by more than nine per game. Davis is especially effective on the offensive glass getting almost half his rebounds on that end.

This isn't UCLA's strongest phase of the game but Mbah a Moute leads the team by grabbing 8.1 a game with nobody else averaging five. The Bruins average 32.9 rebounds per game, four more than their opponents. Afflalo (4.3) and Farmar (2.5) do a good job off the boards from the backcourt.

FREE THROWS

The Tigers shoot almost 70 percent as a team from the line and there really is no weak link as the top six players all shoot between 75 percent (Mitchell) and 66 percent (Thomas).

The Bruins shoot 70 percent from the line and again they are led by Afflalo (80 percent) and Farmar (73 percent).

INJURIES

Thomas was bothered in the regional final by cramping hamstrings in both legs but he returned both times after brief rests and was on the floor at the end of the game.

UCLA had one of the most remarkable seasons as far as injuries went. Every scholarship player was injured at some point after practice began in October and seven players missed a total of 83 games, although the team has been healthy throughout the NCAA tournament.

INTANGIBLES

Mitchell is the only senior on the LSU roster and the other key players are extremely young with Davis a sophomore and Thomas a freshman. The Tigers have played the "no respect" card throughout the tournament and they will keep it going in the Final Four.

UCLA has changed its image under Howland with the accent now on defense. The Bruins are a backcourt-oriented team, the opposite of LSU. UCLA could still be riding the emotion of rallying from a nine-point deficit with 3 minutes left against Gonzaga by closing the game with an 11-0 run.