Final Four: Kentucky, Louisville, Ohio State, Kansas

The Final Four is set. Kansas, Kentucky, Ohio State and Louisville won their Regionals and advance to next weekend's Final Four in New Orleans. Unlike 2010 and 2011, when mid-major "Cinderellas" Butler and Virginia Commonwealth shocked the world and advanced to the Final Four, the 2012 Final Four field is comprised entirely of the usual suspects.

Louisville competes in the Big East Conference, but geographically, the East Coast is entirely shut out. Three of the four teams come from schools within 100 miles of Cincinnati, Ohio. The fourth, Kansas, comes from the heart of the heartland. It's an entirely Midwestern and Mid South Final Four.

Syracuse was the top-seeded team in the Tournament, but Syracuse alumni who work in the national sports media (in other words, most of the national sports media) will have to content themselves by pulling for Louisville to defend the Big East's honor. Casual fans who've enjoyed rooting for Cinderella "Davids" (i.e., Butler) to knock off college basketball "blue blood" "Goliaths" (i.e., Duke and Connecticut) in the last two NCAA Championship games will be faced with the likelihood of watching "blue blood" Kentucky play "blue blood" Kansas for the right to hand yet another NCAA Championship banner in the rafters.

On a more personal level, Drive and Dish editors will be stuck at a wedding in south Georgia while Saturday's games are being played. But if we get the chance, we may try to hit Interstate 10 on Sunday morning and see if we can get to New Orleans by evening. If so, we'll be hanging around the Final Four for Monday's Championship game.

Duke Wins 4th National Championship

Add another National Championship banner to the three that currently hang from the rafters of Duke's Cameron Indoor Stadium. Last night, Duke captured the 2010 NCAA men's basketball National Championship by beating "Cinderella" upstart Butler 61-59 at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. All four of the Blue Devils' National Championships have come under the stewardship of head men's basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski.

Congratulations to Duke and to Coach Krzyzewski.

Drive and Dish picked Duke to cut down the nets in our 2010 NCAA Tournament Bracket. Duke seems like the obvious pick now, but when the brackets came out, Kansas and Kentucky were the popular choices to win it all. We, however, were never big believers in either of the schools whose are known by a combination of "K's" and "U's" -- UK and KU (Kentucky and Kansas), respectively.

On a side note, last night's Championship game served as something of a reunion for the Drive and Dish founders. We had a good time at the game. And as it happens, we sat in the vicinity of the ex-Duke players' seating section at Lucas Oil Stadium, so Duke super-fan Mark Buckets got to rub shoulders with some of his boyhood heroes. Strangely enough, Mark Buckets also got into an epic stare-down with Orlando Magic back up point guard Jason "White Chocolate" Williams. White Chocolate attended the game with his Magic teammate, former Duke All American shooting guard J.J. Redick. Apparently, White Chocolate didn't appreciate it when Buckets laughed at him for posing and trying to look "hard" (the Drive and Dish brain-trust disagreed over whether or not he successfully pulled off looking "hard," but we agreed that he looked a lot like post-90's, Nu-Metal-era Vanilla Ice). At one point, it almost seemed like an altercation was about to ensue between Buckets and J.Will.

It was kind of ridiculous.

Fortunately, nothing happened, because if it had, we would have been kicked out of the game for sure.

Funny stuff, though.

The following are pictures that the Drive and Dish cameras snapped at the game:


Photos © 2010 Trashtalk Superstar/Drive and Dish

UConn, Michigan State, North Carolina, Vilanova Advance to Final Four

The first two rounds of the 2009 NCAA Tournament are over. The 65-team NCAA Tournament field has been whittled down to four remaining contestants. Connecticut, Michigan State, North Carolina and Villanova have survived and advanced, and, thus, constitute the field for the 2009 Final Four.

On Saturday, April 4, Connecticut will play Michigan State and North Carolina will play Villanova in Detroit's Ford Field.

As 1-seeds, North Carolina and Connecticut were expected to reach the Final Four. Michigan State and Villanova, while both seeded highly (2 and 3-seeds, respectively) upset 1-seeds in the Elite Eight in order to advance to the Final Four.

Michigan State's presence in the Final Four is particularly noteworthy. As members of the much-maligned Big Ten conference, most college basketball "experts" expressed the opinion that the Spartans did not have what it takes to reach the Final Four. Most experts expected Louisville to defeat MSU handily in the Elite Eight, and thus, become the third 2009 Final Four participant from the Big East conference. In fact, it was widely believed that Louisville would run Michigan State off the floor.

But Tom Izzo and the Spartans had different ideas. Izzo's superior game plan put his team in position to take advantage of its strengths (superior guard play, strong play in the paint), and neutralize Louisville's strengths (full court pressure defense, athleticism, three point shooting, switching zone defenses, depth). Most analysts expected Michigan State to wilt under Louisville's famed full court pressure. But the backcourt duo of Kalin Lucas and Travis Walton (along with occasional help from big man Goran Suton) broke the Cardinals' pressure with ease. And the Spartans' torrid three point shooting relegated the zone defense ineffective.

Also of note, since his promotion to the position of men's head basketball coach prior the 1995/96 season, Tom Izzo has taken Michigan State to five Final Fours. Even more impressively, since becoming head coach, every one of Tom Izzo's who has completed his four years of eligibility has participated in a Final Four.

Although he's regularly overlooked by the Big East & Atlantic Coast Conference-obsessed national sports media, Tom Izzo is clearly one of the top coaches in college basketball. What's more, he's widely regarded as one of the true good guys in a notoriously shady sport (college basketball) that is filled with smooth-talking, but often unscrupulous coaches.

Drive and Dish expects Connecticut to beat North Carolina to win the 2009 National Championship (as we've said all year), but we tip our hats to Tom Izzo and Michigan State. We thought MSU would probably make it to the Elite Eight, but fall short of making the Final Four (even though we picked Kansas in our final official bracket). But we're thrilled to see Izzo and the ever-tough Spartans back in the familiar territory of the Final Four.

CBS Upset With Billy Packer?

The New York Daily News' Bob Raissman asks if after years of defending Billy Packer whenever he's put his foot in his mouth, CBS Sports may be fed up with Packer over comments he made during the NCAA National Championship game on April 5.

Raissman reports that CBS executives are still fuming over the fact that, with 7:32 left in the first half and with the Jayhawks ahead 38-12, Packer "called" the game in favor of Kansas.

North Carolina later rallied and pulled within 4 points of the Jayhawks. But the damage was already done: Packer had declared the game to be "over," even though there were still 7 1/2 minutes left to play before halftime.

Raisman says:

"CBS is paying $6 billion for the right to air the tourney over the life of its contract with the NCAA. From a business perspective, telling viewers to turn off the TV is not a great idea, especially in a soft advertising market.

Naming a "winner" with plenty of time left in a game does not sit well with corporations paying top dollar to advertise their products during the tournament. Some of these same companies will be asked to purchase time on next year's tourney."

It seems like Billy Packer gets in trouble after every Final Four. Drive and Dish covered last year's edition of the annual Billy Packer post Final Four controversy (and we stuck up for him). Hell, it almost wouldn't feel like April if there weren't another Billy Packer controversy raging through the sports media world. It's sort of become an annual rite of Spring.

As for Packer's comments in this year's Championship game, it's only natural that the CBS executives would be upset. Packer essentially told viewers that it wasn't worth their time to bother watching the rest of the game. And he did so after only 12 1/2 minutes of basketball had been played.

And that's just bad for business. What's more, as a veteran professional broadcaster, Packer should have known that. And as such, he shouldn't have made the statement.

But what he said was essentially true. In fact, just seconds before Billy Packer declared the game to be "over," I had concluded that Kansas had effectively put the game out of reach. When Packer made the statement, I vocalized my agreement with him to those with whom I was viewing the game.

Billy Packer was right. The game was -- for all intents and purposes -- "over," even though there were still 7 1/2 minutes to go before the half.

Billy Packer knew it. Jim Nantz knew it. I knew it. Bill Self knew it. Roy Williams knew it. The players all knew it. And everyone who attended or watched the game on TV knew it.

But Billy Packer shouldn't have said so.

Kansas Wins National Championship

By Trashtalk Superstar

Last night, Kansas beat Memphis 75-68 in overtime to win the 2008 NCAA National Championship. The Jayhawks overcame a 9 point deficeit in the final 2:12 minutes of regulation to tie the game--thanks to a Mario Chalmers three pointer with 2.1 seconds left on the clock--and force the overtime period. But in overtime, Kansas jumped out to a quick lead and never looked back.

As the Kansas City Star notes, Kansas senior Russell Robinson opined:

"You couldn't have written it any better."

In a year in which all four #1 seeds advanced to the Final Four (for first time in the history of the NCAA Tournament), many observers were surprised by how uncompetitive Saturday's Semifinal games ultimately proved to be. Despite many prognosticators' high expectations for a memorable Final Four, Memphis and Kansas had--for all intents and purposes--run their respective opponents (UCLA and North Carolina) off the floor. And on a larger scale, most observers were similarly disappointed by the lack of competitiveness of this year's Elite 8 and Sweet 16.

If 2006 was the year of the Cinderella, 2008 was the year of the blowout win by the higher seeded team.

But last night's Championship Game provided enough excitement and drama to make up for an otherwise disappointing Final Four.

Yet despite the game's dramatic finish, things didn't go according to plan for Memphis and Kansas:

"This was not the smooth-running, fast-paced, high-scoring game everyone was expecting to see. As happens more often as not, things didn't quite work out the way they had been envisioned. The 2008 NCAA Tournament Championship Game was such a thing...

The Memphis Tigers were denied passage to the lane most of the night. Kansas owned the paint on the opposite end of the court, playing their regular game. Even so, the game remained tight throughout, aided by some sloppy ball handling by both teams. Kansas was not hitting three-pointers and Memphis was. And Derrick Rose, Memphis' second leading scorer, went cold for 24 and a half minutes (16 and a half in the first half).

Memphis was definitely out of sync. Memphis' Joey Dorsey was not blocking out Darrell Arthur and Darnell Jackson like he did all those other big guys on those other teams. Kansas was simply denying Memphis their game."

(Hat tip: Associated Content).

More:

"And then Memphis' two best shooting guards, Derrick Rose, who had come alive with 12 minutes to go in the game and score a dozen points, and Chris Douglas-Roberts missed 4-5 from the line, giving Kansas a chance to tie the game with just a few seconds to go. And they did. With two seconds to go, Mario Chalmers hit an off-balanced three-pointer to tie the game. Memphis could not hit a subsequent half-court shot and the game went into Overtime.

Kansas immediately stole the ball -- after Memphis won the tip -- and scored. The momentum was all in Kansas' favor. Memphis "controlled chaos" style of basketball had lost its control. Kansas went on to win, 75-68."

Preview of Tonight's NCAA Championship Game

By Trashtalk Superstar

Tonight, Memphis and Kansas will play for the 2008 NCAA Men's Basketball National Championship. The game will tip off in little over an hour.

So what are Drive and Dish's thoughts on tonight's game?

For what it's worth, this is one of the toughest championship games to prognosticate in recent memory. Last year's Championship game was pretty easy to predict: Although both Ohio State and Florida had outstanding talent, Florida was the defending National Champion and Billy Donovan's team still had all the key players from its 2006 Championship team. Ohio State was talented, but the Buckeyes' best players were freshmen. And it usually takes experience to win championships. So a Florida win was easy to predict in last year's Championship game.

But Memphis and Kansas appear to be a toss up.

As alluded to, few freshmen are able to lead their teams to championships. And freshmen who have done so can probably be counted on one hand. What's more, the few freshmen who have led their teams to NCAA Championships (Carmello Anthony, Michael Jordan?) have played for teams that had talented upperclassmen surrounding them.

But Memphis' freshman point guard, Derrick Rose, doesn't play like any freshman point guard that I've seen (and that includes Ohio State's sensational freshman PG, Mike Conley, from last year). He plays with the poise and savvy of a 5th year senior. And he's as special a talent as the college game has seen in years.

What's more, Rose is surrounded by talented upperclassmen.

Memphis' back court tandem of Rose and Chris Douglas-Roberts may be without a peer in the college game. But Kansas' back court absolutely stymied North Carolina's much-hyped back court duo of Ty Lawson and Wayne Ellington.

And it was Kansas' backup point guard, Sherron Collins, who did the most damage to North Carolina in the second half of Saturday night's Final Four Semifinal game.

Plus, Kansas has multiple point guards. And that makes them extremely dangerous.

As Drive and Dish noted before Saturday's games, Memphis has a collection of incredibly athletic, long, and skilled players on the perimeter. And although Kansas can counter with their deep, versatile back court and with Brandon Rush (himself a long, athletic, talented wing), Memphis should have an advantage on the perimeter.

Memphis' back court is simply bigger and more talented ... which is really saying something, considering how good Kansas' back court is.

And I'd be surprised if Kansas will be able to slow Derrick Rose.

Strategically, I think Kansas needs to take away the dribble drive from Memphis' guards. Memphis employs an almost revolutionary wide open offense, which takes its cue from International basketball. Unlike traditional college (continuity) offenses, Memphis' offense is not predicated on using ball screens to create shots. Rather, the Tigers push the tempo and try to beat their opponents off the dribble. Then they either finish at the rim, or dish to a cutter/kick it out to a perimeter shooter.

Memphis looks to get points via the play from which this website derives its name -- the drive and dish.

And they've got the ideal point guard to run that kind of offense -- Rose.

So, although Kansas beat North Carolina by pushing the tempo and running the Tar Heels out of the Alamo Dome, I think that Kansas will try to slow Memphis' running game and force the Tigers to run half-court sets.

Then Bill Self's Jayhawks will have to contain Memphis' dribble drive ... which will be easier said than done. However, if Kansas can manage to contain Memphis, the Jayhawks might be able to take Memphis out of its game--and force the Tigers to shoot jump shots.

While Memphis has the advantage on the perimeter, Kansas should have the advantage in the paint. Kansas has the bigger front line. And make no mistake: that's a significant advantage in in the Jayhawks' favor. Remember, Memphis' big man, Joey Dorsey, struggled against UCLA (despite the Tigers' overall dominance in that game). And although I expect Dorsey to come out with a chip on his shoulder tonight, I also expect Kansas to try to feed the ball into the low post.

Unless Dorsey plays like a man possessed, I don't think that Memphis' bigs will match up well against Kansas' front line.

So who do I think will win?

As I said before, this one is tough to prognosticate. I thought that, by virtue of having all four #1 seeds advance to the Final Four, this would prove to be one of the better Final Fours in recent history. And I couldn't have been more wrong.

Thus far, the entire NCAA Tournament has been characterized by one blowout after another. And the Elite 8 and Final Four weren't any more interesting ... which I really didn't see coming.

So, although this may seem like a cop-out, I really don't know what to expect in tonight's Championship game.

If it's a close game, Memphis' poor free throw shooting percentage could ultimately be their downfall. But poor free throw shooting hasn't been a factor in any of Memphis' games in this Tournament, to date. Plus, the Tigers have actually shot better from the charity stripe in the Tournament than they did during the regular season.

But I'll leave you with this: One of the best basketball minds that I personally know has been saying all season long that Kansas is the most talented team in the country, and that he expects the Jayhawks to win the National Championship. And for the record, this guy is a basketball coach and he starred on one of the most famous Final Four/Championship teams in college basketball history. I put a lot of stock in whatever he says.

And he's been talking Kansas up for some time.

So although I can see it going either way, my best guess would be Kansas if I had to pick the winner of tonight's game (but I still don't see how they'll stop Memphis' Rose and Douglas-Roberts).

But unlike Saturday night, I won't be surprised if either team wins tonight.

Kansas Puts the Smackdown on North Carolina

Last night, Kansas slammed North Carolina 84-66 in the Semifinals of the 2008 Final Four. Bill Self's Jayhawks punched North Carolina in the mouth in the game's first few minutes and never looked back. And although North Carolina eventually made a run and pulled within 4 points of Kansas, the Tar Heels were never really in the game.

According to the Charlotte Observer, North Carolina guard Wayne Ellington didn't know what hit him:

"I can't tell you (what went wrong)," said Ellington, who scored a team-leading 18 points. "We just didn't have any intensity, any enthusiasm."

Kansas completely took North Carolina out of its game. Once they got down, the normally smart and disciplined Tar Heels started making dumb mistakes. Too many Carolina players tried to take the game over by going 1 on 1, rather than by working to get a good shot within the confines of to Coach Roy Williams' offense.

The normally smart Tyler Hansbrough was especially bad. Hansbrough was pushed off the block by Kansas all night. And when he did get the ball in the post, the Jayhawks double teamed (and sometimes triple teamed) him. But instead of passing out of the double team--and finding an open man--Hansbrough consistently tried to back his defenders down and manufacture shots. And that resulted in many off balance, bad shots being forced by the AP college basketball Player of the Year (that's when he didn't get the ball stripped from his hands by a defender).

Kansas completely frustrated Hansbrough. But he took himself out of the game with his lack of composure, and the resultant poor decision making.

On the perimeter, Kansas' Brandon Rush and Sherron Collins flat outplayed North Carolina's more heralded guards.

The game was a complete disaster for North Carolina. The Tar Heels' players got out hustled and out played by the Jayhawks. And Roy Williams got out coached by Bill Self--which few would have expected.

Kansas will play Memphis for the National Championship on Monday night. If they play like they did last night, Memphis will have their hands full.

Preview of Tonight's Final Four

By Trashtalk Superstar

Tonight will mark the first time in the history of the NCAA Tournament in which all four #1 seeds will play in the Final Four. I always say that whichever team wins the National Championship isn't necessarily the best team in the country, but is, rather, the team that managed to catch the right breaks at the right time, cause the most match up problems for its opponents, get hot at the right time, get a little lucky and win the NCAA Tournament.

Remember, it's a single elimination tournament. The team that does the best job of surviving and advancing will be crowned the National Champion. Sometimes the best team wins the Tournament, and sometimes a surprise team rises up and wins the Tournament.

But this year all the #1 seeds have advanced to the Final Four. And, unlike some years, there wasn't much controversy over which teams got 1 seeds. All four 1 seeds were clearly the cream of the crop in college basketball for 2008. Which means that it should be one of the most interesting Final Four's in recent history.

But these things rarely go according to plan.

So here's what I expect from tonight's games:

Memphis vs. UCLA

Memphis has been playing like a National Champion. When they're on top of their game, they're practically unstoppable.

Memphis has a team full of incredibly athletic, long (tall for their position and long armed) perimeter players. It's one thing to be athletic. It's another to be long. But if you're as athletic and long as Memphis is, you're probably going to cause some serious match up problems for opposing teams.

What's more, the most important player on the floor in college basketball -- and especially in the NCAA Tournament -- is the point guard. In order to have success in the NCAA Tournament, a team must have consistently good play out of the point guard position (having a good big guy is also important, but everything starts with the PG). In Derrick Rose, Memphis has a point guard who is simply in another league. Although merely a freshman, Rose is playing better than any other PG in the college game.

Derrick Rose is the catalyst for everything Memphis does. When Rose is on his A game (which he has been all Tournament long), Memphis works like a well oiled machine. Derrick Rose has unusual poise, presence, court vision and leadership qualities for someone so young. He's probably already good enough to start at point guard for several NBA teams. And he may just be the most athletic guy on the floor in this year's Final Four.

UCLA also has an outstanding point guard in Darren Collison. And they have some athletic guys too. But, although he's a nice NBA prospect, Collison will struggle with Rose. Derrick Rose is bigger, stronger and even more athletic than Collison is (and Collison is quite athletic). And Rose has the ability to take over a game -- whether it shows in the box score or not (i.e., by attacking defenses, creating for others, pushing the ball in transition, scoring, etc.).

And even though UCLA's other guards and wings are quite good, I expect Memphis' perimeter guys to just be too tall, too long, too athletic and too good for UCLA to handle.

UCLA does have one advantage over Memphis: the presence of freshman big man Kevin Love. Love is big, strong and skilled. If UCLA can prevent Memphis from turning the game into a track meet, Love should cause major match up problems for Memphis.

Memphis' big man, Joey Dorsey, is used to being the biggest, strongest and nastiest guy on the floor. At times in his college career, he's played like a man among boys. But UCLA's Love is bigger and stronger than Dorsey. And Love has been playing like a first team All American recently.

However, Love won't be effective if UCLA is forced into playing an up-tempo game. And, make no mistake, Memphis will look to push the tempo. If Memphis can keep UCLA out of its half court sets and keep Love off the boards, then the game is theirs for the taking.

Although, if Memphis has an Achilles heel, it's their questionable free throw shooting. In the event of a close game, Memphis' poor free throw shooting could seal their fate.

Ultimately, I think that this should be the more exciting of tonight's games. Both of these teams are good enough to win the National Championship. Memphis will look to run; UCLA will look to pound the ball into Love.

Who do I pick to win this game?

This one's a toss-up, as far as I'm concerned. Earlier in the week, I thought that Memphis would cruise to victory. But the more I think about how these teams match up, the more I think that Love could be too much for Memphis to handle.

But if I had to put money on it, I'd say that Memphis should be able to push the ball and force UCLA into playing an up-tempo, full court game. And that should be enough to send UCLA home from its third straight Final Four appearance empty handed (without a National Championship) again.

So, if pushed, I'd have to go with Memphis.


North Carolina vs. Kansas

Everybody knows how good North Carolina is. They're talented at every position. They've got an outstanding point guard. They've got great wing players. And in bruising forward Tyler Hansbrough, they've got the (well deserving) AP college basketball Player of the Year.

When they're on their game, North Carolina is a juggernaut. Hell, they're even great when they're a little off their game.

But don't write Kansas off. The Jayhawks barely got past Davidson in the Elite 8. But that could actually be a plus for them coming into the Final Four.

They looked tight against Davidson. And they probably were tight. After all, how embarrassing would it have been for #1 seed Kansas to let tiny Davidson -- which was a 10 seed, for God's sake -- sneak into the Final Four? Remember, Bill Self's Kansas teams suffered humiliating first round Tournament losses in 2005 (to Bucknell) and in 2006 (to Bradley). Allowing Cinderella Davidson to crash the Final Four would have been bad.

But now that Kansas is in the Final Four, they won't have the underachiever label attached to them anymore. Which should be a liberating thing for the Jayhawks. And that could prompt them to come out loose against North Carolina. After all, practically everyone in the world knows about how great the Tar Heels are this year. And everyone knows all about Tyler Hansbrough. But Kansas hasn't gotten that kind of media shine this year.

So the Jayhawks might feel like they're being overlooked by the media, which could give them an "underdog" mentality. And that might equate to them entering the North Carolina game with a chip on their collective shoulders.

Teams that play loose, as if they have nothing to lose, and that play with chips on their shoulders are dangerous. And few teams are as talented as this Kansas team. If Kansas, with all its talent, plays loose and comes out like it has something to prove against North Carolina, they could very well find themselves playing for the National Championship on Monday night.

But Kansas will need to come out and punch North Carolina in the mouth early on. If they can do that, then all bets are off.

UNC and Kansas both have solid PG play. But I think North Carolina's Ty Lawson has the edge in this match up. Lawson is a certain future NBA player and he's as quick a guard as you'll find.

Kansas small forward Brandon Rush is also a sure fire future NBA player, although he'll be a 2 guard in the league. Rush is long, athletic and explosive. But what sets him apart is the fact that he can score all day long.

Like Rush, North Carolina shooting guard Wayne Ellington is also an athletic, big guard who can flat out score the ball. And he's also a sure-fire NBA prospect. But Ellington is also an outstanding shooter. He's dangerous anytime he has the ball -- no matter where he is on the court.

And I think that North Carolina has the advantage in the front court. Although Kansas' Darrell Aurthur is a wiry, athletic scoring power forward and Sasha Kaun does everything a good college big man should do, North Carolina's Hansbrough should be able to get the best of Kansas. The Jayhawks have a size advantage, and Kaun will probably give Hansbrough and the Tar Heels' front line more trouble than most people will expect. But it won't be enough to stop the AP college player of the year. Advantage: North Carolina.

Prediction: This game should be fun. Don't sleep on Kansas. They could really give North Carolina problems. And if they're loose and play with chips on their shoulders, they could easily win. I think that Kansas has the ability to take North Carolina out of its game. And if that happens, look out.

However, I expect North Carolina to play well and, ultimately, to get past the Jayhawks in a close game (possibly an overtime game). And Roy Williams' Tar Heels will probably go on to win their 5th National Championship (by beating Memphis) in two days.

But that would almost be too predictable.

Bill Self Gets a Final Four of His Own

By Trashtalk Superstar

In yesterday's Arlington Heights, IL, Daily Herald, Lindsay Willhite wrote about the bumpy road that Kansas coach Bill Self has traveled to get to his first Final Four.

Prior to becoming the head basketball coach at Kansas in 2003, Bill Self was the head basketball coach at Illinois. But before he left Illinois, Self recruited all of the players who ended up playing key roles in Illinois' march to the 2005 Final Four. Yet the Illini's success was bittersweet for Self: he had to watch his former Illini players revel in the glory of the '05 Final Four, as his Kansas squad had been eliminated by Bucknell in the Tournament's first round.

And the hits didn't stop in '05. Kansas also lost in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in 2006, this time to Bradley.

What's more, Self's highly regarded Kansas team fell short of the Final Four last year as well (despite having been widely considered a probable Final Four contestant).

So one would expect Bill Self to be having a grand old time, now that he's finally got a team in the Final Four. But Bill Self is, once again, having to deal with the past.

Kansas will face North Carolina in Saturday's opening game of the Final Four. And North Carolina just happens to be coached by Roy Williams -- the guy who Self replaced at Kansas after he (Williams) bolted for Chapel Hill.

Self tells Willhite:

"Fans will make a big deal out of (Kansas vs. Roy Williams)," Self said. "And I said this (Sunday), When people are upset that you leave -- and I've gone through this myself and of course he went through it at a very high level -- it's a backhanded compliment because they didn't want you to."

And Self went on address the "X factor" that helped convince him to leave Illinois for Kansas five years ago:

"I've said all along, the reason we left was not to switch teams," Self said. "If that had been the case, we would have definitely stayed with the kids we knew and kids we loved and a talented group. We had that team coming back plus Charlie Villanueva committed.

"I expected (Illinois' Final Four run) to happen … but it was tough watching them play because I know I could have been a part of that. But it was also rewarding knowing you brought those guys in and that they've thrived in a new system and performed very well.

"I just kept telling myself: Hey, we did it for the long run, and this is the long run."

Final Four Field Set: Memphis and Kansas March On

By Mark Buckets

Today, the final two pieces of the Final Four puzzle were put together, as Memphis and Kansas advanced to San Antonio.

Kansas defeated Davidson 59-57, as Jason Richards' long-range, last-second three pointer sailed wide left of the rim, ending the Wildcats' run at basketball immortality.

Kansas suffocated Stephen Curry for most of the game, shooting 4 of 16 from three point range. However, he did have 25 points.

The most impressive team of the day - outside of Davidson - were the Memphis Tigers.

Roaring to an early lead and shutting the door on two Texas mini-runs, the Tigers were victorious in Houston, 85-67.

The Final Four teams left standing are all number one seeds, a first for Division 1 College Basketball.

In one national semifinal, UCLA will take on Memphis in a battle of contrasting styles - both on and off the court.

The other game pits two teams with truckloads of talent, as North Carolina and coach Roy Williams will meet his former team, the Kansas Jayhawks.

Update: Drive & Dish had promised our readers that we would be covering the 2008 Final Four in San Antonio.

That was the plan. Right up until the NCAA denied us media credentials.

We are extremely disappointed in this development. However, we will do our best to turn this negative into a positive.

That's right, D&D will do our best to cover the culminating event of the college basketball season right here in Chicago.

UCLA, North Carolina Advance to Final Four

By Trashtalk Superstar

Half of the 2008 Final Four field is set. UCLA and North Carolina punched their respective tickets to San Antonio (the host city for the '08 Final Four) with impressive wins on Saturday.

UCLA hammered Xavier 76-57, and North Carolina handled Louisville 83-73. More here.

UCLA joins Duke and Michigan State as the third school to appear in back-to-back-to-back Final Fours since the tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985.

North Carolina will be making its second Final Four appearance in four years, and its third Final Four appearance since 2000.


Edit:

Drive and Dish wants to congratulate UCLA on their achievement. Making it to three straight Final Fours is most impressive, indeed. It takes a combination of talent, experience, leadership and good fortune for a team to make it to a Final Four.

For UCLA to qualify for three consecutive Final Fours (and to do so without having a future NBA franchise player like Carmello Anthony or Greg Oden on their roster) is a testament to head coach Ben Howland and to the program that he's built.

Also:

The fact that UCLA is in the Final Four again means that more people will find Drive and Dish after running image searches for "UCLA Cheerleaders."

Drive and Dish usually gets between 50-60 hits a day from visitors who find our site after having stumbled across the following picture on a search engine (usually Google Images):

2006-'07 UCLA Dance Team at 2007 Final Four

Drive and Dish's subject matter is basketball. We're not trying to be Maxim or FHM. So we normally don't post pictures of "hot chicks" on this site. I put that picture up last year because the UCLA Dance Team is famous, and because their performances have become an integral part of the storied UCLA football and basketball tradition. I wanted to show various images from UCLA's game/victory celebration, and the image of the UCLA Dance Team seemed appropriate at the time.

Another reason that I put it up is because it's just a great picture (not to mention the fact that Drive and Dish ACC/Duke expert and college basketball commentator Mark Buckets had some success with running game on a couple of flirtatious UCLA Dance Team members at the 2006 Final Four in Indianapolis -- but Mark Buckets' girlfriend ultimately found him with the UCLA girls and put an end to his shenanigans). But I never realized just how much people love those UCLA Dance Team girls.

No wonder so many sports websites and blogs put up daily pictures of hot cheerleaders. Hot cheerleader pictures drive traffic to your site (which is why you won't find too many pictures of Yale cheerleaders, Carnegie Mellon, or Columbia Cheerleaders circulating on the net).

Drive and Dish doesn't make content decisions based solely on what we think will drive traffic to our site. If we did, Drive and Dish would be filled -- wall to wall -- with cheerleader pictures, swimsuit shots and photos of various campus "hotties." And our posts would be filled with shtick and flame throwing, controversy generating attacks on players, coaches, teams and fan bases.

This website is about basketball. All about basketball. Nothing more nothing less.

Having said that, I've decided to ease up on the reins for one day and let some of our junior Drive and Dish associates (and interns) have a say in determining the content of this site. Thus, Drive and Dish reluctantly presents more pictures of the UCLA Cheerleaders and the UCLA Dance Team (but after this, that's it!: no more cheerleader pics for you):