UCLA vs. Memphis: Game Day Stories

By Bruin Basketball Report

Stories from outside the L.A. Writer's Beat Beltway

Tigers loose, free in trip to San Antonio: In an odd way, even the news Wednesday night that backup point guard Andre Allen was suspended for failing a drug test seemed to be business as usual. "It's sad to say; I don't want to say we're used to it, but there has been a couple incidents even with myself getting in trouble," said junior Robert Dozier, referencing his one-game suspension in February for violating team rules. "Guys just learn to look past that. You can't worry about it and harp on it, because that'll affect how you play and how your team thinks." Memphis Commercial Appeal

Tigers, fans have reason to be giddy: None of the other Final Four teams answered questions Friday about the places they represent. UCLA center Kevin Love was not asked about Watts. Does this mean that Memphis fans care more about their program than UCLA fans care about theirs? Of course not. But it does speak to the bond between the city and the team, a bond unlike almost any other you'll find. Lousville, maybe. UNLV in the glory days. But UCLA does not have a grip on Los Angeles the way the Tigers have a grip on Memphis this morning. Los Angeles has the Lakers, for one thing. And the beach. Memphis has this basketball team, and this trip to the Final Four, and who knows when it will happen again? Memphis Commercial Appeal

Bruins Have a Fan on the Charts: Last month, when U.C.L.A. went to overtime against Stanford, the Linkin Park guitarist Brad Delson convinced his bandmates to not take the stage for a concert in Las Vegas until the game ended. The move paid off for Delson, who got to watch the Bruins close out a 77-67 victory. “We had to see the end of the game,” Delson, a founding member of the Grammy-winning rock band and a 1999 graduate of U.C.L.A., said in a telephone interview. “It worked out pretty good.” New York Times

Memphis plays no-respect card: "We are here and we are looking forward to this," junior forward Robert Dozier said. "People are saying it is us against the world, but we are just focusing on ourselves. "We are starting to get a little respect, but we are not focusing on that. We are just concerning ourselves with what we do." Topeka Capital Journal

Memphis More Than Party Crasher: It's all so pedigreed. And then there's Memphis. Somebody obviously forgot to call the barons of Kentucky, because John Calipari and his peasants showed up in their place. Ladies and gentlemen, refined taste has left the building. (Sorry about the Elvis reference, but it is Memphis.) "Between UCLA and Memphis, we've won 11 national titles," Calipari said at the Alamodome Friday, a day before his team meets the Bruins in the semifinals. UCLA 11, Memphis 0. Hartford Courant

Bruins all business: "This is a business trip," said Collison, who averages 14.8 points and 3.8 assists for the Bruins. "It is not about the Final Four; it is about the final one. We want to be the final one." Collison said that this year's Final Four mindset is much different than the past two seasons. "The last couple of years we were happy to make it to the Final Four, but this year we are just trying to take it one game at a time," he said. Topeka Capital Journal

Dorsey avoids trash talk on Love: "I watched Love a lot this year for UCLA," Dorsey said. "He's a great passer out of the post. The outlet passes that he throws like Wes Unseld, that's incredible. It's going to be a big key to the team." Somewhere in the Alamodome, Tigers coach John Calipari probably exhaled. That's because in the same building last year, Dorsey had a very different tone when speaking of another center before the Tigers played Ohio State in the South Regional final. Dorsey was asked if he thought he could raise his stock among scouts with his play against Buckeyes center Greg Oden. Oregonian

Brown has connections with all four in semis: The 2008 Final Four might be subtitled the Larry Brown Invitational. Not only did the Long Beach High School product coach the San Antonio Spurs in the ABA many years ago, he has a connection with three of the participating schools and with the coach of the fourth. Brown attended North Carolina, led UCLA to the 1980 championship game and was the coach when Kansas earned its most recent national title in 1988. He also gave Memphis coach John Calipari his first full-time job when he hired him at Kansas in 1983. Newsday

UCLA may be team to beat if Shipp can find his shot: Shipp said he wouldn't qualify it as a slump, but said, "I'm just not shooting the ball as well as I usually do. I'm a shooter . . . I can't second-guess myself.'' It's the outside influences that have been the most annoying thing. He's getting advice from everyone about his shooting. "Man, it is ridiculous,'' he said. "It has been crazy.''The best advice?
"Most of the advice I have received is to shoot more and stay confident,'' he said. He's tried to block out a lot of outside influences. Tucson Citizen Times

Rose's phenomenal tournament run has drawn attention of NBA, nation: Highly regarded for years in basketball circles and a lead-pipe lottery cinch before he took his first dribble for the Tigers, Rose's play over the past few weeks has propelled him into something approaching superstardom. No one would now be surprised to see him go first overall in June's NBA Draft, should he decide to enter it. Memphis Commercial Appeal

(photo credit: AP)

UCLA vs. Florida: Game Day Stories

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By Bruin Basketball Report

Stories from outside the L.A. Writer's Beat Beltway

One of those major differences is in the development of the backcourt
of Arron Afflalo and Darren Collison. Jordan Farmer, who ran the
offense a year ago, is gone. Afflalo started last year's national title
game and had 10 assists, but made just 3 of 10 shots. Collison came off
the bench and missed all three of his shots.
CBS's Clark Kellogg said of Collison and Farmer: "They're different
types of players. Collison is terrific pressuring the ball defensively.
He's got speed that you don't see that often with the ball, as well as
without it." Florida Today 

Collison pointing the way for UCLA: "Collison does a good job of pushing the tempo and running their
offense,'' said Florida's Taurean Green, the player who must deal with
UCLA's best ball-hawking defender. "He also gets up and pressures the
other team's guards.'' In a world where instant playing time is
the most seductive carrot a recruiter can offer, Collison came to
college with a star (Farmar) firmly set in front of him. But with UCLA
and San Diego State being his most active suitors, Collison was up for
the challenge. Fox Sports

And on the other side sits Kentucky's one great hope: that Donovan
wants to be king of what Pitino once called "The Roman Empire of
college basketball." The basketball coach never takes a back seat to
the football coach at Kentucky, never has to wonder whether the games
will sell out, never has to scrounge for media attention. As one prominent college coach put it, "It's still the Yankees." So Donovan is in the power position of deciding whether to revive a
flagship program (and get a huge raise) or further stamp himself as the
program patriarch at Florida (and get a huge raise). ESPN

As rumors and reports swirl about Billy Donovan's imminent departure to
Kentucky, including ESPN.com saying Friday that Wildcats officials are
prepared to offer him an annual raise of more than $1-million next week
as part of a contract that would make him one of the highest-paid
coaches in college basketball, the Florida players insist it hasn't
affected them and the way they prepare for tonight's national semifinal
against UCLA. St. Petersburg Times 

Just consider: Florida coach Billy Donovan, the obvious No. 1
candidate to replace Tubby Smith at Kentucky, was asked nine questions
in his session with the media Friday. Three of them, either directly or
indirectly, were about the Kentucky job. The biggest news to come from the Final Four? ESPN reported
Friday afternoon -- minutes before Donovan went to the podium -- that
Kentucky will offer him a guaranteed $2.8 million annual contract once
Florida's season ends. Memphis Commercial Appeal

Right now Brewer's primary concern is how to stop UCLA's Arron
Afflalo and try to get back to the championship game. A year ago, he
held Afflalo to just 10 points on 3-of-10 shooting. "He's a
great player and has improved a lot," Brewer said of Afflalo. "I just
can't let him get anything easy. I've got to make him work for
everything."Brewer will make him work. You can be certain of that. Fox Sports

Be angry because the Gators are in the Final
Four for the second consecutive season. Fume because they are two
victories away from becoming the first school to win back-to-back NCAA
titles in 15 years. Gnash your teeth because all your Gator-fan friends will be waving orange and blue in your face if that happens. It's OK. Junior forward Joakim Noah wants you to feel that way.He likes being hated.  Florida Times-Union

Before the NCAA Tournament, Wooden said he
hoped for a UCLA-Florida rematch in the national championship. He got
the next best thing: Florida (33-5) plays UCLA (30-5) at 8:47 on
Saturday night in a national semifinal. It is the first time since 1998
that two teams have appeared in consecutive Final Fours. Florida
is attempting to become the first team since Duke in 1992 to repeat as
NCAA champion. Wooden knows a thing or two about repeating. His Bruins
won seven consecutive titles, from 1967 to 1973. “You learn so much on the way,” Wooden said. “It’s much easier to stay on top.” The Olympian

Two years into the greatest run in Florida basketball history and it's still hard to tell who the Gators' money player is. Which, by the way, tickles the dickens out of the Gators. Imagine
the moment. There are 20 seconds to go, and the score is tied, and the
noise is deafening. If you are Florida coach Billy Donovan, who do you
want to have the ball in his hands? St. Petersburg Times

There will be a new NCAA champion this year -- that is, if Electronic Arts' simulation holds true. UCLA
will return to the NCAA basketball final this year to meet Ohio State,
according to a simulation performed by EA on its NCAA March Madness '07
game. Hamilton Spectator

One thing the Florida Gators probably won't
say against UCLA in today's NCAA Tournament national semifinal game is
"give me the ball." Blame coach Billy Donovan for the Gators
being so unselfish. Me-first attitudes often lead to missed
opportunities for open shots and turnovers, something he hopes to avoid
when Florida (33-5) meets UCLA (30-5). Playing unselfish basketball, the Gators defeated the Bruins 73-57 last season in the national championship game. Pensacola News Journal

You want to talk about repeating? Fine. Then allow Florida's Joakim Noah a little repetition. "Talk, talk, talk," the Gators' 6-foot-11
center said Friday afternoon, blinking, doe-eyed, into TV lights and
back at the couple dozen faces surrounding him. "I feel like all we do is talk; let's talk
for a half-hour here, a half-hour there... I have a game to play. To
me, that's why this is so hard." Virginia Pilot

If Florida wins another national title, it will be the first Division I men's team to repeat since Duke in 1991-92. So does that put the Gators among the elite in college hoops, in a class with Kansas, UCLA and some of the other all-time great programs?
Slow down, say the experts. Florida Today

Thomas Hill said he talks often with Christian Laettner and Brian
Davis at this time of year. Hill confessed that the Duke champions from
1991 and 1992 enjoy their status as the only team to win back-to-back
NCAA men's basketball titles since UCLA did it in 1973.With defending
champion Florida two wins from repeating, Hill has a rooting interest
in today's semifinal. "Go UCLA," he said, laughing. "We wish them
[Florida] well, but we don't wish them well." News Observer

(photo credit: AP)