This week, Sports Illustrated focuses on the NCAA Tournament and other stories in an issue which has five regional covers. Here’s what you’ll read this week.
Sports Illustrated Predicts There Will Be Euphoria in Columbus As Ohio State Will Win The National Title For The First Time Since 1967
Kansas, Pittsburgh and San Diego State Will Also Head to Houston
Great Adaptations: How The Best Coaches in The Country Adjust Their Styles Year After Year
NCAA Tournament Insider: What To Watch And How To Watch It
2010 National Championship Game: A Look Back At The Final Two Minutes And What Could Have Been
Nneka and Chiney Ogwumike Bring Sisterhood And A Shot At Title To Stanford(NEW YORK – March 15, 2011) – March Madness is upon us once again in this week’s March 21, 2011, issue of Sports Illustrated, on newsstands tomorrow. Sports Illustrated predicts that Ohio State will defeat Kansas for the 2011 NCAA National Title, capping off a Final Four rounded out by Pittsburgh and San Diego State. Sports Illustrated’s five regional covers feature Duke’s Nolan Smith, UCONN’s Kemba Walker, Ohio State’s David Lighty, Kansas’s Marcus Morris and BYU’s Jimmer Fredette.
In the present age of college basketball, many top college freshmen leave their programs after one season which forces coaches to change their philosophy season after season to adapt to their new personnel. SI.com senior writer Luke Winn examined four schools; Kansas, Kentucky, Texas and Notre Dame, who were succeeding while running offenses which barely resembled what they ran even one season ago.
Winn writes: “The true NCAA tournament contenders are chameleons. Heavy roster turnover in the one-and-done era has made college basketball coaching a high-stakes game of adjustments, in which the winners find ways to match their modus operandi with their current personnel, and the losers fail to settle on their team’s optimal scheme.
Winn writes the following on each team:
Kansas (page tk): (Coach Bill) Self’s high-low motion offense was backcourt-dominated last season; its top two shot takers were point guard Sherron Collins (25.1% of Kansas’s field goal attempts when he was on the floor) and wing Xavier Henry (24.6%), who both left for the NBA. The 2010–11 version of the Jayhawks’ attack now uses role players on the perimeter and runs nearly every possession through the twins from Philadelphia (Marcus and Markeiff Morris), who are often referred to collectively as the Morrii.”Kentucky (page tk): “After Kentucky sent John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins, Eric Bledsoe, Patrick Patterson and Daniel Orton to the first round of the NBA draft, the coaches couldn’t just force the new personnel into the old slots. They had to create new slots and hope it would work. Calipari is even more adept at branding his offense than he is at adjusting it, so it went mostly unnoticed last season that the Wildcats barely used his celebrated dribble-drive motion, an attack he helped popularize that uses few screens and emphasizes guard penetration and spreading the floor.”
Texas (page tk): “After being advised by numerous NBA friends that (Jerry) Sloan’s flex-motion offense was the hardest system to guard due to its high volume of options and emphasis on precise execution, Barnes made a pilgrimage to Salt Lake City last July to meet with Sloan’s top assistant, Phil Johnson, then returned during Utah’s training camp in late September to conduct further X’s-and-O’s study. Barnes melded elements of the Jazz’s system into his own, copying plays, such as Sloan’s signature 1–4 sets. He even borrowed wardrobe tips from Utah, calling Texas equipment manager Rob Lazare from Salt Lake City and telling him to arrange for players to wear identical T-shirts, warmup suits and sneakers on road trips this season, something Sloan’s Jazz did in the name of team unity.”
Notre Dame (page tk): “Indeed, most of Notre Dame’s possessions are guided only by concepts. In a lunchtime film session, assistant Martin Ingelsby says of Brey, ‘I think if he could run zero set plays, that would be his ultimate team.’ Brey concurs. He has close to his ultimate team now, led by the virtuoso point guard play of Hansbrough, the younger brother of former North Carolina star (and current Pacer) Tyler, who transferred to South Bend from Mississippi State in ’08 and is averaging 18.5 points and 4.3 assists.”
To read a full online version of Great Adaptations, click here
On the Tablet:Watch a live feed for each of the 67 NCAA Tournament games by downloading the free March Madness on Demand app. Also,Sports Illustrated’s Seth Davi provides video analysis for each region leading into the tournament.
NCAA Tournament Preview: THE INSIDER – KELLI ANDERSON
One aspect of this tournament hasn’t changed; it’s the final chance for seniors to gain collegiate glory. Senior writer Kelli Anderson explores a tandem and couple of trios of seniors who would love to go out on top, most notably Ohio State.
Anderson writes, “Sure, Big Ten Freshman of the Year Jared Sullinger has grabbed most of the headlines, but the Buckeyes’ driving force over the next three weeks will be their three seniors—David Lighty, Jon Diebler and Dallas Lauderdale. Lighty, a fifth-year swingman whom coach Thad Matta calls ‘the best defender in college basketball,’ played in the 2007 title game, when the Greg Oden–led team lost to Florida 84–75. Since then OSU’s postseasons (NIT, first round, Sweet 16) have been ‘a roller coaster,’ says Lighty. ‘I was spoiled getting to the national championship as a freshman. Hopefully we can end it that way too, only winning it this time.”
To read a full online version of The Insider, click here
On the Tablet: Follow all of the tournament coverage on Luke Winn’s “At the Tourney” blog.
NCAA Tournament Preview: THE INSIDER: IF THE SLIPPER FITS – REBECCA SHORE
Every March, one team emerges as the “Cinderella Story” and makes a run deep into the tournament. Butler University came within inches of winning the 2010 championship game and this year, Sports Illustrated has three schools who could make runs deep into the 2011 tournament:
- Belmont University (30–4, 19–1): The Bruins, led by shooting guard and top scorer Ian Clark (12.4 ppg), punched their ticket with an 87–46 beatdown of North Florida in the Atlantic Sun title game and will face No. 4 seed Wisconsin in Tucson. The nation’s second-most prolific three-point-shooting team (9.4 per game), Belmont can wear down opponents with its depth; 11 players averaged between 10 and 25 minutes. Two of their losses came against Tennessee; after the second, a 66–65 thriller in December, Vols coach Bruce Pearl vowed he would do “everything I can not to schedule them again.”
- Old Dominion (27–6, 14–4): They won a second straight CAA tournament crown. The Monarchs opened the season with a near win against Georgetown and went on to beat Xavier and George Mason. They’ll take on Butler in an 8/9 game in Washington, D.C.
- Utah State (28-3, 15-1): They won the WAC regular-season and tournament titles. The No. 12 seed Aggies’ tough D (they rank sixth in the nation in adjusted defensive efficiency) just might be enough to get them past No. 5 seed Kansas State in Tucson.
To read a full online version of If The Slipper Fits, click here
NCAA Tournament Preview: THE INSIDER: A VIEWER’S GUIDE – PABLO S. TORRE
Given the addition of TBS, TNT and truTV to the television coverage of the NCAA Tournament and not to mention, the new world of digital media that we live in, there are a great deal of different ways to be involved in the tournament this year. Sports Illustrated has provided everyone with a look at how to engage yourself this year:
- Television: For the first time in 73 years every game will be broadcast live on one of four networks: CBS (26 games), TBS (16), truTV (13) and TNT (12). What this means is that besides hearing Charles Barkley’s amusing commentary, no channel will be cutting away from games. You, the viewer, get to pick and stick with whatever budding buzzer beater or blowout you want. And if you need help deciding which games to watch, sign up for alerts from thuuz.com, a free site that measures a game’s excitement based on a 100-point scale.
- Mobile: Your smartphone, iPod touch or iPad is prepared for a daunting reality: Sixteen games this week will tip off before 5 p.m. EDT, and each game until the Elite Eight will overlap with another one. Luckily, the NCAA’s free March Madness on Demand app allows you to stream live video of all 67 games via WiFi or 3G. The games will also be streamed on SI.com. Don’t know if you get truTV? Use MMOD’s My Channels feature under settings, and enter your zip code to see your channel lineup, including games in HD.
- History: Video of every national championship is available, in full, dating to Indiana-Michigan in 1976 at vault.ncaa.com; other notable games since ’82 are also included. Even better? They’re all indexed—blue markers at the bottom identify highlights. (Northern Iowa vs. Kansas: 1:09:24 is the time where Ali Farokhmanesh’s three-pointer will live forever.)
- Just For Fun: Merely watching a game is no longer enough. SI’s Front Row app, which is free through iTunes and Android Market, will allow fans to monitor SI’s bracket; dive into specific pairings; view scores and photographs from games; and through Flipboard (on the iPad only) monitor the Twitter feeds of SI’s legion of college hoops writers, who have been dispatched to every tournament site.
To read a full online version of A Viewers Guide, click here
NCAA Tournament Preview: THE INSIDER: SCOUT’S TAKE – SETH DAVIS
An NBA talent evaluator shares with staff writer Seth Davis which five players have the most to prove this March. The NBA evaluator had the following to say:
- Jimmer Fredette: Everyone likes him, but there’s a wide range of opinions. People knock his defense, but his only job on D is to not get into foul trouble, so it’s hard to judge. Without [suspended forward Brandon] Davies in there he has more of a load to carry. Fredette has played great, but I want to see him do it against the bigger dogs. If he goes up against Pitt or Florida, can he still get it done?
- Kyle Singler: I have a lot of questions about him. He hustles and does the smart stuff, but he has not shot the ball well at times. You wonder about that, you wonder about his athleticism. It doesn’t get any easier at the next level. There are some guys in the NBA who won’t let him be so rough-and-tumble.
- Ben Hansbrough:I think he gets overlooked, but I’ve been to four or five of his games when he has been the best player on the court—and that’s against some really good teams. If he can keep scoring 20 or more points every game, it has to really help him. He seems to be a guy who wants to play on a big stage, so here’s his chance.
- Kawhi Leonard: He does a lot of good things, but he has trouble scoring. Sometimes he can make plays for other guys, but there are a lot of tall wing players in the NBA who can do that but are better than him. Still, he has had a heck of a year. If he has a bad tournament, he could slip to the second round, but if he kicks butt, he could be a lottery pick.
- Tyler Honeycutt: He looks like an NBA player out there, but he’s a little too laid-back for me. I’ve seen him have games where he didn’t shoot it very well. He gets rebounds and can score on putbacks, but he needs to get after it more. I know he’s hoping to turn pro. He’s an intriguing player, so if he could show that effort in a big game, you might want to take a chance on him.
To read a full online version of Scout’s Take, click here
NCAA Tournament Preview: A FLING AND A PRAYER – TIM LAYDEN
Last season’s NCAA Tournament Final between Duke and Butler had a memorable finish when Butler’s star sophomore Gordon Hayward, currently of the NBA’s Utah Jazz launched a half-court heave that came so close to being the most historic shot in the history of the tournament. Senior writer Tim Layden analyzes all that transpired in the final two minutes and four seconds of the game including a Hall of Fame Coach, Mike Krzyzewski, taking a momentous gamble on a gut feeling and a senior, Brian Zoubek, bringing a defining moment to a career that was scrutinized up and down throughout his four years in Durham.
Layden spoke with players, coaches and fans on both sides of the last shot including Duke associate head coach Chris Collins who was a sophomore guard on Duke’s 1994 team which lost a close national championship game to Arkansas. Says Collins, “Of course, the ball was in the air for about 10 minutes, and it looked good…human nature, I’m thinking about destiny and Butler and Indianapolis. Who wouldn’t be? My heart was up in my throat. Come on, don’t let this be a fairy tale.”
Almost a year later, it’s not the half-court heave that still bothers Hayward but rather the shot he missed with 3.6 seconds left in the game which would have given Butler a one point lead. Hayward says, “Man, I wish I could have that one back…I wish I could just go back and shoot that shot once more.”
To read a full online version of A Fling And A Prayer, click here
On the Tablet: The final two minutes of this game will be on display along with a photo gallery of the best games in tournament history. Senior writer Tim Layden discusses the incredible events from the last two minutes of the 2011 NCAA title game in a podcast interview with media writer Richard Deitsch (@richarddeitsch).
NCAA Tournament Preview: THE CARDINAL KIN – KELLI ANDERSON
The Stanford Cardinals ended UCONN’s Women’s 90-game winning streak in December and now have their sights set on bringing a national championship to Stanford for the first time in 20 years. Behind their current 22-game winning streak, where they have beaten Pac-10 opponents by an average of 30.4 points a game, are two sisters who are as accomplished student-athletes as you will find in the NCAA. Nneka is junior All-American and her younger sister Chiney is the Pac-10 Freshmen of the Year. Although different personalities, both Nneka and Chiney were student body president of Cypress-Fairbanks High, top students in their class, All-Americans in Basketball and Volleyball and did incredible philanthropy work.
Ify, their mother says that Nneka and Chiney complete each other and have been teammates long before sports were a part of their lives. Says Ify, “I’ve never witnessed Nneka and Chiney have any kind of negative interaction with each other, which blows my mind.”
Says Stanford head coach Tara VanDerveer, “This group is very unselfish, they play really hard, and we don’t have any drama, we’re not the biggest or fastest team, but we’re as together as any team in the country. I think Nneka and Chiney’s actual sisterhood has elevated the team’s sisterhood.”
To read a full online version of The Cardinal Kin, click here
On the Tablet: In addition to Stanford, you can see four additional teams that Sports Illustrated feels could make a run to the 2011 NCAA Women’s Final Four.
And that’s it.
