Basketball Update

Tonight I'm watching the Notre Dame v Connecticut women's semifinal, where it looks like UConn is going to take their first of 4 games against the Irish this year.  Unfortunately for Notre Dame it's the most important of the 4 games.  There's still a lot of time left, so I know I shouldn't count ND out just yet.

So Louisville seems to have both their men and women in the national championship.  Was it Florida that did that last?  I suppose I could look it up, but not tonight.

On the men's side, Louisville seems to be the team of destiny.  Everybody seems to be rooting for them, with their very own George Gipp giving them motivation.  Kevin Ware's broken leg and the way it has inspired his teammates makes a nice story, but I'm getting a bit weary hearing it.

Michigan's been playing great, so they can't be dismissed out of hand.  They handled Syracuse in the way I thought Indiana should have, if Indiana had played the way they normally play.  Disappointing.

Next year's going to be very different.  Indiana is almost certain to lose both Victor Oladipo and Cody Zeller to the NBA.  I think Victor most definitely should go this year - I don't see his draft value going any higher if he stays another season.  Cody is a bit different, as he had a bit of a disappointing year.  If Cody came back next year and became the dominant center and national player of the year people thought he'd be this year, he'd be the #1 pick in next year's draft.

But Zeller's probably a top-10 pick this year, so he'll probably go pro.  Perhaps a bit selfishly, I'd like to see him come back next year and help the Hoosiers get that national title while proving he can be tougher and more dominant inside.  Michigan will lose at least 2 or 3 of their guys to the NBA, regardless of the outcome of that national championship game.  Trey Burke from Michigan seems like he'll definitely enter the draft.  Many of the top players from the Big 10 are going pro, so the league will look a lot different next year.

So as I finish up this post, there's a little over 5 minutes left in the game, and Notre Dame's closed the gap but still has a lot of work to do if they're going to pull this one out.  I'd like to see them get the title (UConn's got enough of them), but won't lose sleep either way.