When you think of an “all-around” basketball player, Pinson fits the bill.  He can shoot, pass and defend.  Being a jack of all trades, its easy to see why Rivals recruiting service has him ranked as the #15 overall player in the 2014 class.  Pinson was expected to just narrow his list down in the near future so this announcement comes as a bit of a shock to recruiting analysts.

Indiana and UNC are the schools you will hear most analysts spit out, in reference to where Pinson will end up but the young man grew up a Duke fan and you can never count Coach K out of a recruitment.  The only official visit Theo has made to any college is to Indiana and that will be the only one he takes.  Aside from multiple un-official visits to Chapel Hill to watch games, UNC never got him on campus for an official.  That would seem to be an advantage for Indiana given Roy Williams’ track record recently when he gets kids on campus for official visits (see Joel Berry and Justin Jackson) during their junior year.  Both Berry, a 6’1 PG and Jackson a 6’7 forward have committed to UNC.

This recruitment just feels like a 3-horse race with Indiana leading as they make the turn down the stretch.  We all will find out for sure Wednesday afternoon.

Luke Hancock has had a pretty good week after winning the Most Outstanding Player Award for the Final Four.  He takes some time to join The Drive to discuss what his past few days have been like.

“Its kind of a dream come true its something you dream about, I really wasn’t expecting any it”

With Luke’s father under going what the family called “an extremely serious ailment”  we ask the Louisville junior how he played so well with so much going on personally .

“When you get out there its easier to block things out I think any player will tell you when you get out on the court its easier to block things out.  Its like your special place”

This most memorable moment of this tournament will be Kevin Ware’s broke leg in the Elite 8 game against Duke.  So we ask just how he and the team were able to rally back and win the National Championship.

“I think its all on Kevin really…he just started talking about the team and how he wanted us to win the game and that he was going to be fine”

The state of North Carolina is by far one of the most fanatical when it comes to college basketball but the bluegrass state of Kentucky isn’t far behind.

“We don’t have any pro teams in Kentucky..so people love college basketball”

Finally we talk about Louisville’s future as a program and if they can repeat next year.

“I’d like to think so we have a lot of guys that can really play, we have two McDonalds All-Americans coming back”

“We have a lot of good pieces to the puzzle coming back next year then were going to add some more good pieces.  Were going to be a good team next year for sure”

Most pundits expected Louisville to be in the national championship game, but no one expected Luke Hancock to play an important role. The Cardinals roster is full of stars, Russ Smith had an excellent tournament before the Final Four, Peyton Siva is a strong point guard and center Gorgui Dieng is a projected first-round draft pick. Luke Hancock was just a sharpshooter off the bench. And then he became the first bench player to ever win the Most Outstanding Player honors in the Final Four.

The junior forward from Roanoke, Virginia was a solid, yet not spectacular, player off the bench this season. He provided some scoring punch at times, knocking down his threes at a 40 percent clip and averaging 8 points per game. His scoring came in waves; five points in one game, 19 the next. He put together a solid streak in the Big East tournament, averaging 11 points per game.

He seemed to lose that momentum early in the tournament. Through the first four games, he shot only 33 percent from 3 and averaged less than 7 points per game. In the Final Four, the sharpshooting Hancock took his game to another level. Against Wichita State, Hancock knocked down three of his five three-pointers and led the Cardinals with 20 points in the 72-68 win. In the National Championship, Hancock made all five of his threes and seven free throws to lead Louisville with 22 points.

His shooting helped pull the Cardinals back into the game after they fell behind by double digits early to Michigan. At one point, he scored 14 straight points for Louisville. Impressively, he managed to play this well while dealing with off-the-court personal struggles of having an ill parent and after witnessing his teammate suffer a gruesome injury in the Elite 8 round.

It’s easy to write off Hancock’s streak as just a player getting hot at the right time but to put in perspective: he is the first bench player in 75 years to earn the Most Outstanding Player honors. He shot 80 percent from beyond the arc in the Final Four and bailed his teammates out of a dangerous hole in the title game.

Louisville’s championship run has plenty of storylines, from their Hall of Fame head coach, to the standout stars and the gruesome injury to Kevin Ware that captivated the country, but it was an oft-overlooked, sharpshooting reserve who stole the stage in the biggest game of all.

Mark Chalifoux is a college basketball contributor for CBS Local Digital Media and can be reached at mark.chalifoux@gmail.com and @markchalifoux on Twitter.

ATLANTA (97.1 The Ticket) ”Everybody’s down a little,” an obviously emotional Mitch McGary said in the locker room after Michigan’s NCAA championship loss to Louisville.

McGary, whose high-flying play earned praise from the Fab Five’s Jalen Rose, among many others, said his only plan for Tuesday was to “wake up and get back at it.”

But he sidestepped one big question — Will he return to Michigan next season?

“I don’t really know,” McGary said. “I’m not going to answer that question right now.”

Discussing Michigan’s special season led by a roster of young players, McGary said the loss at the end doesn’t shade the whole year, saying, “Just to go through the season and make it this far, to fight through that adversity, is just a tremendous accomplishment for this team.”

He added the coaches told players after the game to keep their heads high. “A lot of the coaches, players said they wish they could have been part of this, going off that, that’s something special when people like Cazzi Russell, the Fab Five are saying that and wishing they could have been part of this,” McGary said.

By Andrew Kahn

The preseason No. 2 team finishes 35-5 and wins 16 in a row to close the season, culminating with a national championship. No dominant team in college basketball this year? Maybe not like Kentucky last season, but Louisville is certainly a worthy champion. On Monday, the Cardinals beat Michigan 82-76 for their third title in school history.

Hancock saves Cards, again

In going with the theme of a wild, unpredictable season, Luke Hancock became the first substitute to win the Final Four’s Most Outstanding Player. After scoring 20 points to save Louisville against Wichita State in the semifinals, Hancock came off the bench in the first half with his team down 12 and drained four straight three-pointers. The junior transfer from George Mason finished 5-for-5 from deep and scored 22.

Spike!

If Hancock’s performance was unexpected, Spike Albrecht’s was downright shocking. With Trey Burke on the bench with two fouls, Albrecht, whose previous career high was 7 points, scored 17 in the first half. He nailed all four of his three-point attempts in the half, including one from several steps beyond the line. Whether Burke should have been on the bench is a different story. He picked up his second foul with 11:09 left in the first half and sat until halftime. Albrecht ended up with 28 minutes to Burke’s 26.

Missing McGary

The emergence of Mitch McGary—his first start came in the Tournament opener—gave Michigan the inside scoring presence it had been lacking all season. He scored in double digits in each of the previous five Tournament games, including two 20+ point efforts. On Monday night, however, he was limited to just 6 points. Like Burke, McGary had to sit with some foul trouble, but he never looked as comfortable as he had in previous Tourney games.

The King of Kentuckys

Rick Pitino became the first coach to win national titles at two schools (he also won at Kentucky in 1996). The championship capped off an unbelievable week for Pitino, who was elected to the Hall of Fame, had a horse qualify for the Kentucky Derby, and saw his son get a Big Ten head coaching job. Next order of business might be a tattoo for the 60-year-old, who was coaxed into promising to get one should Louisville win it all.

Rematch?

Louisville’s loses a critical player, point guard Peyton Siva, and it’s possible that juniors Gorgui Dieng and Russ Smith declare for the NBA draft. If they return, Louisville will be dangerous again. Michigan would certainly be the preseason No. 1 if everybody comes back. None of Michigan’s rotation players are seniors, but sophomore Trey Burke is expected to leave, and Tim Hardaway, Jr., Glenn Robinson III, and even McGary could join him. It will be an anxious time for Michigan fans as the draft deadline approaches.

Andrew Kahn is a contributor to CBS Local who has written for ESPN the Magazine and The Wall Street Journal. He writes about college basketball and other sports at AndrewJKahn.com. Email him at andrewjkahn@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter at @AndrewKahn.

Hundreds streamed onto Cardinal Boulevard after Louisville’s 82-76 victory over Michigan on Monday night, screaming, dancing and lighting off small fireworks in revelry that lasted into the early hours.

The celebration got briefly out of hand as it was winding down, with an attack on a police officer that prompted authorities to send in other officers using riot gear. Students quickly fled the area but several scuffles ensued and bottles were thrown, to which police responded with tear gas. Order was restored about 2:30 a.m. after an armored carrier was brought in.

The citywide party could be repeated Tuesday night if the Cardinals’ women’s team beats Connecticut for the NCAA championship in New Orleans. For now, the area is savoring the Cardinals’ men’s achievement.

“This means everything,” said Connor Millay, 19, a Northern Kentucky University student who traveled to Louisville despite facing two tests Tuesday.

“I’ve been waiting for this my whole life,” Millay said. “My dad experienced this. My grandpa experienced this. I needed one of these.”

Elsewhere around town, Cardinals faithful partied in dormitories and around campus, in bars and restaurants and in living rooms after Louisville claimed its third national championship.

Most chose the quiet comforts of home over the noisy crowds that assembled in the Fourth Street Live! entertainment district. But when Louisville emerged victorious at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, emotions were felt everywhere.

“We’ve been waiting for this for the past 27 years,” said Joe Barnes, 61, a University of Louisville alumnus who walked among the thousands of students on Cardinal Boulevard. “This has been one of the best teams that U of L has had. Ever. They’ve showed more spirit, more hustle. They believe in each other.”

Standing ready were a combination of Louisville and campus police and sheriff’s deputies, prepared for large crowds and celebrations that have been commonplace since the Cardinals reached the Final Four and then beat Wichita State in Saturday night’s semifinal.

University spokesman John Drees said more than 5,000 people were estimated to be packed onto Cardinal Boulevard.

“Everybody’s happy,” he said. “Everybody’s celebrating.”

He said police arrested 10 people on charges of drunken and disorderly conduct. Several were injured, two on falls and one with a cut foot.

However, things got out of hand around Cardinal Boulevard and Third Street as the celebration was winding down.

Riot police were called in after an officer was attacked. Students quickly fled the area but several scuffles ensued and bottles were thrown, forcing police to use tear gas. The armored carrier was brought in and order was restored before 2:30 a.m.

The citywide party could be repeated Tuesday night if the Cardinals’ women’s team beats Connecticut for the NCAA championship in New Orleans. For now, the area is savoring the Cardinals’ men’s achievement.

“It’s huge,” said freshman Paul DeNeve. “We have not only won tonight but the women’s team plays tomorrow.”

Including the football team’s Sugar Bowl win over Florida on Jan. 2, he said, “we are arguably one of the nation’s best sports universities right now.”

The men’s championship was a nervous watch for Louisville’s fan base, which saw the Cardinals trail by 12 in the first half before rallying to 38-37 at the break. Louisville eventually went ahead and led by 10 in the second, withstanding Michigan’s attempts to come back.

At halftime, the near-capacity crowd at Cluckers bar was on their feet, leaping in unison after the Cardinals erased that deficit. That boosted confidence in closing the deal on Louisville’s first title in a generation — not to mention, anticipation for how to toast it.

“It’s going to be a party,” said Elliott Benjamin, 21, of Jeffersonville, Ind. “Not like Kentucky (last year). But it’s going to be something.”

Krissy Van Laan and friend Lindsay McDaniel had their spots at the Ri’ Ra’ Irish Pub, staying all the way through and witnessing the mayhem that unfolded immediately afterward.

“Everybody was so excited. It was unbelievable,” Van Laan said. “Once it got down to 4 seconds left, I knew we had it. People were running out in the streets and excited. This is just unbelievable.”

Police officers were stationed in areas where rowdy outdoor celebrations were expected, as they were on Saturday night after Louisville’s win over Wichita State in the national semifinal.

Louisville assistant chief Kenton Bucker said additional police were moved to a two-block area of West Broadway because of fighting and disorderly behavior there this past weekend. There were nine arrests in the area, and crowds stayed out until around 1 a.m.

Buckner said about 200 police officers, sheriff’s deputies, corrections officers and medical staff were working at sites where crowds were likely to gather.

(© Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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Luke Hancock’s knack for making big shots was on display well before he transferred to Louisville.

In 2011, Hancock played for George Mason and knocked down a late three-pointer to beat Villanova in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

The stage was big, but Hancock wanted more.

He craved something bigger.

He finally got it last night.

Trailing by 12 late in the first half against Michigan in the national title game, Hancock single-handedly propelled Louisville back to within striking distance. The stone cold wing knocked down four three-pointers in the first half, and got the Cardinals to within a single point of the Wolverines at half time.

Hancock finished with 22 points and he only took six shots.

Louisville finished with a national championship.

“These are the 13 toughest guys I’ve ever coached,” said Louisville coach Rick Pitino, who became the first coach in history to win titles at two different schools.

But the toughest guy of the bunch is Hancock.

Peyton Siva was the heart of this team, but the feisty senior point guard doesn’t have Hancock’s ability to make big shots.

Chane Behanan tallied a double-double (15 points, 12 rebounds), and was relentless on the backboards, but he doesn’t have Hancock’s consistency.

The former George Mason wing was named a co-captain for Louisville before he ever played a game for the Cardinals.

He’s a special player that continues to play special in big situations.

The NCAA Tournament is about providing a forum for student athletes to leave a mark.

That’s just what Hancock did over the last two games.

By winning Most Outstanding Player at the Final Four, Hancock now has a seat at the table alongside college basketball royalty.

Pitino has called his crafty wing “Cool Hand Luke.”

After a performance like this, who could really blame him?

Your thoughts on the NCAA title game? Sound off in the comments!

Luke Hancock produced another huge game off the bench, scoring 22 points, and Pitino became the first coach to win national titles at two schools when relentless Louisville rallied from another 12-point deficit to beat Michigan 82-76 in the NCAA championship game Monday night.

This title came on the same day Pitino was announced as a member of the latest Hall of Fame class, a couple of days after his horse won a big race on the way to the Kentucky Derby, and a few more days after his son got the head coaching job at Minnesota.

This was the best feeling of all. The Cardinals (35-5) lived up to their billing as the top overall seed in the tournament, though they sure had to work for it.

Louisville trailed Wichita State by a dozen in the second half of the national semifinals, before rallying for a 72-68 victory. This time, they fell behind by 12 in the first half, though a stunning spurt at the end of the period wiped out the entire deficit.

“I had the 13 toughest guys I’ve ever coached,” said Pitino, who plans to follow through on a promise he made to his players if they won the title – by getting a tattoo.

No one was tougher than Hancock, named the most outstanding player. He came off the bench to hit four straight 3-pointers after Michigan got a boost from an even more unlikely player.

Freshman Spike Albrecht made four straight from beyond the arc, too, blowing by his career high before the break with 17 points. Coming in, Albrecht was averaging 1.8 points a game and had not scored more than seven all season.

While Albrecht didn’t do much in the second half, Hancock finished what he started for Louisville. He buried another 3 from the corner with 3:20 remaining to give the Cardinals their biggest lead, 76-66.

Michigan wouldn’t go away, but Hancock wrapped it up by making two free throws with 29 seconds left.
While Pitino shrugged off any attempt to make this about him, there was no doubt the Cardinals wanted to win a national title for someone else – injured guard Kevin Ware.

Watching again from his seat at the end of the Louisville bench, his injured right led propped up on a chair, Ware smiled and slapped hands with his teammates as they celebrated in the closing seconds, the victory coming just 30 miles from where he played his high school ball.

Any pain he was feeling from that gruesome injury in the regional final, when he landed awkwardly, snapped his leg and was left writhing on the floor with the bone sticking through the skin, was long gone as he hobbled gingerly onto the court with the aid of crutches, backing in a sea of confetti and streamers.
Louisville again came out wearing Ware’s No. 5 on the back of their warmup jerseys, which said “Ri5e to the Occasion” on the front. When the title belonged to the Cardinals, Ware put on a championship cap and got a big hug from Pitino. Then, they lowered the basket so the injured player could cut a strand out of the net.
This one belonged to him as much as anyone on the court.

“These are my brothers,” Ware said. “They got the job done. I’m so proud of them, so proud of them.”

Peyton Siva added 18 points for the Cardinals, who closed the season on a 16-game winning streak, and Chane Behanan chipped in with 15 points and 12 rebounds as Louisville slowly but surely closed out the Wolverines (31-8).

Michigan was in the title game for the first time since the Fab Five lost the second of two straight championship games in 1993. Players from that team, including Chris Webber, cheered on the latest group of young stars.

But, like the Fab Five, national player of the year Trey Burke and a squad with three freshman starters came up short in the last game of the season.

The first half might’ve been the most entertaining 20 minutes of the entire tournament.

Burke started out on fire for Michigan, hitting his first three shots and scoring seven points to match his output from the semifinal victory over Syracuse, when he made only 1-of-8 shots.
Then, when Burke picked up his second foul and had to go to the bench for the rest of the half, Albrecht took control. The kid whose nickname comes from his first pair of baseball spikes showed he’s a pretty good hoops player, knocking down one 3-pointer after another to send the Wolverines to a double-digit lead.
When Albrecht blew by Tim Henderson with a brilliant hesitation move, Michigan led 33-21 and Louisville was forced to call timeout. The freshman was mobbed on the Michigan bench, like the Wolverines had already won the national title, with one teammate waving a towel in tribute.
Not so fast. Not against Louisville.

The Cardinals kept coming back.

“We just went into war right there with a great Michigan team,” Hancock said. “We needed a rally and we’ve been doing it for a couple of games straight, being down. We just had to wait and make our run.”

Burke, who played only six minutes in the first half because of foul trouble, finished with 24 points and did his best to give Michigan its first championship since 1989. But he couldn’t do it alone. Albrecht was held scoreless after the break, and no one else posted more than 12 points for the Wolverines.
Still, it was quite a run for a fourth-seeded team that knocked off No. 1-seeded Kansas with the greatest comeback of the tournament, rallying from 14 points down in the second half to beat the Jayhawks in the round of the 16.

But they came up against the ultimate comeback team in the final.

“I’ve had a lot of really good teams over the years, and some emotional locker rooms, and that was the most emotional we’ve ever had,” Michigan coach John Beilein said. “The team unity we had, the sacrifice we had from five seniors who did not get to play very much, to these young guys buying into the team concept.

“We feel bad about it. There are some things we could have done better and get a win, but at the same time, Louisville is a terrific basketball team. We have not seen that quickness anywhere.”

Louisville had already pulling off a stunning rally in the Big East championship game – down by 16 in the second half, they won by 17 – and another against Wichita State. They surged back again behind their own ace off the bench.

Hancock matched Albrecht from the 3-point stripe. Then, trapping the youngster and knocking the ball away, he set up a fast break that ended with Siva flipping up a lob that Montrezl Harrell slammed through for a dunk, capping a stunning 16-3 run in less than 4 minutes that gave the Cardinals their first lead of the night, 37-36.

Glenn Robinson III made two free throws with two seconds left to give Michigan a 38-37 lead at halftime.
But everyone knew this game was just getting started.
And when it was done, Pitino, Ware and the Cardinals were celebrating in the middle of the mammoth Georgia Dome, assuring the national title will stay in the bluegrass another year.

Last season, it was Kentucky winning it all, the same team that gave Pitino his first title in 1996.
Now, he’s got another one – right down the road in Louisville.

(© Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

ANN ARBOR (WWJ) - University of Michigan basketball fans in Ann Arbor took the heartbreaking loss as well as could be expected.

Inside the M Den, the crowd was in high spirits, and just like their home team — fans tried every trick in the book to bring home the title game.

From hat tricks to Hail Marys, students like Thomas Stephenson remained hopeful up until the last seconds that U-M had a fighting chance.

“Trey Burke needs to start heating up, that’s why we’ve got the rally caps on,” he said.

And while the prayers did seem to help bring the score up in the final half, all the spirit fingers in the room weren’t enough to bring home the victory. Louisville rallied from a 12-point deficit to beat Michigan 82-76 in the NCAA championship game Monday night.

Outside, fans began to trickle out and tell their tale of sadness. Student Daniel Cohen said he’s coping, but it’s tough.

“We had a great run, though. I’m not depressed by their effort, they made a great run, I mean, no one expected this, I didn’t expect this,” he said.

The bittersweet ending for some students carried over to the campus’ Diag. Ann Arbor police made three arrests and responded to a handful of furniture fires, but otherwise said it was just a typical night.

For many students, however, it was a night to remember.

“We’re on hunger strike until we win the championship. It’s about the ring, it’s about that championship. We’ve got to get that ‘W,’ you know what I’m saying,” said sophomore Connor Anderson.

MORE: Louisville Beats Michigan 82-76 For NCAA Title

Fans Celebrate Tourney Run, Look Forward To Next Year

A Great Night For Michigan Basketball

By Andrew Kahn

Tonight, the No. 1 overall seed takes on a team once ranked No. 1 and now playing its best basketball. On one side is Louisville, the favorite when the field was announced, trying to keep the national championship trophy in the state of Kentucky. On the other is Michigan, riding a crop of underclassmen that rival the Fab Five. Louisville’s men will vie for the title on Monday night, and the women play in the title game on Tuesday.

Cards find a way

Peyton Siva was the preseason Big East Player of the Year, but has been inconsistent all season. Louisville has found ways to win when its point guard doesn’t play well. They beat Oregon in the Sweet 16 despite Siva tallying as many turnovers as points (four). He went 1-for-9 against Wichita but the Cards won again, 72-68, to reach the title game. A question Louisville fans would rather not see answered: Can Louisville beat Michigan if Siva struggles? He doesn’t need to outplay Trey Burke, but he can’t disappear either.

Reserves shine for Wolverines

Back-up point guard Spike Albrecht may have played the most impactful four minutes of the college basketball season on Saturday night. He nailed two contested three-pointers—one from outside the Georgia Dome—in the first half and helped Michigan handle Syracuse’s full-court press in the final minutes. Caris LeVert had played 15 minutes all tournament before logging 21 minutes against Syracuse. He hit 3 of his 4 shots (including two threes), grabbed four rebounds, and played solid defense in Michigan’s 61-56 win. Both Albrecht and LeVert are freshmen.

Shockers can’t withstand run

Wichita was able to hold off Ohio State’s furious rally in the final minutes of the regional final. Such was not the case on Saturday, as the Shockers lost their 12-point lead over the final 13 minutes and lost 72-68. Wichita’s hot three-point shooting went cold (6 for 20) and two Louisville reserves—Luke Hancock and Tim Henderson—drained huge threes during the run. A controversial jump-ball call that gave possession to Louisville in the final seconds didn’t help. While many of the high-profile jobs have already been filled, there is still speculation that Gregg Marshall may land somewhere else after this magical run.

Orange offense stalls

Fifteen seconds left, Syracuse down three. Brandon Triche had just fouled out, joining fellow backcourt starter Michael Carter-Williams on the bench. Who would Jim Boeheim turn to for a bucket? After a timeout, freshman reserve Trevor Cooney attempted a low-percentage shot that was rebounded by Michigan. Game over. The Orange overcame subpar offensive performances against California and Indiana, but couldn’t against Michigan. Due to graduation and potential early departures, offense will once again be a question mark for ’Cuse next year in the ACC.

Title game preview

Louisville opens as a small favorite against the young Wolverines. Louisville’s depth is definitely a concern; the fact that Tim Henderson was counted on to make baskets against Wichita is telling. While the Cardinals don’t rely on turnovers as much as VCU, a team Michigan dominated in the second round, they still like to play fast and turn defense into offense. Michigan protects the ball better than any team in the country. Power forward Chane Behanan is a tough matchup for most teams, but Glenn Robinson III is especially vulnerable in the paint. How he holds up will be a key to the game. Louisville’s Gorgui Dieng is taller than Mitch McGary, but McGary is stronger and playing with a lot of confidence. If he can get Dieng in foul trouble, it would open up more driving lanes for Michigan.

Andrew Kahn is a contributor to CBS Local who has written for ESPN the Magazine and The Wall Street Journal. He writes about college basketball and other sports at
http://andrewjkahn.com
. Email him at andrewjkahn@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter at @AndrewKahn.

  Okay, enough complaining. I like Louisville to beat Michigan tonight. There’s no way Russ Smith and Peyton Siva struggle like they did on Saturday, and Gorgui Dieng doesn’t even score. Louisville looked nervous/shell shocked/cold on Saturday. I expect them to play looser tonight. I also expect Michigan’s Trey Burke to have a much beeter game too, and for mitch McGary to score more than 10 points, but in the end I think the pace that Louisville will play at, plus their second half defensive pressure will be the difference. Louisville 72, Michigan 67.

  And finally I wish Chris Webber would show up and support his alma mater tonight. Its the first time in 20 years that Michigan has played for the national championship and he should be there. I understand the senseless criticism he still receives over calling that timeout bothers him, and more importantly, the payments he received from rogue booster Ed Martin is something that he refuses to talk about. But its past time to be the better man. Be an example to others on what not to do when you are a supersta college athlete. Nobody carries more clout in Michigan basketball history than Chris Webber does. Him showing up in the Georgia Dome would be wonderful for college basketball.

TZ

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The season that none of us could predict is set to give us a title game that none of us will forget.

In a year where college basketball was dominated by unpredictability, two high-level schools — Louisville and Michigan, led by two high-level coaches in Rick Pitino and John Beilein – are set to give us a battle tonight that should be everything that everyone who follows the sport deserves.

Pitino is in many ways the standard in the coaching profession.

He took Providence to the Final Four in 1987. He made Kentucky a dominant force in the 1990s before heading to the NBA. And now, in his third trip to the Final Four at Louisville, he’s chasing the one thing that’s eluded him since he returned to college coaching — a national championship.

Beilein meanwhile, is a throwback. This is a man that’s never been an assistant, and is still known as a guy who cuts in his own grass. He’s a coach’s coach, and maybe that’s why so many people have such an affinity for him.

Beilein has reached the pinnacle of his profession by doing the only thing he knows — grinding.

He won at Canisius, and then Richmond, before making his mark nationally at West Virginia. When Michigan called, Beilein didn’t even look at the campus before accepting the job.

Now, he’s going against Pitino for the sport’s richest prize.

Louisville has been the best team in college basketball for the majority of the season, but the tragic loss of reserve guard Kevin Ware, who suffered a gruesome leg injury against Duke, affects the Cardinals’ perimeter depth.

Will Michigan benefit?

No question.

The Wolverines have the best back court in college basketball in Trey Burke and Tim Hardaway Jr., while burly big man Mitch McGary has blossomed into a burgeoning prospect.

Louisville is the the team that was expected to be here. Michigan is the team that destiny put here.

Down 12 in the Sweet 16 against Kansas, the Wolverines got a deep three from Burke to tie the game late in regulation and send it to overtime. Ever since then Michigan has been like a runaway train.

Is Louisville the team to slow it down?

We can’t wait to find out.

TALE OF THE TAPE

LOUISVILLE

Record: 34-5

Coach: Rick Pitino

Starting Five: Peyton Siva, Russ Smith, Wayne Blackshear, Chane Behanan, Gorgui Dieng

Top Reserve: Luke Hancock

Strength: Front court depth

Weakness: Half court offense

MICHIGAN

Record: 31-7

Coach: John Beilein

Starting Five: Trey Burke, Tim Hardaway Jr., Nik Stauskas, Glenn Robinson III, Mitch McGary

Top Reserve: Jordan Morgan

Strength: Outside shooting

Weakness: Front court depth

PREDICTION: LOUISVILLE 71, MICHIGAN 67

Who do you have in Monday night’s title game? Make your prediction in the comments!

Vegas says Louisville will win by four. It’s familiar territory for this young Michigan team; they’ve been the underdog since late in the regular season. Many people looked at South Dakota State as a possible Cinderella story; Shaka Smart’s VCU was going to roll over the maize and blue. Then Kansas was the impossible opponent, then the Gators were going knock them out. National media carried on about the Syracuse zone like they were 1985 Bears and gave Michigan little chance, a seeming foregone conclusion that Michigan’s offensive firepower would be smothered under a blanket of stifling defense. 

Michigan wasn’t always the underdog. Through the early months of the regular season, the Wolverines looked like they could be built for a deep run in the tournament. The schedule was helpful, they faced tomato soup cans for the first two months of the season. They hung 100 points on Slippery Rock, 88 on CMU, 94 on Northwestern, 95 on Iowa. They looked unstoppable at times but many said the same thing: They haven’t played anyone yet.

The first stiff competition came in Columbus on January 13th, when the Buckeyes brought them the season’s first loss. It was only a preview, because the last two months of the season were far less kind. They lost to Indiana and Wisconsin before they went into the Breslin Center, where MSU dismantled them. The twenty point margin in the final score doesn’t really give an accurate impression of what a beating occurred on prime time national television. The game wasn’t close and sent even the most ardent Wolverine supporters into the corner to lick their wounds.

Then they lost to Penn State, a team that didn’t have a win in the Big Ten yet.

When the season is later examined, there will be some debate about where the season reached its low point, either in East Lansing or Happy Valley. You might also point to the heartbreaking loss at home to Indiana. Either way, they were all horribly humbling humiliations for a team that was once ranked number one in the nation. They looked lost and John Beilein looked ill equipped to help them find their way.  Some people said that Beilein could be on the hot seat.

The Big Ten tournament didn’t offer any hope either, they were bounced by Wisconsin. Everything, especially when they drew South Dakota State in the first round of the tourney, looked like a repeat of last year when they were bounced in the first round by Ohio. Those who were still rooting for the Wolverines, and there were very few at that point, braced for the worst case scenario.

Michigan spent an entire month getting in their own way. They lost in especially embarrassing fashion many times. They absolutely limped into the tournament, not looking at all like the team who beat up on all those aforementioned soup cans early in the season. They looked like the same team who took all those dumb shots last year, throwing prayers from the three-line.

Then in the first round of the tournament, Mitch McGary woke up. They moved the ball better than they ever had during the season, they showed patience to wait for the open look. Burke was suddenly just as likely to send a pass to the low post; they looked like they could play physical near the basket. They certainly picked a good time to exercise all their earlier problems on the post.

Vegas is taking Louisville. Blue finds themselves in a very familiar position, maybe the best one for them. For the first two months, Michigan looked at as the dominant team in the most dominant conference. Then February happened. They’ve been climbing out of the pit since then. In almost every game of the tournament, they’ve been the underdog.

It sounds like they may have the Cardinals right where they want them.

1) Ok, so Wichita State crumbled against the Lousiville press down the stretch. They still deserve credit for going 25 minutes against the Cards defense without a turnover. Simply amazing.

2) Benches were big.  Luke Hancock hit big shots down the stretch and 20 points on the night.   Louisville’s reserves has 34 pts in all.  Michigan’s bench combined for four big treys in the first half and had 21 points on the night.

3) Karl Hess is still Karl Hess.  He blew the whistle way too quick for a jump ball that denied WSU a chance at a potential game tying three.

4) Michigan almost handed it away late.  They went into play not to lose mode and it almost cost them.  But, with the starting backcourt for the Orange fouling out, they couldn’t make the plays they needed to down the stretch to win.

5) Once again a bad charge call plays a key role in the outcome.  I didn’t think Jordan Morgan was set when he took the charge on Brandon Triche late.  Seems like the refs are going with the when in doubt call a charge strategy way too often.

Syracuse vs Michigan: The Wolverines have the two best players in the game in Point Guard Trey Burke and Center Mitch McGary. They have three players that are the sons of former NBA players, in Glenn Robinson III, Tim Hardaway Jr, and Jon Horford (son of Tito and brother of Al). And they have a fan base starving for success, as this is their first Final Four appearance in 20 years. But Syracuse’s legendary coach Jim Boeheim owns Michigan Head Coach John Beilein. Boeheim is 9-0 all time against Beilein, as his famous 2-3 zone has been impossible for Beilein’a teams to solve. And with the Orange’s zone rolling during the tournament, I think the same thing will happen again, setting up an All Big East Final. Syracuse 63, Michigan 60.

TZ

The conference announced the decision Wednesday after university presidents approved the new moniker earlier in the day.

The Big East football schools were in need of a new name after they agreed to let seven basketball schools break away from the conference to start a new league this summer to be called the Big East. In return, the football schools received about $100 million of a $110 million pot the league had accumulated in recent years from exit and entry fees and NCAA basketball tournament revenue.v

The American Athletic Conference will have 10 members in its first season: Rutgers, Louisville, Connecticut, South Florida, Cincinnati, Central Florida, Memphis, Houston, SMU and Temple.

Rutgers and Louisville are likely leaving after 2013 and are set to be replaced by Tulane, East Carolina and Tulsa in 2014. Navy is scheduled to join in 2015 for football only, and the conference will begin playing a league championship football game.

Nine of the schools set to compete in the American Athletic Conference were at one time part of Conference USA. By 2014, South Florida, UConn, Temple and Cincinnati will be the only schools in the AAC to have been in the Big East.

Commissioner Mike Aresco said the members worked with marketing experts, media partners and asked for feedback from fans to come up with a list of possible names.

“Versions that included the word `American’ led every list,” Aresco said in a statement. “American Athletic Conference represents a strong, durable and aspirational name for our re-invented Conference.”

He added: “Our name is a nod to tradition, but at the same time makes clear our determination to be a Conference with national impact and appeal. The American Athletic Conference will represent core American values of optimism, energy, growth and innovation. We have a broad geographical footprint that represents unity as well as diversity.”

The rebuilt conference has new television deals in place with ESPN and CBS.

“The American Athletic Conference is a brand that suggests a national scope and quality membership,” said Burke Magnus, Senior Vice President, College Sports Programming, ESPN. “It is an exciting time for the new conference and ESPN looks forward to our future together.”

The Big East will now be a basketball-centric conference with old Big East members Georgetown, Villanova, St. John’s, Seton Hall, Marquette, DePaul and Providence, along with Xavier, Butler and Creighton.

Do you like the new name? Be heard in the comments…

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It happens seemingly every game of the NCAA tournament, most of the season, for that matter: Officials blow their whistles, huddle, then head over to the TV monitors to review a play.

Looking to see if the clock is right, a shot was a 3-pointer or if an elbow to the head warrants a flagrant foul, they watch the replays from all angles as coaches and players huddle, fans in the stands and TV wait for the action to start again.

The goal is to make sure the officials get the calls correct.

But in the process of trying to be right, they’re also disrupting the rhythm of the games, dampening excitement and possibly giving some coaches the advantage of an extra timeout.

“It’s bogging the game down too much, particularly with what we’re actually looking for,” said Turner/CBS analyst Steve Kerr, who will call his third straight Final Four in Atlanta this weekend.

Instant replay has been a part of college basketball since 1986, when the 3-point shot also debuted. The initial purpose was for replays to be used to correct timing and scoring errors and was later expanded to look at whether a player was behind the line on a 3-point shot and flagrant fouls.

Coaches, players and fans have debated the use of instant replay pretty much since the day it was put in place and scrutiny seems to have increased this season as officials have gone to the monitor more and more.

One of the biggest complaints, particularly during the NCAA tournament, has been about officials stopping games to check the game clock, then adding a few tenths of a second back.

A small amount of time like that can make a big difference when the clock is under a second because officials judge whether a player can catch and shoot or not based on certain time increments.

But if they’re stopping the game with 5 or 10 seconds left and adding 0.2 seconds to the clock, that’s a bit excessive for some.

“That’s something that should be talked about,” said Reggie Minton, deputy executive director of the National Association of Basketball Coaches. “I’m not sure I’m an expert on these electronic timers that these officials have that are somewhat triggered by them, but at some point we need to trust the timing mechanism we have and those that are running them that we trust they are going to do the right thing. If it’s obvious something was missed and we’re talking about seconds, then I think we make sure that is corrected. But there maybe is an over-concern about a tenth here and a tenth there.”

Stopping the clock also may give some teams an unfair advantage, giving a coach what’s essentially an extra timeout to diagram a play while the officials look at the replay monitor.

In the second round of the NCAA tournament, Davidson was leading Marquette by a point when it lost the ball out of bounds against the Golden Eagles press. Marquette didn’t have a timeout left, but the officials gathered around the monitor to get the game clock right, giving coach Buzz Williams a chance to call his players over to draw up a play.

The officials added 1.2 seconds to the clock — to 6.7 — and Marquette’s Vander Blue scored on a last-second layup to give the Golden Eagles a 59-58 win and avoid the upset.

“Unfair advantage,” Davidson coach Bob McKillop said after being asked about Marquette getting what was essentially an extra timeout. “Maybe (in that situation) they shouldn’t let them huddle.”

In the West Region semifinals, Arizona coach Sean Miller got extra time to set up a play after officials stopped the game to check the time on a 3-point shot by Ohio State’s LaQuinton Ross. The officials added a tenth of a second to the clock, but Arizona couldn’t hit the tying shot in the final 2.1 seconds.

Kansas had a similar situation late against Michigan in the South Region semifinals, when a review at the scorer’s table gave Jayhawks coach Bill Self extra time to set up a final shot. Like Arizona, Kansas couldn’t pull it off and lost in overtime.

“Whether Bill Self wanted a timeout or maybe he wanted his guys to get the ball and go before the defense could set up, either way the integrity of the game was compromised just so we could fix 0.2 seconds on the clock,” Kerr said. “Who cares?”

Another complaint has been the officials’ penchant to go to the monitor any time a player is hit in the head.

Coaches have bemoaned the overuse of reviews for flagrant fouls and it increased early in the NCAA tournament as players like Creighton’s Doug McDermott, Marquette’s Trent Lockett and Pitt’s Lamar Patterson were assessed flagrants after being called for offensive fouls.

“We do it too much on anything in the head area, we automatically look at,” Kerr said. “I don’t think that’s necessary.”

The key is finding a balance between getting it right and, as Kerr put it, preserving the integrity of the game.

The NBA has geared back its use of instant replay and the process seems to go seamlessly, so the NCAA could look there. Or maybe, as was suggested to Minton, the NCAA can borrow from the NFL model, give coaches a flag to throw for challenging calls in the last two minutes of a game.

“At some point the rules committee is going to have to look at unintended consequences,” said Minton, who coached at Air Force and Dartmouth and was a member of the NCAA rules committee. “If the main concern is that it’s more important to get it right than it is to allow an unofficial opportunity for a timeout, so be it. I would think the overriding concern would be to get it right.”

After all the complaints this season, it’s a topic that’s sure to come up.

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Bobby Lutz has been in college coaching for 30 years so we start by asking Bobby if he has ever seen or heard of anything like what has happened at Rutgers with Mike Rice.

“There are coaches that the language goes back and forth and that’s common…but not to this extent.”

“I think as a coach you have to evolve, my dad told me stories that his coaches would literally line them up across the baseline and kick them in the butt, but things change and coaches have to change”

NC State didn’t get past the first round of the NCAA Tournament this year after having very high expectations in the pre-season and throughout ACC play.  So we get his thoughts on what went wrong with the Wolf Pack this year.

“Its hard to build a program in one year.  You look at the great programs and most of them didn’t happen overnight.  When we got here they hadn’t been to the tournament since ’05.  So I think the hype was a little to high”

“Lastly I would say that we didn’t guard the way you have to guard to be a great team at the highest level you have to defend in basketball and we weren’t consistently good defensively and that what we have to get better at.”

Finally we close with the coach about his future at NC State and if he’ll be a head coach again.

“Everyone knows I want one more chance but if I don’t get it I’ll keep doing the best I can here in Raleigh”

By Mark Chalifoux

A Louisville National Championship seems inevitable now. The Cardinals are the strongest team remaining and now have the emotional component of playing for an injured teammate after Kevin Ware’s gruesome injury Sunday. They have NBA prospects dotting their roster but there’s one player who has been the most integral to their success yet still gets occasionally overlooked and that’s guard Russ Smith.

Russ Smith, nicknamed Russdiculous for his frenetic style of play, has been simply wonderful in the tournament. Smith is a gifted scorer and a playmaker on defense (as evidenced by his 14 steals in the tournament) and has been the real driving force behind Louisville’s rise to the Final Four.

The 6-foot 1-inch junior guard from Brooklyn has averaged almost 19 points per game this season, but he has stepped his game up to another level in the tournament, averaging 26 points per game and shooting near 50 percent. He’s getting to the foul line at an absurd rate (10 or more free throws in his last three games) and his unconventional style has been near impossible for other teams to slow down.

He’s also done this while battling illness this past weekend and after seeing his teammate suffer one of the most unsettling injuries in sports history. His scoring prowess (31 points against Oregon and 23 against Duke last weekend) has always made him a fan favorite but Smith is starting to turn some heads in the NBA with his play in the tournament.

>>More NCAA Tournament Rising Stars

The knocks against him aren’t unfamiliar; he plays off the ball for Louisville and would have to play point guard in the NBA. His play at the point for the Cardinals has been less than inspiring. He’s not the greatest passer or the best decision maker, but his athletic ability has bailed him out in the college level because he can blow past defenders.

His defense stands for itself, however. Louisville is a tremendous defensive team and Smith is an absolute terror for opposing guards. His defense will help set him apart from other guards, but most scouts went into the tournament with plenty of doubts about Smith’s pro potential. Some of them have to do with his inconsistent outside shooting as well.

Smith has done all he can to change hearts and minds with his dominating play in the tournament. His head coach Rick Pitino has been trying to help change minds about him as well, calling him a poor man’s Allen Iverson, a description some pundits are starting to warm too.

One thing is for sure. We have not seen the best of Russ Smith just yet. As stellar as he’s been throughout the season and even more so in the tournament, Smith is poised to really break out in the Final Four. He’s a big time player and his play will decide just how easy it will be for Louisville to cut down the nets.

Russ Smith ties a career high in win over 12-seeded Oregon to advance to the Elite 8:

Mark Chalifoux is a college basketball contributor for CBS Local Digital Media and can be reached at mark.chalifoux@gmail.com and @markchalifoux on Twitter.

We opened the conversation by getting Donaghy’s thoughts on Ed Rush’s comments and how surprised, or not surprised, he was by them.

“The bottom line is I wasn’t surprised, because he used to make the same comments to us, as a staff,  in regards to Mark Cuban because he had a personality conflict with Cuban and he didn’t like him… and he had a lot of problems with a lot of people, so it’s not surprising at all.”

He also had some very strong on opinions on what should happen to Ed Rush in light of these recent allegations.

“I think Ed Rush should certainly be relieved of his duties. He has a track record here of using the officials in a way to take care of his conflicts with other people when they don’t fall in line with his B.S. He’s basically just a phony.”

There were also some interesting comments regarding Rush’s previous tenure in the NBA as an official and the reputation he garnered there.

“A lot of referees when I was in the NBA referred to him as Archie Bunker, because he always had a problem with blacks and said he didn’t like gays.”

Given the speculation regarding the reputation of Ed Rush and other officials, is there any way that the integrity of the game can still be protected?

“When you’re an official, you always want to the best job you can. And if you’re held a little more accountable in the public eye a little more often, I think you’re going to put a little more effort in getting the right call, rather than letting your personal relationships get involved in it.”

If you would like to find out more about Tim Donaghy’s book, you can check it out here.  You can also visit his website or follow him on Twitter @Tim_Donaghy

John Cahill, Tony Greene, Karl Hess, Lee Jones, John Higgins, Randy McCall and Mark Whitehead have all officiated previous Final Fours, while Mike Eades, Doug Simmons and Terry Wymer will have the opportunity to work their first semifinal or championship game.

The officials were recommended by John Adams, the NCAA’s director of officiating, and approved Monday by the Division I men’s basketball committee.

Three-man crews will work each game with a fourth official on standby. The assignments for the semifinals will be made Saturday morning with the championship officials announced Monday.

Louisville plays Wichita State in the first national semifinal Saturday night at the Georgia Dome. Michigan plays Syracuse in the other game.

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SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP) — Overcoming all sorts of adversity has been the norm for the Syracuse Orange of late.

Player eligibility issues, negative headlines, slumps at inopportune times — something seems to creep up each season for longtime coach Jim Boeheim.

He figures he’s not alone.

“There’s no team that doesn’t have distractions during the course of the year,” Boeheim, who guided the Orange to a school-record 34 victories last season with scandal swirling around his program, said Monday. “That’s part of life, that’s what you have to learn to handle. They focused well all year.”

In large part because of that singular focus, the Orange, seeded fourth in the East Regional of the NCAA tournament, are headed to the Final Four for the fourth time since Boeheim became head coach in 1976. And when they get in a groove with their stifling zone defense, especially at this time of year, they are tough to break down.

Led by versatile 6-foot-6 point guard Michael Carter-Williams, sharpshooting forward James Southerland, and do-it-all swingman C.J. Fair, the Orange are deep, motivated, and intent on bringing a second title to central New York. And this proud, blue collar town, where basketball’s shot clock was invented, is eagerly anticipating that again, just like in 2003.

“The Final Four seems to be very important. It’s a huge thing up here,” said Boeheim, 3-0 in national semifinals. “Our fans really support us, and they like what we do.”

What’s not to like about the past three weeks. Syracuse (30-9) made the Big East tournament final, losing to Louisville, then beat Montana, California, top-seeded Indiana, and third-seeded Marquette in NCAA regional play. It will meet Michigan (30-7) — the South Regional’s No. 4 seed — in the national semifinals at Atlanta on Saturday. Michigan beat Florida 79-59 Sunday to reach the Final Four.

“They have played tremendous basketball over a four-game period, which is not always that easy to do,” Boeheim said of his Orange.

It’s doubtful many saw this deep run into the postseason coming. Syracuse finished its final Big East regular season — the Orange are headed for the Atlantic Coast Conference in July — with four losses in the final five games.

Syracuse’s last home game was a five-point setback to Louisville, which snapped a tie in the final minute on a defensive breakdown. The Orange left Luke Hancock uncovered in the left corner and he drained a back-breaking 3-pointer.

Then, after easily beating DePaul, Syracuse was humiliated by archrival Georgetown for the second time in two weeks, dropping the season finale 61-39. It was Syracuse’s lowest scoring total in 558 Big East games and its fewest points in any game since a 36-35 victory over Kent State in 1962 — before shot clocks and 3-pointers.

There have been few breakdowns since. In the Big East tournament, Syracuse reeled off victories over Seton Hall, Pittsburgh, and Georgetown before bowing to Louisville.

“Once we got to New York and started to play well, we felt we could compete with anybody,” Boeheim said. “We were always a good team. We obviously had a very difficult last part of our schedule and didn’t play particularly well. But our defense was good and once we got to New York and started to play there, we could see that we were fine.

“I wasn’t worried at all about the NCAA tournament. I felt we were in a good place and we would play well.”

Hard to imagine being in a better place, especially after the Bernie Fine scandal last year.

The former associate head coach was fired after being accused by two former ball boys of sexual abuse more than two decades ago but was never charged.

There also were academic issues that forced Southerland to miss six games this season.

In the regional semifinals, Syracuse had 12 steals and 10 blocks in a convincing 61-50 beatdown of Indiana, the lowest offensive output of the season for a team that was averaging 80 points. Then, with a berth in the Final Four at stake against Marquette, which eliminated Syracuse in the NCAA tournament two years ago and beat the Orange 74-71 during the season, Syracuse won 55-39.

The Golden Eagles’ 39 points were a record low for a team in an NCAA tournament regional final since the shot clock was introduced in 1986. Carter-Williams, a sophomore in his first full season and likely bound for the NBA in the near future, finished with 12 points, six assists, one turnover, five steals, one block, and eight rebounds, and was voted the East Regional MVP.

“He’s even picked up his play. Leadership, getting the ball to people, still being able to score when we need him to because we need him to score,” Boeheim said. “He had a great year, but he’s had an even better tournament. That’s hard to do sometimes for a young player.

“He’s really been good in terms of helping his teammates be better. He had eight defensive rebounds against Marquette. I’ve never had a guard get that many defensive rebounds. I’m not sure that there’s been many times that any guard, anywhere, has gotten eight defensive rebounds.”

Syracuse’s octopus-like defense has covered every inch of the court, eliminating passing lanes, consistently depriving opponents of easy baskets down low, and defending the perimeter with abandon. Its four tournament opponents shot just under 29 percent from the field (61 of 211) and a minuscule 15.4 percent (14 of 91) from behind the arc.

“This is the best that we’ve played it,” Boeheim said. “But Michigan presents more problems than anybody in the tournament. They’re the best offensive team in the tournament. We’ve played some really good teams, but we haven’t played anybody as good offensively as Michigan.”

It’s been a decade since a freshman named Carmelo Anthony led Syracuse to its only national championship. It’s such a big deal to the university — and a city that bleeds Orange — that the school has a continuous looping video replay on a television monitor of that 81-78 win over Kansas.

The TV monitor sits along one wall of the Carmelo K. Anthony Basketball Center where the team practices, and smack dab in the middle of that wall is the national championship trophy.

Finding room for another shouldn’t be a problem.

“I think getting to the Final Four is a great thing for the fans and the city,” Boeheim said. “Non-basketball people get involved when we get to the Final Four. Of course, winning the championship is pretty big.”

___

Follow Kekis on Twitter at http://twitter.com/Greek1947

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