Onto Atlanta: Part I

Well the first two prongs of the Atlanta invasion are set. Ohio State and UCLA (pronounced Uck-La for those that don't follow College Basketball) are heading to the Final 4. Somehow there's a huge difference in terms of judging if a team was successful on whether they reached the Elite 8 or the Final 4. Its the equivalent of talking to a hot girl and lets say pulling a Tom Brady. So how did we get here? A question UCLA fan Numero Uno, Bill Walton, probably asks half a dozen times a day (other notable questions Bill Walton asks are 1) Who are You? 2) Did Shaq call today? 3) Are you sure? 4) Is that weed container Michael Vick has for sale 5) Are you really sure Shaq didn't call?)

Ohio State over Memphis
Before the game Joey Dorsey, the man assigned to go to toe to toe with the NBA's number one pick, made a fairly interesting pre-game analysis possibly without the influence of Walton's secret stash. He claimed that Greg Oden was over-rated and he (Dorsey) was the true Goliath. While I'm not a psychologist and typically I get scared of clowns - I can tell you not to do the following things:
1) Don't Piss off Greg Oden
2) Don't stick metal into electrical sockets, especially in England
3) Don't assume Germans get sarcasm, they typically don't. Check with Poland.
4) Don't Piss off Greg Oden
5) Don't assume Bill Simmons can extract head from his ass.

So how did the final line of the game go. Joey Dorsey: 19 minutes 4 fouls, 0 points and 3 rebounds. Greg Oden 24 Minutes 17 points 9 rebounds. What wasn't reflected in the scoring table how big of influence Oden had on the defense. With Oden in there the dribble penetration slowed to a trickle while the OSU execution of its offense soared. Outside of a 8-0 run that Memphis had with Oden on the bench OSU controlled the game. Onto Atlanta for the Buckeyes.

The Big Man threw it down and Walton was happy (John 12: 4)

UCLA over Kansas
Last year's runner up versus last year's choker. Kansas has been on a redemption mission all year. Their crop of super freshman had turned into super sophomores. They had breezed through the bracket so far without a hint of difficulty. However UCLA had their own legacy overcome. In particular history was a bitch for Arron Affalo (who obviously is unaware how to correctly spell his own first name.). Affalo was second fiddle in last year's tournament run to Jordan Farmer (now of the LA known as the Kobe Bryants. apparently they actually put 4 other guys on the court at the same time as Kobe. Who knew?). As such Affalo wanted to prove he to could enter the pantheon of UCLA players that played big in big games. Last night he was up to the challenge, pouring 15 of his 24 points in the second half like salsa on a tasty burrito

(random angery O moment. There is no good Mexican food here. Also apparently the concept of spicy doesn't exist in Europe. I firmly believe that most cultural differences between the US and Europe is there lack of ability to handle jalepenos).

Anyway Kansas never correctly figured out that turning the ball over usually HURTS a teams chances for winning. Without good ball handling skills, and not in the Jenna Jamison way, Kansas couldn't make up the difference. UCLA now can wait in Atlanta, hoping for a rematch with Florida. Remember redemption can be spelled A-R-R-O-N.

If Ron Burgundy can redeem himself maybe so can Arron Affalo