Buttered Biscuits: And We March On

KButter5 Kendall Marshall

Let's get it.

Then There Were Sixteen and It Is Sweet

Survive and advance . . .

Does this look like survival?

Nope. Looks like rim domination to me!

Run away Isiah, run away. He is smart,

"I didn't fly 2,869 miles to get posterized! Shit!"

How about this?

Probably Not.

If there was a thought bubble,

Henson would be doing the Mutumbo finger wag:

(Longer video with interview because I love Mutombo, he sounds like Cookie Monster)

One last one.

Definitely not!

McDonald is letting U-Dub know,

"THIS IS MY SHIT! BACK THE FUCK UP!!!"

I am not going to waste your time with any analysis of this game. Our perimeter defenders, primarily Dexter Strickland, shut down the heart and soul of U-Dub, Isiah Thomas. Thomas went 5-15 from the field for 33.3% when on the season he averages 44.5% from the field and scored about 5 points less than his season average. It is tough to overcome a team like ours that has such balanced scoring when we shut down the hamster that spins your wheel.

Most importantly, we got stops when it mattered. When the game was on the line and we slowed it down because we had the lead, Washington fell apart. Do you remember when I said that they didn't really have a discernible offense to fall back on when the running-and-gunning wasn't working? Well, I'm not saying, I'm just saying . . . you can watch the last five minutes here for yourself.

And you know Henson is the man with the plan on that "goal tend."

_John_Henson_ John Henson

Saw it was a 2 pointer lol so it didn't matter RT @chris_fields: @_John_Henson_ man john what were you thinkin goaltending that shot today??

That's right. No rebounds means no threes!

And in case you missed it, YOU CAN'T RUN WITH THE TAR HEELS!!! Please try . . . .

Speaking of which, check back tomorrow for my breakdown of the Marquette match up. It is going to be another entertaining game on Friday and I am excited!

Getting Ken Pom'd

If you don't know who Ken Pom is, you are about to get schooled. He is a statistician that posts his Pomeroy College Basketball ratings at Kenpom. This ain't your mothers statistics. This stuff is hardcore, but presented in an easy-to-understand, user-friendly way. If you are a stats nerd, spend some time there figuring out the methodology. If you aren't, just look at the Adjusted Offensive and Defensive Efficiency of each team to get a nice head-to-head comparison for a projected outcome. Its pretty amazing. The best case study is Wisconsin. They are tough team to interpret because of their slow play, but Ken Pom factors that out for a clearer understanding of their efficiency ratings.

At the end of each season, Pom takes the accumulated information from the season and compiles it into a Log5. That information as of the Sweet 16 is presented below. The numbers represent the odds of winning and advancing to the remaining rounds of the tournament. (The alignment of the column headings got out of whack, but I couldn't fix it so what can you do?)

Elite8 Final4 Final Champ Prev

1. 1E   Ohio St.        75.2    62.0    41.9    30.6    21.6
 2. 1SW  Kansas          81.1    66.3    42.8    19.8    12.4
 3. 1W   Duke            82.9    56.5    29.4    19.0    15.3
 4. 4SE  Wisconsin       79.0    47.4    25.0     9.5     2.5
 5. 2W   San Diego St.   59.0    24.5     9.4     4.7     5.0
 6. 3SE  BYU             56.4    27.7    12.7     4.0     2.7
 7. 4E   Kentucky        24.8    15.1     6.4     3.1     3.4
 8. 2E   North Carolina  63.4    16.5     6.0     2.5     1.6
 9. 2SE  Florida         43.6    18.8     7.6     2.0     1.4
10. 3W   Connecticut     41.0    13.8     4.3     1.8     1.0
11. 10SW Florida St.     64.2    17.6     5.9     1.2     0.09
12. 12SW Richmond        18.9     9.7     3.0     0.5     0.06
13. 11E  Marquette       36.6     6.3     1.6     0.5     0.1
14. 5W   Arizona         17.1     5.3     1.1     0.3     0.2
15. 8SE  Butler          21.0     6.0     1.5     0.2     0.04
16. 11SW VCU             35.8     6.5     1.4     0.2     0.0005

Some of you might be like, "Dadgum. This guy only has the Tar Heels at 2.5% to win it all and this douche bag (me, the writer of this blog) is excited about it." Well, I am. Why? These stats are based on the information accumulated over the season. What significant event happened mid-season? ( . . . crickets . . . ) Allow me to explain with a visual aid.

Image Courtesy of Brandon Clarke

Yup. I wonder what our efficiency numbers are since Butter took over? I know what our win percentage did in that time so, I imagine the presented number are downwardly skewed. To put it mildly, I LIKE OUR CHANCES! The other thing is statistics can't measure intangibles. I honestly believe this team wins the close games because of team chemistry.

&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://msn.foxsports.com/video?vid=0b95c297-784e-4832-9d3b-eb5a1e6ea887" target="_new" title=""&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Goodman: The Marshall Plan&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;

Busted!

My brackets are busted! How about yours? You know what? I don't really give a shit. The Tar Heels are still playing and, even though it is taking years off my life, I love it! The thing about the Big Dance is that you never know when the music is going to stop and when it stops it is is over. The lights don't flash. There is no last call. The dj doesn't announce last song. The finality of it all is what makes it so exciting and each play so excruciating. Unlike football when you know you are going bowling with six wins, you never know at the tip if this game will end your season and, if you have a winner's mentality, it is a prospect that never enters your mind. Each game is a song in the Big Dance and you never know if it is going to be your last song of the season and, if you are a senior, the last song in that uniform.