Thursday, March 24, 2005

Chicago Regional Semi-Finals Preview

(1) Illinois vs (12) UW-Milwaukee
Don't believe the hype, very few in Champaign care about UW-Milwaukee coach Bruce Pearl turning in Illinois for recruiting violations years ago. I don't think any of the current Illinois staff is still around from that.

This will come down to shooting and defense. UW-Milwaukee needed 12 3's in the first round and 11 in the second round to win their games. They have no inside game and need the long ball to beat the big guys. Illinois has shown throughout the entire season that they are prone to giving up 3's, the problem is that the Illinois defense is incredibly tough and opponents usually are not able to get points both on the inside and the perimeter. Don't expect UW-Milwaukee to get past the 60s in scoring.

The key for UW-Milwaukee is to slow down the Illini offense. They have to stop Dee Brown from getting easy baskets in transistion, but lately the rest of the Illini team has been running up the floor for easy baskets as well, so it is hard to determine where the attack will come from. Even though Illinois only showed up for a cameo appearance in Indianapolis, they should come out more motivated for the games in Chicago.

Prediction: Illinois (Probably a sloppy 10-15 minutes to start, and then Illinois takes charge)

(2) Oklahoma St. vs (3) Arizona
One of the 2 premier games of the night. Both teams love a quick pace. Both coaches are great. I have to give the edge to Arizona. Stoudamire will be the difference in this game. He can draw the defense to the perimeter while Frye is more than capable on the inside. If Stoudamire is on (like he always is) Arizona should win. Oklahoma St. is not able to slow down the pace enough to give Arizona fits. If Oklahoma St. can slow down Arizona they will have a good chance to win, but they are a quick team that like to play a quick pace.

Prediction: Arizona (Stoudamire hits a big 3 with just over a minute to go to ice it)
The pace favors Arizona.

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