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Tuesday, April 04, 2006

Charting the Championship

Florida 73, UCLA 57 [65.5 possessions] - Not much analysis needed here. The “knowns” discussed yesterday worked out pretty well. Florida struggled from beyond the arc (6 of 19), Afflalo (3 of 10, 10 points) and Brewer (4 of 12, 11 points) played to an inefficient draw. That left Farmar to overachieve offensively. He put up a career-high 21 shots and scored 18 points. He didn’t overachieve and he needed to because the Bruins didn’t get offense from anywhere else.

On the flip side, Florida’s big men were dominant in every phase of the game, and Noah may have just positioned himself to be the first pick in the draft. Over the last 15:30, nine of Florida’s 11 made field goals were dunks, the first of which was by Noah on a move that had to be a travel, but replay confirmed was not. That play alone may have vaulted Noah to the top pick, and allowed him to never have to do any homework again. (Granted, the move was put on Lorenzo Mata, not exactly an NBA caliber defender at this point.)

Anyway, this was a total butt kicking in just about every way you can look at it. You didn’t need me to say that.

So that’s a wrap. The last three games - and last six if you’re desperate enough to include the NIT Final Four - didn’t give us one single Shining MomentTM. I’ll have a season summary piece up on espn.com later in the week, where I will break the site’s record for consecutive columns without use of a literary device. After that, I’ll be in the fetal position for six months. Enjoy the off-season.

Lines o’ the Night

Tuesday 

                           FG    3pt  FT   Reb
                      Min  M-A   M-A  M-A  O-T   A F S TO BLK Pts
Renaldo Balkman        36 11-14  0-0  1-2  0-8   3 2 1  2  4   23
Result: Win. South Carolina 78, Louisville 63.

Thursday 

                           FG    3pt  FT   Reb
                      Min  M-A   M-A  M-A  O-T   A F S TO BLK Pts
Tarence Kinsey         32  9-15  0-2  3-5  1-6   2 4 0  0  0   21
Result: Win. South Carolina 76, Michigan 64.

Saturday 

                           FG    3pt  FT   Reb
                      Min  M-A   M-A  M-A  O-T   A F S TO BLK Pts
Lee Humphrey           34  6-12  6-12 1-3  0-3   0 2 1  1  0   19
Result: Win. Florida 73, George Mason 58.

Monday 

                           FG    3pt  FT   Reb
                      Min  M-A   M-A  M-A  O-T   A F S TO BLK Pts
Joakim Noah            33  7-9   0-0  2-2  2-9   3 2 1  2  6   16
Result: Win. Florida 73, UCLA 57.

Posted on 04/04 at 03:00 AM
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