Final Four 2012 Previews: A Close Look At The Last Teams Standing

Let’s compare the lineups of this Kentucky team and the Charlotte Bobcats, using each Bobcat’s stats from his final college season:

Okay, so that was closer than I anticipated. Let’s just move on before I start aching any further for the remaining NBA fans in Charlotte.

Their best free throw shooter might be their 7-foot center. They don’t have a single 40-percent shooter from 3-point range. They are quite turnover-prone, and they don’t force turnovers nearly as well as in years past. They are thin, with only one bench player averaging even 12 minutes per game. They give up a lot more open 3-pointers than they have in previous years.

Bill Self’s 31-6 Jayhawks play an uglier brand of basketball this season than in years past, but they have also advanced further than prettier, deeper, more talented Kansas teams in the tournament. A skeptic could write their Final Four appearance off at least partially because of luck -- they beat three double-digit seeds (two by just three points each) and a North Carolina squad missing its heart-and-soul point guard; but the skeptic would be missing the simple fact that there is an art to knowing how to win ugly, how to survive and advance, and this Kansas team has mastered that art. They may take chances and fail, they may give up a few open shots, they may suffer some glitches in ball control, but when they need a stop, they get it. And when they need a basket, they get it.

It is difficult to think of a team that was receiving first-place votes in the preseason and drew a 2-seed in the NCAA Tournament as any sort of “dark horse” title contender. But with the way they somewhat drifted off of the radar screen late in the season, Ohio State almost qualifies. On February 7, they were 21-3, 9-2 in the rugged Big Ten and almost a sure 1-seed. But they lost three of their next five, including two home games, and despite a late win at Michigan State, they headed into the postseason on a bit of a down note. They whipped Purdue and Michigan to reach the Big Ten Championship Game (they fell to Michigan State, 68-64), but as the NCAA Tournament dawned, a large number of people were ignoring them in favor of the 3-seed, a Florida State team that had just won the ACC Tournament. (I am just happy I was not alone in this foolishness).

Four wins -- whippings of Loyola (Maryland) and Cincinnati and tough-it-out wins over Gonzaga and Syracuse -- later, Thad Matta is preparing for his second Final Four.