NY Boston Fan

Remember this? Can I get done before the NBA playoffs start, now that I couldn't get it done before the NCAA tourney ended? Stupid work!

Now, the Danny Ferry bracket:

2 Duke vs. 15 California

Duke: Chris Duhon, Corey Maggette, Grant Hill, Carlos Boozer, Elton Brand
Bench: Luol Deng, Mike Dunleavy, Shane Battier, Christian Laettner, Dahntay Jones

Cal: Jason Kidd, Lamond Murray, Shareef Abdur-Rahim, Sean Marks, Francisco Elson
Bench: Michael Stewart

It would be fun to write up a scenario where Jason Kidd is able to exploit the one weakness of Duke (point guard), and lead the team to an improbable victory. Because really, who wants Duke to win? But then unfortunately I looked at the players. Duke has 8 guys (all but Jones and Duhon) that would crack Cal's starting lineup. Cal has 2 guys that could crack Duke's 9-man rotation.

Chris Duhon would just be able to bring the ball up, run the offense through Hill and the post-men, and just slowly grind out a victory against Cal, who is too big at every position, but not very skilled at most. Cal's lone bench player may not even be in the NBA any more from what I can tell, while Duke could just keep coming with Deng, Battier, and Dunleavy, who can all score. This turns into a rout, as Duke, as usual, gets an easy draw. The consolation, is that their next game will be tough.

The two biggest surprises for me looking into this one: Maggette scores 22 points per game this year, and Sean Marks is white.

7 Arizona vs. 10 Michigan State

Arizona: Mike Bibby, Gilbert Arenas, Richard Jefferson, Luke Walton, Loren Woods
Bench: Jason Terry, Damon Stoudamire, Andrew Iquadola

MSU: Eric Snow, Jason Richardson, Morris Peterson, Zach Randolph, Kevin Willis
Bench: Steve Smith, Mateen Cleeves

This game could be a toss-up, as both teams have 3 really good starters and no real big-man depth, so I'll have to give it the old Dr. Jack treatment.

Point guard: Bibby is a true winner, and since I get most of my non-Atlantic Division NBA coverage from Bill Simmons, I have to believe that Bibby is still one of the most valuable players in the league. Advantage: Arizona
Shooting guard: Arenas is all over the NBA's top 10 stat lists this year, and despite his reputation as a bit of a selfish player, he is the best player on a playoff bound team. Richardson is a spectacular dunker, who is a better rebounder and turns the ball over less than Arenas, while still scoring 22 points per game. This is a really tough one, and the edge is only slight I think, but Advantage: Arizona
Small forward: I always used to confuse Richard Jefferson and Jason Richardson. I guess that's understandable. Mo-Pete is a nice player. But when I think of his strength, I think of 3-point shooting (which he is only 5% better than Jefferson), while Jefferson is better at just about everything else, except turnovers. Advantage: Arizona
Power forward: So at this point you might think, why is the breakdown necessary if Arizona has every advantage. Well here is the crushing advantage that negates the Bibby vs. Snow difference. On one side, you have a decent bench player who can distribute the ball a bit, and on the other side you have a guy who has averaged about 20 and 10 over the past two years. Whatever you want to say about Randolph's personality (see mugshot: here), he scores and rebounds with anyone in this tourney. Advantage: MSU
Center: 4 points, 5 rebounds, 15 minutes per game, and a younger body, or an old man, 3 points, 3 rebounds, and 11 minutes per game. Woods is a disapointment. Willis is over the hill. Advantage: Tie
Bench: This is probably the difference maker in the end. MSU would need to sub out for old man Willis, and all they could do is move Randolph to the 5, and have to move everyone else up a position as well to make room for Smith or Cleeves. Because of that, they cannot fully capitalize on their frontcourt advantage. Meanwhile, Arizona has a scorer (Terry) and a shutdown defender (Iquadola), that can pretty much hang with the MSU starters. Throw in a stoner who can make sure the team is ready to party after the game, and Arizona has their final edge. Advantage: Arizona

If MSU had a center, this would be a great game. Instead, it's a really good one, taken by Arizona.

So to review, the quarterfinals will feature Kentucky vs. UCLA, UNC vs. UConn, Georgia Tech vs. Kansas, and now Duke vs. Arizona.