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Well, it finally happened. My prediction came true in more ways than one. I've waited all season long to witness the match up of North Carolina and Oklahoma.
The buildup to this game was that of a heavyweight rumble in the jungle. The unanimous best player in the country, versus a heavy favorite for the championship crown.
But beyond that, this game showcased arguably the most exciting big-man match up this side of King Kong aka Psycho T and Godzilla, played by Blake Griffin (very exciting by the way).
I, like many people, would agree that as far as big men go in today's game, Blake Griffin is a magnificent specimen of an athlete. He has all the post moves any college or NBA coach could ask for, and the athleticism to boot.
On the other hand, although Psycho T isn't the athlete Griffin is, he is easily the harder worker whose credentials include all-time ACC scoring leader and rebound leader for UNC.
But this wasn't the one-on-one match-up, Oklahoma would've liked it to be.
After the first two minutes of up and down basketball, UNC was on the board first and never really looked back. On paper they go much deeper and it showed. Oklahoma's strategy was simple: get the ball to No. 23 and get out of his way.
- That's what Blake had to fight through ever time he touched the ball.
Unfortunately, even though that was a thoroughly thought out plan, it didn't really add up to anything. Every time Blake saw the ball, he also saw a UNC double team.
It didn't help the Sooners cause, that they had an absolutely atrocious day shooting the ball, from the charity stripe or really anywhere else on the floor, ending with an unflattering field goal percentage of 44.4.
But the story turned out not to be the two big men down low, but the dominant guard play. Granted by the numbers, Blake had a normal game (for him) leading all scorers with another double-double, 23 points and 16 rebounds. But one thing I noticed was that he seemed very nonchalant (for lack of a better word), looking for the easy dunk and not hustling back up the floor on defense, allowing Ty Lawson to burn past him for more than a couple of easy transition buckets.
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