NCAA basketball "sleepers"

Originally Posted by Coach Pants

Western is for real. First half had me steamed. They were playing like an AAU team with nothing but street thugs in the starting lineup.

Exactly what Tennessee plays like. It works, but it is incredibly
ugly. I have got to give a huge amount of credit to Pitino.
He did something very difficult.

He controlled a fairly young team in the 2nd half to keep
putting pressure on but not take bad shots. Basically they
wore a frantic team down. Louisville never pulled it out and
sat on it offensively. They kept looking to score but with
high % shots.

2ndly. They forced Tennessee to stay frantic on offense.
They double teamed every in-bounds, let the guards or
whoever get what looked to be an open run at the basket
and then just collapsed on Tennessee. This was a great
strategy that Tennessee just fell into. The Tennessee
players where so used to just running full steam ahead,
no ball fakes, no jab steps, no change of pace, just like
a wild little boy AAU team. Very dangerous if they get
confidence, but very beatable by a team that is fundamentally
sound skill wise. Pearl really should be ashamed how amateurish
his team looked.
Pitino is awesome. His teams are really fun to watch.
He has a rare ability to let his guys play, but with
smart basketball. And he DID NOT PANIC. Even when
Tennessee got within one at the beginning of the 2nd
half. He kept with the plan a just wore a frantic team down.
Great stuff. Good team play deserves to win.

I think Texas is a milder version of Tennessee. Without
Augustin, they would be very similar. A point guard
can make a mediocre coach look good.