Tourney Wrap-Up

Once again, I apologize for my absence. I was deciding if I should begin blogging for mysportspen.com, but I decided I would rather devote my efforts here. Anyways, since I am not really getting any comments, I'm gonna wrap this tourney up right now

First the rosters of the other eight teams

Georgia Tech: UCLA:
PG: Stephon Marbury PG: Baron Davis
SG: Jarvaris Crittenton SG: Russell Westbrook
SF: Matt Harpring SF: Trevor Ariza
PF: Thaddeus Young PF: Kevin Love
C: Chris Bosh C: Dan Gadzuric
Bench: Jarrett Jack, Mario West Bench: Arron Afflalo, Matt Barnes,
Jordan Farmar, Luc Richard Mbah a Moute,
Jason Kapono, Earl Watson



Georgetown: Michigan State:
PG: Allen Iverson PG: Charlie Bell
SG: Patrick Ewing Jr. SG: Jason Richardson
SF: Jeff Green SF: Morris Peterson
PF: Roy Hibbert PF: Zach Randolph
C: Dikembe Mutombo C: Paul Davis
Bench: Othella Harrington, Mike Sweetney Bench: Maurice Ager, Shannon Brown,
Eric Snow


Stanford: North Carolina:
PG: Brevin Knight PG: Ray Felton
SG: Casey Jacobsen SG: Vince Carter
SF: Josh Childress? SF: Marvin Williams
PF: Robin Lopez PF: Antawn Jamison
C: Brook Lopez C: Rasheed Wallace
Bench: Jason Collins, Jarron Collins, Bench: Brendan Haywood, Sean May,
Mark Madsen Rashad McCants, Jerry Stackhouse,
Brandan Wright


Ohio State: Arizona:
PG: Mike Conley PG: Mike Bibby
SG: Daequan Cook SG: Gilbert Arenas
SF: Michael Redd SF: Andre Igoudala
PF: Kosta Koufos PF: Luke Walton
C: Greg Oden C: Channing Frye
Bench: None Bench: Jerryd Bayless, Richard Jefferson,
Jason Terry, Marcus Williams


Remaining Round 1:
U-Conn rolls LSU
Georgia Tech upsets UCLA
Georgetown eeks by Michigan State
North Carolina obliterates Stanford
Arizona gets a buzzer beater over Ohio State

Elite Eight:
Duke gets a close victory over Texas after Coach K deploys Shane Battier to shut down the Durantula

U-Conn dominates Florida, shooting 60% from the floor in the surpringly easy victory

Despite Iverson's scoring, Chris Bosh takes over down low and the five man squad from Georgia Tech advances again

Sheed and Jamison assert themselves down low, revealing how weak Arizona has been at producing low post guys. North Carolina wins by 10

Final Four:
Here we go. From the onset, these teams begin trading baskets back and forth. The teams are almost evenly matched at all the starter positions. The difference is in the bench, when the Dukies take a rest, Ben Gordon and Rudy Gay wreak havoc on Redick. Once the starters come back, Elton Brand goes to work on Charlie Villanueva, and the game gets tied back up. Ray Allen fakes a 3, then dishes to Rip, who knocks down an easy mid-range jumper. With 4 seconds left, Hill inbounds to Deng, who catches at halfcourt, starts to drive, then turns, shoots...and misses. Where is Christian Laettner when you need him?

North Carolina starts to celebrate to early and find themselves down early against the scrappers from Georgia Tech. At halftime, Roy Williams screams at the Tar Heels, and they come out motivated. Sheed decides to play defense against Bosh, and shuts him down. Marbury isn't having much trouble scoring, until Vince Carter switches onto him. Jamison abuses Young in the low post, and Tar Heels get their act together and roll to a 16 point win

The Championship Game:
Duke's loss means we avoid the dream matchup of Duke vs. UNC. Instead we have the U-Conn Huskies matched up against the Tar Heels of North Carolina. Heres a recap of the lineups

U-Conn UNC
Marcus Williams - Ray Felton
Ray Allen Vince - Carter
Rip Hamilton - Marvin Williams
Charlie Villanueva - Antawn Jamison
Emeka Okafor - Rasheed Wallace

Ben Gordon - Jerry Stackhouse
Rudy Gay - Rashad McCants
Caron Butler - Sean May
Josh Boone - Brandan Wright
Hilton Armstrong - Brendan Haywood


Early on, the game starts out quick with Ray Allen and Vince Carter going back and forth hitting jumpers. Marcus Williams starts feeding it to Rip Hamilton, who is usually open because Marvin Williams can't keep up with him. In the post, Jamison scores on Villanueva a few too many times, so Villanueva switches to sheed. When Ray Felton scores on the 2 straight drives, Ben Gordon subs in for Marcus Williams. Gordon and Jesus Shuttlesworth go off, and combine for 4 straight 3's. The Huskies head into the half up by 8. After the break, the boys in baby blue give it their all, as Rasheed starts heating up, and Vince Carter knocks down a few 3's. But Caron Butler heads in and shuts down VC. Rudy Gay also subs in, and UNC can find anybody to shut him down. The Huskies never let game even get close, and win by 15 points

The Connecticut Huskies are the 2009 NBA Alumni Tournament Champions