South Regional @ FEF

First, to follow up on the Coach Cal story now that it's official. I'm sad to see him go. He was great for the city and the program. No one ever thought he would be here for nine years. I know a lot of fans are mad at him and I wish they weren't. Did you really expect him to say anything before he left for Lexington last night? He was going to give the official word at the press conference up there. He came back to Memphis this afternoon and gave a very classy press conference. You can tell it was a hard decision for him and that he loved this town. I just wish he would have realized that if it was that hard a decision he might regret leaving one day. At least we know it wasn't about the money and it was pretty impressive what Memphis was willing to offer. Now, let's stop the Bruce Pearl talk before it even starts. We don't want the sweathog here.

Now, onto the real reason for this post. The Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight rounds for the South region in the NCAA tournament were held in Memphis at the FedEx Forum this last weekend. I used StubHub for the first time to get the tickets and it worked out great. I got tickets to all three games for about 1/3 of face value. Friday night featured Syracuse vs. Oklahoma in the first game and Gonzaga vs. North Carolina in the second. Oklahoma and UNC both won with ease. The Forum was just about full, with almost 2/3rds of the fans wearing Carolina blue. They had taken down all of the Memphis banners of course, but they had also removed or covered up all advertising, making the Forum quite neutral. It was a little strange, as it could have been in just about any city. It was definitely much better than seeing the more than half empty football stadiums where some of the other regionals were being played.

Sunday was supposed to be the real treat. The 1 vs. 2 matchup. Carolina vs. Oklahoma. Tyler Hansbrough vs. Blake Griffin. It was a good game, but Carolina jumped out to an early ten point lead and it was never really closer than that. Blake Griffin of Oklahoma was definitely the best player on the court all weekend. He had a monster game Sunday, but it didn't matter, because UNC had the better team. Tyler Hansbrough of UNC was quite disappointing, especially Sunday, but the Tar Heel's Ty Lawson played exceptionally well and won the region's MVP award. It was pretty special seeing two All-Americans go head-to-head in Hansbrough and Griffin. Maybe Griffin will even return to Memphis next year in a Grizzlies jersey. I think Memphis and the Forum did a fabulous job hosting and hope that we will get more of these games in the future.