TAMING THE TIGERS
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GLENDALE,AZ- The press conferences the day between the Sweet 16 and Elite 8 were endless. The five starters and the coach on the dais, then only the coach for another half hour while the players go to the "breakout" rooms for one on ones.. Both teams with the media for an hour.
But Friday was interesting to watch the two teams in the spotlight. Missouri seemed loose, excited to try and get their school to its first Final Four. (why are the F's capitalized). Coach Mike Anderson is a likelable coach,even though he struggled with Hasheem Thabeet and Craig Austrie's names (Audry?). De Marre Carroll and Leo Lyons both said they will try to make Hash move his feet by taking him outside and making his run the floor .Ok, we'll see. It's not like Thabeet is a Tom Boerwinkle, Mark Eaton type.
The UConn kids also enjoyed the spotlight, no one more than Stanley Robinson who was his typical humorous self. But Sticks also talked about how he talks with Jerome Dyson and how the injured guard has helped him. Good stuiff.
And please, please, please don't believe the ESPN.com headline about Jim getting testy, a headline that has since been changed...Sometimes, the people who write the headlines don't have a clue.
And congrats to the writer from the Kansas CIty Star who referred to Hasheem as "The Beast" and then asked him a question by calling him "Hakeem" and when corrected by Thabeet said "or I could just call you "The Beast". No stupid, you can't , no one calls him that.
As for the game, it will be who controls the tempo. Missouri wants to play at 85-90 mph, UConn about 65. The Huskies can't turn the ball over, Missouri lives off points off turnovers. And UConn has to go with its strength, which is Hash and Jeff Adrien inside.
Pre game is 4 Eastern, you get a chance to talk about it afterwards on Husky Talk.,
Enjoy the day!
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