As Oklahoma State, Georgia Tech, Duke and Connecticut descend on San Antonio, college basketball's biggest prize lies within sight, but before any of these teams can have their one shining moment, they must first pass the penultimate test, the Final Four.
In the first of the two national semifinals, the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets will face the Oklahoma State Cowboys. Yellow Jacket coach Paul Hewitt will be the only coach making his first appearance at the Final Four, leaving him much less experienced than his counterpart Saturday night, Eddie Sutton. The 2003-'04 OSU squad is the third team Sutton has guided to the Final Four, having previously taken Arkansas and the 1995 Cowboys.
While the coaches make the important decisions, ultimately it comes down to the players on court. Both teams feature stifling defenses and it will be interesting to see which players are able to break down the pressure first.??
OSU is led by a duo of dynamic transfers, senior guard John Lucas III and senior forward Tony Allen. Lucas hit the game-winning shot that put the Cowboys in San Antonio and will have his hands full with Tech sophomore point guard Jarret Jack, who scored a career-high 29 points in the Yellow Jackets Elite Eight win over Kansas. A question mark for Tech is the condition of leading scorer and junior guard B.J. Elder, who played 15 ineffective minutes against Kansas due to an ankle injury. Whether he is healthy could play a major factor in deciding who will advance to Monday's final.
To call either of Saturday's games the \marquee match-up"" is a disservice to the other, but that's exactly what a lot of people are doing, saying the Duke-UConn game is the primetime semi-final game.??
In this rematch of the 1999 title game, it could all come down to the health of one player, UConn junior center Emeka Okafor. The shot-blocker extraordinaire has battled a stress fracture in his back throughout the tournament. With Okafor, UConn has been hailed as the undisputed front-runner for the championship. Even without Okafor at??full strength, the Huskies have breezed through the tournament thus far.??
Duke has an injured star of its own in guard Chris Duhon. Despite a set of bruised ribs, the senior has successfully shut down every player he has guarded. He will need to do it again, because UConn features two of the nation's hottest guards, junior Ben Gordon and sophomore Rashad Anderson.
The Huskies are the slight favorite in this game, but expect Mike Krzyzewski and the Blue Devils to be more than up to the challenge. Duke matches up well with UConn, but with a healthy Okafor inside, expect Connecticut to dance on into the final.
-Joe Hasler
