Tuesday, March 22, 2011

The Will and the way.


After the first weekend of March Madness, I have to say that the player who has impressed me the most is Arizona's Derrick Williams.

Williams' block helped Arizona survive the 1st round
In a 4 day span where upsets were the order of the day, no player was more clutch for his team than Williams.  In a closely contested game against Memphis, he came up with the game saving block at the buzzer, preventing a potential first round upset.

As if that wasn't enough, he still had some magic saved as his late 3-point play helped the Wildcats get past Texas in the second round.  Arizona now moves on play Duke in Anaheim, CA - Pac 10 country - and you can expect Wildcat fans to pack the stands.

Williams, the reigning Player of the Year in the Pac 10, along with Solomon Hill, Lamont Jones and company, led Arizona to it's first regular season conference title since 2005.  They might have won the conference tournament too, but Isaiah Thomas and Washington had other ideas. 

The last time Arizona was seen in the NCAA tournament, the were on the receiving end of a 39 point drubbing by Louisville in the Sweet 16.  This is of course a much different team now.  I wouldn't be surprised if Arizona pulls an upset over Duke (Kyrie Irving or not) this week.  They have the size, speed and shoot very well from the perimeter.  The key of course, will be to keep the game close, otherwise Duke might as well run away with it.

That being said, I would love to see just how many more game winning plays Williams can pull out of his sleeves.

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