I'm listening to Dick Vitale talk about the great heavyweight fight between Tennessee and Memphis.  And he's right.  Big instate rivalry, the #2 team knocks off an undefeated #1 from the same state, and the level of intensity on the court was great.

But is this great basketball and are these great teams?

No and No.

Vitale's heavyweight analogy goes another way.  College basketball is like heavyweight boxing.  It has seen it's better days.  Today's champs would be eaten alive by the great teams of March Madness past.  Too many early exits to the pros, too many players reading their own press clippings, and the game itself just isn't that good.

The greatest athletes who have ever played the game and the worst basketball players.

Let's look at Tennessee-Memphis.  #1 vs #2.

Playing with a three point arc so close it turns routine jump shots into three point plays the two best teams in the country couldn't score but 128 points combined (114 without the extra point tacked on for the 14 three pointers the two teams made).

These are the guys who can't shoot straight.

The Volunteers made just 40% of their two pointers, and 32% of the their 19 three point trys.  They made 67% of the free throws they attempted, a figure which would cause any high school coach in the country to send his team back to the gym for practice.

Memphis was a little better at two point plays (15-31), which should have motivated them not to spend the night throwing up errant three point shots (8-27 30%).  Of course, if they had pounded it inside the odds are they wouldn't have converted on any free throws they earned.  For the night, the #1 team in the country made 8 free throws and missed 9.

What we are seeing is the transition from the inside to outside flow of offense in the past to an outside-inside game.  Look for the bad shot first, then get the ball inside.  Which, if it worked, would be a good idea. 

But it doesn't.

Vitale's two "heavyweights" also racked up 24 assists and 26 turnovers.  The two best teams in the country can't get their A/TO ratio up past 1?  The top assist total by a Memphis player was 5, tops for Tennessee was 3. 

Assists are hard to come by when you don't run, and you can't run without rebounding.  Rebounding requires good fundamentals, which these teams don't have.  The leading rebounder was a 6-2 guard JaJuan Smith who had 10. 

Great games are supposed to be a stage for great players.  Tennessee's much hyped Chris Lofton had 7 points.  Derrick Rose showed up big for Memphis, as expected, but if you pull his stat line away the toothless Tigers made only 8 other 2 pointers, were 6-22 from the 3 point area, and 5-11 at the charity stripe. 

These are great teams?  Are they even good teams?

Tennessee gave 24 minutes playing time to a guard (Ramar Smith) who went 2-9 with 2 assists.  Two Tennessee starters played 57 minutes without a free throw attempt between them.  Memphis invested 28 minutes in Joey Dorsey and got 1 point back.

Vitale watches alot more basketball than I do.  He knows some infinitely greater times more about the game than I do.  But if he thinks this was a heavyweight match it says alot about the quality of play he is seeing and how accustomed he's become to seeing garbage served on a silver tray and called fine dining.

This was modern college basketball at it's finest.  Lots of driving to the basket for off balance shots.  Poor shot selection.  Unproductive dribbling that doesn't lead anywhere.  Poor movement away from the ball.  No free throw shooting. 

Heavyweight match?  Wake up Dick.  Tennessee-Memphis was a pillow fight.