‘Nova, Purdue and the Sweet 16

Jerry Tarkanian

Thursday, March 26, 2009 | 9:08 a.m.

I am in Phoenix for the Sweet 16 and I am really looking forward to tonight’s games.

Memphis-Missouri is the second game at the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Ariz., and I talked with Tigers coach John Calipari on Sunday night.

I’ve gotten to be good friends with John and I’m glad he got to the West Regional. I’m going to his practice Friday if they beat Missouri tonight.

What Memphis did to Maryland was incredible. The Terps were down 20, and that’s a good basketball team. Memphis has been doing that to everybody.

Missouri will put a full-court press on Memphis. Missouri plays that Nolan Richardson 40-minutes-of-hell type game. Their coach, Mike Anderson, was a big-time disciple of Nolan.

Nolan will be right there behind that bench. Last year I was in Fayetteville, Ark., for a speaking engagement and I thought for sure I would see Nolan.

But the guy who picked me up said, Sorry, you missed Nolan. Mike sent a private plane to have Nolan at a Texas game. But Nolan flew back the next day, so I saw him in Arkansas.

Mike’s teams play hard man-to-man defense. They really get into you. It’ll be a test for Memphis. If Memphis can handle that press, they’ll win big. If they don’t, it’ll go down to the wire.

I think this is the best job that Calipari has ever done. He’s been a winner his whole life, but he hasn’t gotten a lot of credit for some reason. I think people are realizing how good a coach he is.

My dark horse is Purdue, which I’ll see play Connecticut in the early game today out at the stadium.

Purdue is solid. On any given day … they’re really well coached, play fantastic defense and shoot the ball well. I like Purdue. I think they have a shot to do something big in the tournament.

Of course, they do have to play against Connecticut …

I also think Villanova will beat Duke, and I’ve loved Duke all year long. They play so hard. Those two teams play in the late game today in Boston.

But this Villanova team is tough. Jay Wright is one of the top young coaches in the game. I picked Villanova to beat UCLA, but I had no idea they’d demolish the Bruins the way they did.

One of the two early games Friday is Oklahoma-Syracuse, and that will be interesting. Syracuse can be as good as anyone in the country, but they don’t come to play every game.

Some games, when the Orange come to play, boy are they good. That six-overtime game in the Big East tournament was unbelievable. Like I said, when they come to play they really put on a good show.

Johnny Flynn is a super point guard, and Eric Devendorf can pour in the points when he’s rolling.

But I like Oklahoma because one guy, Blake Griffin, is so much better than anybody else in the country. He’s so good. He’s head and shoulders over anyone else in college basketball. I’m going with Oklahoma because he seems to be from another world.

Michigan State-Kansas, in the late game Friday in Indianapolis, will be a helluva game between two very even, well-coached teams.

The Spartans’ second-round game against USC was like two street fighters. A classic. Neither one would back down. I have a lot of respect for both of those squads.

Michigan State runs sets as well as anybody, but I’m not an advocate of running sets. Your good offensive teams are teams that teach good spacing and motion, and penetrate and kick.

Duke plays like that. That’s how we played. Have spacing, and get guys to make plays.

Arizona plays Louisville in Indy, and I’d talk about the game but I still can’t believe the Wildcats got into the tournament.

As for Gonzaga-North Carolina, I just think Carolina is too tough. I don’t think anyone will beat Carolina unless it has a bad game.

Have fun watching the games and we’ll see how the Final Four looks early next week.