FanHouse East

Tyler Hansbrough helped fend off a Louisville rally by scoring 28 points and grabbing 13 boards in North Carolina's win over Louisville, 83-73.

The East Regional Final matchup was like watching two games in one.

In the first half, Louisville pressed the Tar Heels which led to a ton of easy baskets. UNC simply threw over the press and beat the defense back for layups. When they did have to play a halfcourt game, Carolina could shoot anything they wanted because they dominated the offensive glass. Danny Green and Wayne Ellington were awesome, scoring a combined 20 points.

UNC went into the break up 44-32.

The second half was much different. The Cards made a great adjustment of having David Padgett (who Roy Williams successfully recruited to Kansas) at the high post and running screens off him. He found cutters open for layups and/or created a foul on the Heels. It also kept Carolina's big men away from the basket and Louisville found some offensive boards.

One of the underlying stories of the Louisville-UNC game today is a beef between coaches Rick Pitino and Roy Williams. The two are among the greatest coaches in basketball and have taken multiple programs to the Final Four.

However, a game in 1989 became a sore spot between the two.

That's when Williams was in his second year at Kansas and Pitino was in his first year at Kentucky. They met in Kansas' Allen Fieldhouse and it wasn't pretty. Kansas won 150-95.

Jeff Gueldner, who played guard for Kansas, said multiple people told him Pitino flashed his middle finger when Williams asked about backing off.

Chris Cameron, who was Pitino's sports information director at the time, remembers Pitino throwing a towel. Cameron said Pitino vowed during his postgame news conference that he would never schedule Kansas again.

Well, Louisville coach Rick Pitino ... with his own national championhip and five Final Fours ... disagrees with Ol' Roy.

"Tell Roy to get on a plane for the first time and let's play the game at Freedom Hall," Pitino said. "Or let's go to Lexington and play it at Rupp [Arena]."

"I don't think it's a homecourt advantage," Pitino said. "I think those are mostly mannequins dressed in powder blue."

Pitino did qualify his comments.

"It's a very strong homecourt advantage but they deserve it because they're the No. 1-ranked team in the country," he said.

He's right. It is a huge advantage and not because ... as all these analysts have been saying ... Charlotte is just two hours away from Chapel Hill. Anyone who knows anything about North Carolina knows that there are more Tar Heels fans in Charlotte than there are in Chapel Hill.

When you look at the scoreboard, you may think that Washington State's strategy of slowing the pace of the game down against North Carolina worked. The Tar Heels scored just 68 points, 42 points below their NCAA tournament average.

However, that strategy only works if you can score more than you allow. Washington State was nowhere close to that ... losing 68-47.

The slow down game may have worked in the Tar Heels favor as their defense was the story. UNC held WSU to just 31% shooting ... including just 2-of-16 from the three-point line. They also dominated the boards (42 to 28). If not for State's Aron Baynes shooting (6-of-8), the Cougars would have shot 12-of-49 (24% to you and me) and been blown out of the water.

And that little thing about Tyler Hansbrough held to just two points at the half? He ended the game with 18 points and 9 boards after going the first 18-plus minutes of the game scoreless.

North Carolina will move on to face the winner of the Tennessee-Louisville game this Saturday. The taste of their meltdown against Georgetown in last year's East Regional final has left the team bitter ever since.

Washington State has won two things so far against North Carolina:

They are winning the battle of tempo as the game is being played in the 60s. The slow-down game has limited UNC's ability to run up the score and get easy baskets. They've also shut down Tyler Hansbrough to the tune of two points, no made field goals on four shot attempts and five rebounds.

However, the Cougars go into halfime still trailing the top ranked Tar Heels, 35-21.

For one thing, the Heels defense has been splendid themselves ... holding Washington State to just 9-of-26 shooting. They've held the Cougars' leading scorer Derrick Low to just five points.

Plus, despite the style of play and the defensive prowess of Washington State, the Heels still shot 48% from the field even after getting off to such a rocky start. Wayne Ellington (9 points) and super-sub Danny Green (12 points) are leading the way and picking up Hansbrough's slack.

"Sometimes it's just best you take your game another way," Caracter said. "I don't want to bring a distraction to the team."

"Derrick Caracter has always been about Derrick Caracter. He doesn't care about his teammates or his school. Derrick could care less about the other players on his team."

In the East Regional, the forgotten team is Washington State. With UNC blowing away everyone and fans salivating over the Tennessee-Louisville game, the Cougars are right under the radar.

That happens. Carolina and the Vols are relatively close to Charlotte, the site of the games, with Louisville not tremendously far away. Pullman, WA may as well be on the other side of the planet.

Still, WSU coach Tony Bennett knows a bit about Charlotte. After a nice career as a player at Wisconsin-Green Bay, Bennett was drafted by the NBA's Charlotte Hornets.

"I don't think too many people will remember me and be pulling for the Cougs down there," said Bennett, whose fourth-seeded team plays No. 1 seed UNC in the NCAA Round of 16 on Thursday. "They'll be cheering for the Carolina blues."

"J.P. is a stat sheet stuffer. We got a situation where I felt like we needed (Prince) on the floor more because he makes great things happen. I think he makes everyone else out there better."