FanHouse Matt Bouldin

In life, you may never get a second chance to make a first impression.

But if you bomb it as badly as Michigan State did in its 98-63 loss to North Carolina in December that was godawful embarrassing even by the standards of a stadium that hosts the Lions, you'll get months, if not a lifetime, to explain exactly what went wrong.

And if you're the Spartans, you get a second chance to make it right.

At least after you explain. And explain. And explain.

Even if you read the list of Ty Lawson's superlatives at the breakneck speed the North Carolina point guard gets from one end of the court to the other, you'd still be going long after coach Roy Williams hit the summer recruiting trails.

He's the ACC player of the year, the fastest thing in sports since NASCAR went to restrictor plates, and for perhaps his finest trick, he turned a nation of sportswriters into an army of Dr. Scholls.

But after the North Carolina needed just a half to dispose of Gonzaga in an eventual 98-77 walkover, it's awfully clear that we can stop talking about his toe and start talking about his tournament.

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North Carolina has been established as the tournament favorite by the odds makers. But before we blaze a path for them into the Final Four (or even the Elite Eight), perhaps we should take a quick trip down memory lane.

The Tar Heels and the Bulldogs have a fairly interesting history together. One that people are drawing on when looking at Friday's game.

Gonzaga and St. Mary's opened the WCC tournament final with Matt Boldin shooting a pair of technical free throws after the Gaels' Omar Samhan dunked in warmups.

That turned out to be the highlight of St. Mary's evening.

The Gaels were looking to make a big splash against the Bulldogs on national television and they did. Just not the splash they were looking to make. This game was a worst-case scenario for a team looking to go to the Dance, like an acne outbreak on prom night. St. Mary's made it's case for the NCAA tournament. The only problem was, that case was, "Please don't take us."

Now the only question is, does St. Mary's deserve an at-large bid?

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Gonzaga and St. Mary's opened the WCC tournament final with Matt Boldin shooting a pair of technical free throws after the Gaels' Omar Samhan dunked in warmups.

That turned out to be the highlight of St. Mary's evening.

The Gaels were looking to make a big splash against the Bulldogs on national television and they did. Just not the splash they were looking to make. This game was a worst-case scenario for a team looking to go to the Dance, like an acne outbreak on prom night. St. Mary's made it's case for the NCAA tournament. The only problem was, that case was, "Please don't take us."

Now the only question is, does St. Mary's deserve an at-large bid?

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Gonzaga was widely regarded as one of the two remaining speed bumps as Memphis continues its march toward an undefeated season, and today the Tigers dispatched of the Bulldogs, making yet another clear statement that they're the best team in college basketball.

The 81-73 win didn't come easy for Memphis, as Gonzaga played a very strong first half and kept things interesting most of the way through. Memphis coach John Calipari said after the game, "On a neutral court, they'd probably beat us." But Memphis, led by 21 points from Chris Douglas-Roberts and 19 from Derrick Rose, was clearly the better team.

The one player who kept it close for Gonzaga was guard Jeremy Pargo, who scored a game-high 25 points on 9-of-16 shooting. Matt Bouldin, however, was a huge disappointment. He made a couple of late baskets but did basically nothing all day and finished with six points on 2-of-9 shooting.

Memphis will stay No. 1, and now the question is this: Will anyone beat them? You can never rule out an upset, but there just isn't a team in Conference USA that seems likely to even threaten Memphis, let alone pull off a shocker. That means the Tigers' Feb. 23 date with Tennessee might be the last opportunity for anyone to stop Memphis before March.