Arena Adventures: Sprint Center

Arena Adventures: Entry #2

Arena: Sprint Center
City: Kansas City, MO
Date: November 22, 2010
Teams: 2010 CBE Classic Semifinals: #1 Duke vs. Marquette & #4 Kansas St. vs. #22 Gonzaga

Having been to Kansas City before to visit the College Basketball Experience (CBE) I had seen the outside of the Sprint Center before. From afar, the arena looks like a giant tire covered in glass. Very visually appealing, especially since it is less than 5 years old. I had never been to a preseason tournament before so I did not know what to expect in terms of fan attendance and overall atmosphere as the teams are typically coming from quite a ways away. My expectations were a bit higher for this tournament, however, with Kansas St. being a preseason top 5 team in the country and being only 2 hours or so away from KC. Additionally, everyone knows Duke has fans and detractors alike across the nation, plus with them having the #1 ranking in the land, basketball fans in general would be out to see the defending national champion Blue Devils.

The seating bowl of the arena is angled quite sharply, helping for fans to be more on top of the action, granted I would think sitting in the upper levels it could be a bit treacherous after a few beers maybe. I was quite impressed by the turnout of K-State fans for the first game of the day between Duke and Marquette. There were very few empty seats, especially in the lower levels, through the midway point of the first half of Duke/Marquette. I give props to K-State fans (and Gonzaga as well) for using their tickets for both games, not just their team's nightcap against Gonzaga.

As for the on-court action, the first game between Duke and Marquette provided a lot more drama than did the K-State/Gonzaga game, much to my surprise (and chagrin). The Blue Devils ran out to a quick 10 point lead early on behind preseason All-American Kyle Singler and Nolan Smith. Marquette battled the entire half, behind the strong play of Jimmy Butler and some tough post play provided by freshman Davante Gardner who brought some much needed strength to the post for Marquette to combat Duke's immense size. However, Marquette was only able to close to within 9 by the half. Coming out to start the 2nd, Marquette continued to chip away at the lead behind the play of Butler and reserve forward, Jae Crowder, eventually drawing even with the Devils at 57 with just over 10 minutes to play. The Blue Devils proceeded to score the next 9 points, led by the Mason Plumlee, who had a career night of 25 points and 12 rebounds, to put the Golden Eagles away. Marquette made the final score of 82-77 closer than it really was by watching the Devils miss 3 front ends of the 1 and 1 with under a minute left. If Marquette coach Buzz Williams had made the decision earlier to resort to the late-game foul tactics, Marquette might have just had a chance to force OT or get the win. Buzz's end game management was very questionable, especially the full timeout called with 0.9 seconds left down 5. In the end, the #1 Blue Devils had too much size and experience for the Golden Eagles to overcome, but Marquette laid a blueprint for beating Duke. Duke needs to shore up the free throw line in late game situations and Kyle Singler needs to not disappear for long stretches at a time if Duke wants to cut down the nuts at Reliant Stadium in April.

20 minutes after the Duke win, K-State tipped off with Gonzaga. Gonzaga, coming off a home loss to San Diego St. on Tuesday night, was looking to take down a top 5 win in basically a road atmosphere in KC, about 125 miles or so from the little apple of Manhattan, KS. With probably 75% or more of the crowd at the Sprint Center clad in purple and black, this was going to be a big test for the young Zags, and they looked young and shell-shocked from the tip. K-State opened the game on a 10-2 run before the first media timeout on a couple trifectas and a couple drives to the tin. Gonzaga was so discombobulated that coach Mark Few resorted to bringing in walk-on point guard David Stockton into the game at the first media timeout (Yes, Stockton is the son of Gonzaga and Utah Jazz legend John Stockton). Stockton brought some much needed energy and spunk to the Zags, scoring a bucket, dishing 2 assists, and forcing 2 K-State turnovers in the first 3 minutes on the court. Stockton's lack of size, however, made him an easy target for mismatches or for shooters to shoot over him. This was evidenced by the 3-point barrage K-State showed in the first half, led by Jacob Pullen and Will Spradling. Through most of the first half, the Wildcats were 9/13 from 3-point land, yet only 3/8 from the charity stripe. The hot shooting of K-State helped them build a lead of 17 points, before a 6-0 run by the Zags to end the half on a high note and close the deficit to 11 at 49-38.

The question for the Zags in the 2nd half would be who would step up and lead the comeback with former WCC Player of the Year, Matt Bouldin, no longer eligible due to graduation. The most likely candidates were Steven Gray, who had 35 points in the loss to SDSU, or projected 1st round NBA draft pick Elias Harris who dropped a gooseegg in the first half due to foul trouble. In the end, no one seems to be able to spark the Zags, who managed to get the lead to as few as 6 points early in the 2nd half at 57-51, before K-State steadily pulled away behind Pullen, who scored 18. The balanced scoring and hot shooting of K-State resulted in a final margin of victory of 81-64. Robert Sacre led the Zags with 17 points, who were dominated on the glass 37-24 by the Wildcats as well.

The Wildcats advance to the championship game of the CBE against Duke in the matchup all K-State and Duke fans (and ESPN for that matter) were hoping for when the participating teams were announced in March. This game could be a preview of a national semifinal or final in Houston in 4 months. The key to the game is going to be the free throw line for both squads as well as the stars (Singler for Duke and Pullen for K-State). Whichever teams makes more FTs and is able to better contain the opponent's star should walk out of the Sprint Center tonight with the trophy. K-State has the size to combat the Devils post presence, but do they have the mental toughness and experience? We shall see in front of a very partisan crowd in a few hours.

In the end, all 4 teams get 2 quality games out of this tournament with Gonzaga squaring off against Marquette in the consolation game this evening. No team wants to go 0-2 in a preseason tournament, but the urgency needs to be there for the Zags tonight as they have 2 losses from this tournament already due to the ridiculously quality matchup they were given in SDSU while Duke, K-State, and Marquette were fattening up on the cupcakes of Princeton, Miami (OH), Presbyterian, James Madison, Bucknell, and Green Bay, respectively. Duke and K-State showed why they are national championship contenders in the semifinals while Marquette and Gonzaga should both be solid NCAA teams come Selection Sunday.

Enjoy the championship tilt tonight! I know I will. I'll be tweeting live from the games starting at 6:30 (CST) for the consolation game at @connzag3.