Elite 8 games and discussion thread

[Assani Fisher]

Memphis' Dorsey wrote this for Ohio State's bulletin board
March 23, 2007
By Gregg Doyel
CBS SportsLine.com Senior Writer
Tell Gregg your opinion!





SAN ANTONIO -- How well does Greg Oden play when he's pissed off? If Oden reads what you're about to read, we'll find out Saturday when Ohio State plays Memphis for the South Regional championship.


Joey Dorsey thinks he's underrated and Greg Oden's overrated. (Getty Images)
With a handful of well-spoken if not well-chosen words, Memphis' Joey Dorsey blew up Oden on Friday, calling the 7-foot All-American "overrated" and saying if his meeting with Oden is a modern-day David vs. Goliath, that Dorsey is Goliath.

Dorsey's verbal barrage came too late for a response from Oden, since the Buckeyes met the media first, but OSU officials were working the media room for Dorsey's quotes. Elsewhere in the Alamodome, Memphis coach John Calipari was doing damage control.

"Joey called him out? What did he say?" Calipari said. "He wasn't calling him out. I think (Dorsey) knows he's about to play the best big man in the country, and he's excited about the challenge. If he said it any other way, that's not how he meant it."

Could be. Tell you what: I'll put you in the room with Dorsey when he said what he said. It was one of those individual breakout rooms the NCAA gives starters. You decide what he meant when he responded to a question -- mine -- about Oden. To absolve myself of guilt, here is exactly what I said to trigger Dorsey's stream of unconsciousness:

"Joey, do you think you could make yourself some money tomorrow night? At some point you'll be in the NBA Draft, and scouts will study how you played against Oden."

That was me.

Here was Dorsey's response:

"Oh yeah," he said. "I think (scouts) really will be watching this game tomorrow night because it's two great big men going up against each other. I'm an underrated big man and he's a lot overrated as a big man."

Another reporter: Did you just say Greg Oden is overrated? And if so, why?

"I outrebounded him on the season," Dorsey said. "I'm the No. 6 rebounder in the nation, and I'm trying to move up to No. 1 after this game."

First of all, Dorsey's incorrect. He isn't sixth. He's 16th, at 9.7 rebounds per game -- two spots behind Oden, 14th at 9.8. Technically Dorsey is fifth nationally in total rebounds with 340, but Memphis has played more games than almost anyone.

Now then. Back to Dorsey's desire for rebounds ...

"I'm going to have a 20-rebound night," he said.

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There. That's (some of) what he said. There's more, but let's take a break from Dorsey's diatribe to explain the kind of guy he is: He's a flake. A kook. He's the kind of guy who, when the media infiltrated his locker room Wednesday to discuss the Sweet 16 date with Texas A&M, Dorsey hid under a curtained training table.

Dorsey's different. During warm-ups he listens to what fans scream, and at one point this season he took advice from a ticket-holder on how to shoot free throws. When Dorsey put the advice into practice and made the practice shot, he pointed at the fan.

The media can sense the potential gold here. Before the individual breakout sessions, when all five Memphis starters and Calipari were in the main interview room, a reporter who shall go unnamed -- OK, it was Rick Reilly from Sports Illustrated -- nakedly tried to bait Dorsey by asking him if Oden was overrated.

Dorsey allowed that Oden "needs to work on his offense a little bit (but) he's a great player." Afterward, as he and teammate Chris Douglas-Roberts walked to their breakout rooms, Douglas-Roberts angrily re-lived the question.

"You see how he tried to set you up?" Douglas-Roberts said. "'Do you think Greg Oden's overrated?' Come on, man. 'Do you think he's overrated?' That's (expletive), man."

Maybe Dorsey missed the point, because his response to Douglas-Roberts was this: "I should have said I'm underrated!"

After avoiding being inflammatory in the main media room, Dorsey sat down in his sparsely attended breakout room and brought out the blow torch.

"He's a lot like me," he said of Oden. "He gets his head out of the game when he picks up quick fouls."

"I'm Goliath," he said of his individual battle with Oden. "He's the little man."

"He doesn't want to stay in the paint," he said of Oden. "He just wants to post up. I watched a couple games. He's not really playing in the paint. He likes to help-side (defend) and block shots. I haven't seen him against a great player play great defense."

Dorsey also said that he watched Ohio State's second-round scare against Xavier and noted that while his teammates were hoping Xavier would upset the Buckeyes, "I was cheering under my breath for (Ohio State) so I could get the matchup."

Douglas-Roberts was asked about the verbal show Dorsey was putting on in another room.

"That's just Joey. That's Joey Dorsey," he said, shaking his head and smiling. "I'm with it. If he's with it, I'm with it."

Back in Dorsey's room, he was asked about playing for Calipari.

"Coach is very intense," Dorsey said. "He gets in your butt. I was in his doghouse as a freshman, but I think I'm out now."

Not if Calipari reads this story, Joey.

And if Oden hears about it, Calipari might be the least of Dorsey's problems

[Assani Fisher]

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This is THE BEST Elite 8 I have ever seen. Literally the top 8 teams in the country. Unreal, whoever wins this is so damn tough.

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I havn't seen Oregon play much this year, so I'm just asking....but are they really a top 8 team in most people's opinions? To get here they beat a 14 seed, an 11 seed, and a 7 seed.

[capone0]

Oregon might not be but the rest are. The only team I could see being in the Top 8 that isn't is TAMU. The rest are. Wisconsin with Butch out wasn't a top 10 team, maybe top 20. Butch was a top 10 recruit, fyi.

[skiier04]

Go Memphis/Kansas/Florida/Georgetown!!

[New001]

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Go Memphis/UCLA/Florida/Georgetown!!

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[gr8vertical]

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Go Memphis/Kansas/Florida/Georgetown!!

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[img]/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img]

[Assani Fisher]

[ QUOTE ]
Oregon might not be but the rest are. The only team I could see being in the Top 8 that isn't is TAMU. The rest are. Wisconsin with Butch out wasn't a top 10 team, maybe top 20. Butch was a top 10 recruit, fyi.

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As I said I don't know a lot about Oregon, but I could see an argument that any of the sweet 16 losers other than UNLV(listed below) are better or are at least playing better right now. Hell, I could even argue that some teams that lost in the second round would be in the Elite 8 had they faced the same teams that Oregon did.

aTm
Tenn
Butler
SIU
USC
Vanderbilt
Pitt

Now let me reiterate that I'm not saying they're not good; I'm simply saying that I havn't seen enough to know if they're good or not.

[hoyasnaxa]

Lets go Hoyas!

[ASPoker8]

go UF/UCLA/UNC/OSU

[ligastar]

OMG, OMG, D2 FINALS. OMG