When I posted last week that I was excited about the Derrick Rose v Darren Collison match up, my (I'm blinded by my love for Memphis) friend argued that D.J. Augustine was much better than Collison. And since he's a much better point guard than Collison, Rose will dominate Collison.

Like most fans, I guess he discounts defense and assumes that if you can score more points than another player, you're better than them. The match-up I was referring to is Rose on offense vs Collison on defense.

Why you ask? Everything that Memphis does on offense is based on Rose's ability to take guys off the dribble. This starts the offense in motion and leads to so many opportunities for the Tigers. This video doesn't detail out everything that Rose does, but it will give you a good idea of what they do on offense.





No one will argue that Rose isn't extremely talented. In fact, he's tailor made for this offense and I think he's the best freshman in the country. I'm not sure why he gets less publicity than Beasley or Love, but I think he's better than both.

There are two ways to stop (or slow down) Memphis. First, you can play zone defense and force Memphis to shoot from the outside, which they have shown to be suspect at times. However, UCLA's strength is their M2M (man to man) defense. So I doubt they will play much zone. Second, you need a defensive minded point guard that can hang with Derrick Rose. I can think of two point guards in the country that have the speed and quickness to stay with him, Darrin Collison and Ty Lawson. There are probably more, but they aren't in the Final Four so it doesn't matter.

UCLA is known throughout the nation as having a tough defense. While some would argue (my Memphis friend) that UCLA just fouls all the time, they actually do play solid perimeter defense. The way they handle screens on the perimeter is stuff of legends. They are also long and quick. Besides Collison, they have Westbrook who is lightning fast. It's not everyday where you can find videos of UCLA playing defense on You Tube. Here's one:





The real question is, how will UCLA handle the Memphis defense. That will decide the game.


If you were too pick between these two guys to guard Rose on defense, who would you pick Augustine or Collison?

Quick note, special shout out to Coaching Better Basketball for putting these videos on the web. If you want to learn more about basketball, check out their site regularly.