The Blue Workhorse

The weak were weeded out. What once was a field of 65 is now down to 4.

Michigan State surprised many by knocking off the tournament’s overall #1 seeded Louisville Cardinals. North Carolina contained the Blake Griffin-express in a 12-point victory that wasn’t really even that close. Villanova won the Big East battle over Pittsburgh with a game-winning shot from Scottie Reynolds in the final seconds, and fellow Big East member Connecticut held off the pesky Missouri Tigers to advance to Detroit and the Final Four.

Each will head to Ford Field with thoughts of national championship, and it is only thanks to some great individual performances throughout the NCAA men’s basketball tournament. But who had the most outstanding individual performance in the Elite Eight? Who has earned the right to be named the ‘Elite Eight Workhorse?’ In honor of the elite eight, here are the eight candidates:

…more…

While there have been some great team performances this year in the NCAA men’s basketball tournament, it has been the individual performances of players such as Blake Griffin, Ty Lawson, and Cole Aldrich that everyone is talking about.

We’ve given you the candidates for the players who have had the most outstanding performances in the first two rounds (1st Round Workhorse & 2nd Round Workhorse), and after a Sweet 16 that saw several blowouts we’re back with the Sweet 16 candidates.

…more…

The NCAA men’s basketball tournament is traditionally about great and, often improbable, team runs spurred by uncanny individual performances, and this year’s tournament has been no different. There have been a couple of upsets and a plenty of near-upsets. Those contests each had their own outstanding performances.

But who had the most outstanding performance to make them worthy of the distinction of being named the ‘2nd Round Workhorse?’ Here are our candidates (in alphabetical order) with a poll at the bottom:

Last season after each round of the NCAA men’s basketball national tournament, we compiled the candidates for the ‘Workhorse’ of the round (our version of Most Outstanding Player) and then let your votes decide who should be given the award. We culminated the ‘Workhorse candidates’ series by naming Mario Chalmers the NCAA ‘Championship Workhorse’ and you voted the tourney darling, Stephen Curry, as the NCAA ‘Tournament Workhorse.’

And we’re bringing it back!

…more…

It took some rough free throw shooting by Memphis and a miraculous 3-point shot by Mario Chalmers to send the game into overtime before the Jayhawks outscored the John Calipari’s Tigers 12-5 in overtime to take home the national championship.

To continue our ‘Workhorse candidates’ series that we’ve been compiling after each round of the NCAA men’s basketball national tournament, we’re going to go ahead and hand over the NCAA ‘Championship Workhorse’ award to Chalmers, even though Darrell Arthur did have a hell of a game as well (20 points on 9-13 FG, 10 rebounds, assist, steal).

North Carolina head coach Roy Williams has to console Wayne Ellington after the guard finds out he’s not on a candidate for the ‘Final Four Workhorse.’ (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
And then there were two…
Two teams remain after Kansas assaulted former coach Roy Williams and his North Carolina Tar Heels and Memphis steamrolled past the UCLA Bruins. [...]

The weak were weeded out. What once was a field of 65 is now down to 4.

Everyone thought all four #1 seeds wouldn’t make it to the Final Four, but they proved the naysayers wrong. UCLA, North Carolina, Memphis, and Kansas each punched their tickets to the Final Four. Each will head to San Antonio with thoughts of national championship, and it is only thanks to some great individual performances throughout the NCAA men’s basketball tournament.

But who had the most outstanding individual performance in the Elite Eight? Who has earned the right to be named the ‘Elite Eight Workhorse?’ In honor of the elite eight, here are the eight candidates:

While there have been some great team performances this year in the NCAA men’s basketball tournament, it has been the individual performances of players such as Stephen Curry, Kevin Love, Michael Beasley, and Tyler Hansbrough that everyone is talking about.

So who had the single most outstanding performance? Who deserves the honor of being the ‘Sweet 16 Workhorse?’ The candidates: