Mix*tap*ing (verb): To humiliate a defender with deceptive and sudden movements, leading, or not to a bucket.

Final Four. Looking for “mixtapes” to add to the moments that give office chatter and game parties the buzz of excitement. We saw Steph Curry give the ill behind the back
dribble in traffic on Kansas in the second half for a “ooh” that Kingdome would have been proud of. Derrick Rose’s two-hand banger wasn’t any joke in transition either. While at the end of the day I always praise the winning team, moves that make money in the memory are always cherished.

Who are the candidates to give us that “mixtape” moment that will be on you-tube the next day. My choices:

Josh Shipp (UCLA) Has handles and the suddenness to give defenders the “Skip-to-my-lou” moment of truth look. He doesn’t over do it, he makes every dribble and head fake count. Has some blender-ish and some crosscade.*

Mario Chalmers (Kansas) Chalmers reminds me of the Bulls of the nineties. A long-striding guard that is smooth. Not much head-faking like Shipp, mostly “chop and feet,” which is ball handling movement that goes high then low quickly with long strides that stop real sudden. That’s ankle-breaking behavior for a over-zealous defender. “I see ghosts” is the line a defender would tell the Coach at half-time if Chalmers gets hot.

Chris Douglas-Roberts (Memphis) Douglas-Roberts is a personal favorite of mine. His game is full pop-lock. Give him the ball and watch the upper-body rhythm go slow and then fast putting defenders on the bench with 2 quick fouls. Chris lives on the foul-line so don’t sleep. His lower body has another gear that is deceptively quick. Sleeper MVP of the tournament.

For all you candidates, take a look at another player who did WORK in the NCAA’s a few years ago, G-Tech’s Will Bynum, who represents hard out on the Chi-town playground and rocks overseas in Tel Aviv.

*For translation get Bounce and see our Flossary section.