After two tough weekends of hard fought college basketball on the games biggest stage, its time to turn the level up a notch on the NCAA Tournament. Their is a first time for everything and finally, all the 1 seeds are in the final four. Here is how the tourney broke down
Let's start in the West Region shall we. No big surprise here with the UCLA Bruins pretty much dominating a Xavier team, who was having one of their best seasons in school history. But the Bruins for the 3rd year in a row, are in the final four and will have a shot at the national championship. Kevin Love is the best big man and most dominating player in the country. UCLA is the best defensive team in the final four, and they are my pick to win it all.
The East Region was won by the UNC Tar Heels, lead by their powerful big man Tyler Hansbrough. They cruised easily and even ran up the score on teams (poor Arkansas). Louisville was an interesting matchup for Carolina because of the talent that Rick Pitino put out on the floor. The Tar Heels are an offensive firepower, that has questions on the defensive end (sounds like most NBA teams). Not that much to talk about here becasue this bracket went pretty much according to plan.
The South Region was the most intriguing to me. The first 6 seeds in this bracked are national powers, and Kentucky is also a national power at the 11 seed. Their were some surprises here like Memphis DOMINATING everbody they played, except Mississippi State who was only in the game because of horrible free throw shooting from Memphis. Michigan State also had a miny upset of Pitt and I thought Sparty could beat Memphis. I was very very wrong. Questions with Memphis are free throw shooting( I think they will be all right) and scoring in the paint.
The Midwest Region was amazing. Cinderalla Davidson got to the elite eight, and was one, count it one, shot away from moving on the Final Four. Stephen Curry was absoulutely amazing during this tournament (why didnt anyone recruit him) and Davidson was a well rounded team with Lovedale a very good center, and a Curry Richards back court combo was amazing. Bill Self finally got the monkey of the back and is finally taking Kansas to the Final Four. Kansas had a pretty easy road to the final four, just like the Bruins of UCLA, but Kansas does have some problems. Playing decent defense and great offense is a problem when you play Carolina. When you are trying to beat Carolina YOU NEED TO PLAY AMAZING DEFENSE AGAINST , because the Tar Heels are one of the best offensive teams in college bball history.
The Pick's
UNC Over Kansas
UCLA Over Memphis
Championship: UCLA Over UNC
The Cinderella of the Year
Of course it is the Davidson Wildcats. How good are they? Well we found out they could beat another Cinderella team Gonzaga, a national power that has a 7'2 center Gerogetown, beat the best defense and three point shooting team in the country Wisconsin, and lose a game by one shot to final four team Kansas. Let's not forget who they played during the regular season. Lost by single digits to Duke and UNC, and had the Bruins of UCLA down by twelve in the second half, and it's also been forever since they lost in their conference. What a great program that is being run by (the man who should be coach of the year) Bob McKillop.
