Monday, March 28
Preliminary Final Four Thoughts
Wiggins may be depressed that his girlfriend is beating him in his bracket challenge, but he’s got nothing on me. Not only am I also losing to my own girl in our bracket challenge – I’m losing to 98 percent of the country. Read that again: 98 percent. Now think about the fact that at least 1 percent of the brackets are just goofy brackets people fill out where they pick all upsets, or no upsets. Yeah. I suck.
I did, however, get a bit of redemption on Friday night, as I went three out of four on my predictions. Michigan State did indeed knock out Duke, Kentucky held off Utah, and Villanova beat the spread against North Carolina. So perhaps the tides are turning.
We’ll have coverage of the Final Four throughout the week, but I’m going to offer some preliminary thoughts. First and foremost, I’ve thought, from the beginning, that North Carolina would not win this championship. They’ve survived thus far, and are still the most talented team in the field, but I’ve never felt that this is a championship team. The explosion of Darrell May over the last month has me rethinking a bit, but I’m sticking with my gut: UNC won’t take down the nets.
Can Michigan State beat the Tar Heels? Absolutely. For the same reasons that beating Duke was feasible, the Spartans can handle UNC. North Carolina is certainly capable of beating Michigan State, but I won’t be shocked at all if Michigan State wins it. I’m saving my final predictions for later in the week, but I’m leaning toward Michigan State right now.
On the other side, we’ve got Illinois and Louisville; both coming off of courageous, miraculous, jaw-dropping comeback wins in overtime classics. So who’s got the advantage? To me, this game comes down to discipline. I can easily see Louisville getting caught up in the excitement and hype of the Final Four, playing a sloppy first half, and allowing Illinois to build a double-digit lead by halftime. But if Louisville is sharp from the onset, I think they’ll win it. I’m not ready to make a prediction on this game yet, but my instinct tells me that it’s Louisville, not Illinois, that will determine the outcome. They can win the game, or beat themselves.
--PB--
I did, however, get a bit of redemption on Friday night, as I went three out of four on my predictions. Michigan State did indeed knock out Duke, Kentucky held off Utah, and Villanova beat the spread against North Carolina. So perhaps the tides are turning.
We’ll have coverage of the Final Four throughout the week, but I’m going to offer some preliminary thoughts. First and foremost, I’ve thought, from the beginning, that North Carolina would not win this championship. They’ve survived thus far, and are still the most talented team in the field, but I’ve never felt that this is a championship team. The explosion of Darrell May over the last month has me rethinking a bit, but I’m sticking with my gut: UNC won’t take down the nets.
Can Michigan State beat the Tar Heels? Absolutely. For the same reasons that beating Duke was feasible, the Spartans can handle UNC. North Carolina is certainly capable of beating Michigan State, but I won’t be shocked at all if Michigan State wins it. I’m saving my final predictions for later in the week, but I’m leaning toward Michigan State right now.
On the other side, we’ve got Illinois and Louisville; both coming off of courageous, miraculous, jaw-dropping comeback wins in overtime classics. So who’s got the advantage? To me, this game comes down to discipline. I can easily see Louisville getting caught up in the excitement and hype of the Final Four, playing a sloppy first half, and allowing Illinois to build a double-digit lead by halftime. But if Louisville is sharp from the onset, I think they’ll win it. I’m not ready to make a prediction on this game yet, but my instinct tells me that it’s Louisville, not Illinois, that will determine the outcome. They can win the game, or beat themselves.
--PB--
