Final Four

By my count, which could be totally wrong, there are 90 hours from the time the NCAA tournament brackets are announced until the tip-off of the first game. Of those 90 hours, approximately 90 are filled with professionals doing a break down of every game telling you how and why no one knows who will win. I don't know either, but since it's only a couple of hours until the first tip-off, I thought it was my turn to write about the tourney.

This years tourney is a bit different than more recent years, because I don't think there is a dominant team. There are good teams, but no great teams. Here's my argument for that, all the teams have at least 4 losses. We normally have at least one team coming in with 0 or 1 loss. This year, the tournament is more wide open, and yet most pundits are still picking 2 or 3 top seeds to make the final four. While it's hard to pick against number one's, I think you're just as safe picking any of the top 5 seeds. Of course, I still have 2 number 1 seeds in my final four, and both of them get to the championship.

I think there are some teams to be careful of. Wake Forest has been inconsistent all year, so they could lose the first round or dominate all the way to the championship. My estimate, is they will fall somewhere in the middle of that. I think Clemson, Arizona State and Purdue are the lower seeds that have a good chance to make some noise. As always, you have to be careful of teams with and outstanding player, so Maryland could be a good pick to do well too.

Ok, now for my predictions. In the Final Four, I have Louisville meeting Memphis, and Villanova meeting Carolina. Then I have Carolina beating Louisville for the title. I'm assuming Carolina will be healthy for the run, but that's an assumption that could come back to bite me. Have fun with your brackets and the tournament.