Predictions For Saturday's Final Four Games

(The Mega Star and the Destroyer of Dreams)

It feels like it's been long enough to enjoy college basketball again, hasn't it? I'm not going to jinx things...but if a certain two teams meet in the championship game (regardless of the eventual winner), I win one of my pools. You can say I'm invested in the results of today's games. Here are my predictions for tonight's Final Four games. I'm sorry I didn't post these earlier...so that others could jump in with their own predictions in the comments section. But a lot of people bitched and moaned about wanting a Pitt/Villanova post...then didn't read it, or didn't comment on it. I figure that we're all about square. Enjoy the games.

Connecticut over Michigan State

Reasons:

• As I've said before...if you think a little bump-in-the-road like a "recruiting scandal" is going to slow down Jim Calhoun and the UConn Huskies, you're dead wrong. These accusations are just pissing Coach Calhoun off! As if he and the Huskies needed proper motivation. He's got (way more) than 1.6 million reasons to win this game!
• When in doubt, go with the team that Pitt defeated twice this season when they were ranked #1 in the country. You better believe I'm going to keep cramming Pitt into this blog at every opportunity.
• I decided not to doubt the abilities of Tom Izzo and a Big 10 team last weekend when I chose MSU over Louisville. It paid off. But I can only give that kind of credit once per NCAA Tournament...and the Spartans used up that voucher in the Great Eight.
• If you think that there is a "home court" advantage for Michigan State playing in Detroit...you're clinically insane. There's gonna be a bunch of random middle-aged white guys at this game, the press, and some empty seats. Yeah...that bodes really well for Michigan State.
• Most of you have been reading this blog for awhile. Most of you have been watching the NCAA Tournament. Go ahead...name me TWO players from Michigan State. I dare you! It's ok...I'll wait.
  
• UConn is simply the better team. Everyone knows this. The reason that the press is hyping up Tom Izzo's success and the "home court" advantage for MSU is because they (and everyone else) knows that UConn should kick ass in this game. They are the favorite. They have the talent. They will have the victory.
• Confidence in this pick: 8.7

North Carolina over Villanova

Reasons:

• You don't defeat the Pitt Panthers on a last second shot, denying the best Pitt team in history their first trip to the Final Four, and expect to keep advancing. There are repercussions to your actions Villanova! The road ends here! F*** off!
• If you think the nation is done hearing about Tyler Hansbrough...you have another thing coming! We're not done seeing #50 on the court and being subjected to announcers detail his passion (whiteness) and talk about how he came back for his senior year to win a national championship. It almost makes me wish Billy Packer was doing these games, just to hear him gush with Hansbrough related man-love.
• Ty Lawson plays for North Carolina. Enough said.
• What makes the Final Four games different than the Great Eight games is preparation time. These teams have had 6-7 days to prepare for the Final Four (opposed to about 36 hours of prep time for the Great Eight). When given time to practice, game plan, and prepare...the better team will win 9 out of 10 times. Point UNC.
• If I pick against North Carolina, Liz and Emily might kill me. I value my life right now, so I'm going with the Tar Heels. (I also made a promise to root for UNC unless they were playing Pitt, so I'm going to be a man of my word and keep rooting for Lil Wayne Ellington and company)
  
• I guess this is a huge day for Matt. He was about 3 years old the last time Villanova reached the Final Four. Props to you Matt...your team made the Final Four. Enjoy it for all it's worth, because it's going to end very soon when North Carolina beats you.
• Confidence in this Pick: 9.3

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Selection Show Running Diary II

Selection Sunday is finally here! Today's events will set into motion all of the games, upsets, and gambling ramifications which will take place over the next three weeks. The NCAA Tournament Selection Committee has been sequestered in Indianapolis all week debating the merits of various at-large teams while doing copious amounts of cocaine. With Pitt on the verge of getting a #1 seed for the first time EVER...and Robert Morris earning their first trip to the Big Dance since 1992, I just had to keep a running diary of what took place during the Selection Show. How else could one truly "Conquer The 2009 NCAA Tournament"? I'm hoping the CBS studio team will provide a lot of unintentional comedy, not to mention the fact that they will give about 35 teams "a chance" after seeing the brackets.

6:00 pm - CBS throws out a studio team of Greg Gumbel, Greg Anthony, and Seth Davis. Thanks to this blog, Billy Packer is no longer a part of March Madness! High-fives all around people! Nice work. Clark Kellogg leaves his in-studio seat to join Jim Nantz on CBS's number one announcing team. Greg Anthony comes off the bench to replace Kellogg. I'm glad Packer is long gone, but I'm going to miss Kellogg choosing 11 teams to reach the Final Four during the Selection Show.

6:00 pm - Louisville is the overall number one seed! I'm not sure what this means for Pitt and UNC, other than they'll both be number one seeds. Greg Anthony is dressed to impress. Seth Davis' suit is showing up green on my television. Is this intentional or do I just have a bad TV?

6:02 pm - Pittsburgh is the #1 seed in the East region! First #1 seed ever in the history of the program! I'm so proud right now! UNC will be the #1 seed in the South...and UConn will be the #1 seed in the West. Three Big East teams and North Carolina. Memphis didn't make it as a number one seed...this is the correct decision. The ONLY thing that sucks about this whole thing...Pitt cannot face UNC in the title game...if they win out...they would meet in the final four. This blog has been setting up a Pitt vs. UNC NCAA Tournament game forever...hopefully we'll still get it. That game would be insane. The world might explode.

6:05 pm - Hey...we're getting Jim Nantz and Clark Kellogg talking to us about the number one seeds. Kellogg has glasses on and a CBS sports logo on his suit coat. He's really moving up the ladder at CBS. They just talked for 60 seconds and didn't say anything. I sill love Nantz though. Ladies and gentlemen...again...please take a bow...no more Billy Packer!!!

6:08 pm - By the way...blog favorite Gus Johnson will be paired with Len Elmore again this year. I'll have the announcers for the games up here in the next day or two.

6:09 pm - The Midwest region is slowly announced. This is Louisville's region. Lewis Jackson's Alabama State team is playing in the play-in game...what a freaking farce!!! That team is solid! Already...the selection committee is full of crap. Siena getting a #9 seed, decent. That's a quality pick. Arizona is in! Uh oh...Creigton might be out...this isn't good. The Wildcats will be facing Utah in the first round. Did you know that Utah has a top 15 RPI? Wake Forest #4...they will be playing Cleveland State. I'm still hurting from that Horizon League bet with Phil. Butler should have won it all. ROBERT MORRIS is the 15 seed!!! They get to play #2 Michigan State in the first round...that is a TOTALLY winable game! I'm so excited! That's the exact #2 seed I wanted the Colonials to get! Great times. North Dakota state (#14) is a great first round upset pick as they will be playing #3 Kansas. First time ever for ND St. in the tournament. Geez...(#11) Dayton against (#6) West Virginia in the first round. I really like WVU coming out of the bottom half of this bracket. Whew! Lots of notable teams (and notable seeds) in that region. Things are looking good for Robert Morris. Wake Forest vs. Louisville would be a nice game. I really like West Virginia and Lousiville based on first impressions.

6:17 pm - The West Region is slowly announced. This is UConn's region. #8 BYU vs. #9 Texas A&M...not too exciting. I already like UConn to the Sweet Sixteen. Very high for Texas A&M. Purdue (#5) draws Northern Iowa as the potential twelve seed upset pick. You DON'T mess with teams from Iowa in March! Washington is the #4 seed and will play the Cinderella Mississippi State team who won the SEC about 3 hours ago. Memphis will be the #2 seed in this region. No real surprise here, it means that Memphis is the "highest" number 2 seed. 7/10 game is Cal against Maryland. Bubble, Bubble, Bubble. Time is ticking on my Creighton Bluejays. #3 seed is Missouri...they just won the Big 12 tournament and will play Cornell form the Ivy League. Marquette is a #6 seed?!? Wow...best #6 ever? Maybe not without Dominic James. They play Utah State in the first round, a team that went 30-4 on the season. This region wasn't as "sexy" as the Midwest. I'd like Missouri if they were going against any other #2 seed. As it is...things look pretty good for UConn and Memphis here.

6:25 pm - The East region is slowly announced. This is Pitt's region. It's SO nice to finally see Pitt as a #1 seed. CBS cuts to a shot of the Pitt team watching the Selection Show and they seem very underwhelmed. I like it. This team is focused. They know what's important. Pitt will play the winner of Oklahoma St./Tennessee. #5 seed is Florida State and Wisconsin is the #12? Xavier is #4 and will play Portland State, who made the tournament for the second year in a row. Pitt already played Florida State this year...it could happen again. Binghamton is the #15 seed and gets Duke in the first round. How early will Duke lose this year? Texas and Minnesota is the 7/10 game. Villanova is the #3 seed in this region. The Wildcats are shown on TV and are much more excited than Pitt was. They get American from the Patriot League in the first round in what amounts to a home game in Philadelphia. Eric Maynor and VCU gets the #11 seed and will be EVERYONE's upset pick against UCLA in the first round. Greg Anthony just said that Pitt has the easiest draw of anyone so far...he says that they are experienced and well rested. I'm liking him taking over for Kellogg. Seth Davis just made some reference to Pitt reaching the Final Four. It's damn good to be a #1 seed. The picks from this region have to be Pittsburgh and Villanova. Geez...I'm just picking Big East teams so far. At least I admit I'm a homer. Go Pitt!!!

6:33 pm - The South region is slowly announced. This is North Carolina's region. The possibility of a Pitt/UNC Final Four game makes me giddy. UNC plays Radford in the first round. That game might end 140-102. LSU plays Butler in the 8/9 game...that's actually an interesting game. Go Butler! It's time for redemption after that Cleveland State loss! Oh boy...Illinois is the #5 and Western Kentucky is the #12, that has upset written all over it! Western Kentucky won as a #12 seed last year when they beat Drake. Gonzaga is the 4 seed and get Akron. I have no idea how Akron is as good as a #13 seed. Gonzaga is going to roll! Oklahoma is the #2 in this region. They lost their #1 in the final few weeks, but should be fine. Shit...Michigan is in this thing?!? Ug. What a load of crap. They will play Clemson, who are the #7 seed. Eric Devendorf and Syracuse get the 3 seed here. Will their Big East run be the death of them? They do draw the always dangerous Stephen F. Austin squad in the first round. Arizona State/Temple are the final two teams announced. A North Carolina/Oklahoma Elite Eight game is very compelling. It's hard not to go with anyone but UNC here, as long as Mega Star Ty Lawson is healthy.

No Creighton, no Saint Mary's, No Penn State. No San Diego State. Only 4 non-power conference teams got at-large bids, the fewest amount in a long time. Are Arizona and Wisconsin really deserving? I doubt it. Southern Cal and Miss. St. really screwed some teams over the past 24 hours. I still think the last team in and the first team out should play in the play-in game. This year...it would have been Arizona against San Diego State or Saint Mary's. How many people would watch that game Tuesday night? The answer is...everyone. Such a good idea.

6:38 pm - Seth Davis just said that he thinks Pittsburgh is the best team in the country. Seth Davis just became my favorite broadcaster.

6:43 pm - Nantz and Kellogg are talking again, but not really saying anything. I'm sad that we won't be able to enjoy Davidson, Notre Dame, or Holy Cross in this year's tournament. The blog was truly robbed of some good trash talk because of this.

6:45 pm - Greg Gumbel just made fun of Clark Kellogg for picking all four number one seeds to advance to the Final Four every year. Nicely done Greg. I made fun of Kellogg in last year's Selection Show running diary for choosing all four #1s. Unfortunately, he happened to be right. I don't see that happening this year. Pitt and UNC are basically locks though.

6:48 pm - The March Madness On Demand option on the CBS website is one of the greatest inventions in the history of the universe. Greg's Final Four picks - (#1) Louisville, (#2) Memphis, (#1) Pitt, (#1) North Carolina. His picks are essentially this year's control bracket. Although if this is the actual Final Four...I'll be VERY excited! Seth's Final Four picks - (#4) Wake Forest, (#2) Memphis, (#1) Pitt, (#1) North Carolina. It's all about Pitt, North Carolina, the Big East and the ACC this year. Gotta love it. Greg's sleeper teams - USC, Miss. State. Villanova, and Gonzaga. Seth's sleeper teams - WVU, Washington, VCU, and Clemson. That VCU team is going to be everyone's pick. Gonzaga actually has a decent draw.

6:55 pm - Bunch of yapping with an old white guy about seeding. Enough of this crap! It's time to join pools and fill out brackets! The play-in game tips off in a mere 48 hours! I'm gonna say it...Greg Anthony is an upgrade over Clark Kellogg in the studio. Pitt is a number one seed. Robert Morris is finally in the NCAA Tournament and has a great draw. March Madness is truly kicking it into high gear.

Apparently The Amazing Race and Cold Case are on CBS tonight! Perhaps I'll be keeping a running diary of those shows. Maybe not.

Have fun filling our your brackets folks. Let's rock and roll.

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