1-WILL NORTH CAROLINA FLAME OUT?? I don’t think they will...but there is a chance that they might. After winning a big game against Duke in the regular season finale...the Heels were told about how great they were and even got quite a few #1 votes in the polls. So...they go to the ACC tournament and lay an egg against Clemson which they recovered from, then laid another one against a hungry Georgia Tech squad. Same thing could happen here. Carolina is widely recognized as the "team of the tournament" thus far and could slip up enough that Villanova, Wisconsin or NC State upends them short of the Final Four.
2- WHICH TOP SEED LOOKS A LITTLE SHAKY? To be honest, three of the four top seeds have tough roads to the Final Four [the lone school with a somewhat easy road is UNC]. Washington will play a #4 seed Louisville that is actually ranked higher than them in the AP and who is maybe the hottest team in the country right now. Duke has not looked good at all...and has a very tough Michigan State staring at them on Friday...with Kentucky or Utah on Sunday. Very tough. While Illinois seems to have an easy game against UW-Milwaukee.....they have to face the winner of Arizona-Oklahoma State. Either of those schools are capable of winning the whole thing.
3-DOES MILWAUKEE HAVE A CHANCE AGAINST ILLINOIS? They have a better shot than you would think. While the Illini are a great, great squad....Milwaukee?s style of play may cause a few errors in Illinois game plan. Hey...on any given day, a Bucknell can beat Kansas.
4-CAN WISCONSIN GET TO THE FINAL FOUR? They sure can. I think they?ll beat NC State. But to beat UNC??? That will be tough. However, the defensive nature of the Badgers might actually cause problems for the Heels. Wisconsin won?t allow UNC to get as many possessions....and I?ve seen how Carolina can sometimes struggle in a half-court game.
5-WILL WE SEE DUKE V KENTUCKY III???? Yes. But, they both have huge tasks ahead of them with Michigan State and Utah. Neither team is a pushover and brings their own type of challenge to the Crews In Blue. But...I do see those teams battling in the Elite 8. Remember...in 1992 Laettner hit that shot in the Elite 8 that sent Duke to the Final Four and a National Title. And in 1998, Kentucky made an awesome comeback to win and sent them to a National Title.
6-SPEAKING OF 1992, DOES BOBBY KNIGHT GET BACK TO THE FINAL FOUR?? No. While I got them losing to West Virginia.....even a T Tech win pits them against Washington or Louisville. The Red Raiders simply cannot beat those teams [though a Knight-Pitino matchup would be nice]. That doesn?t diminish what Knight and Texas Tech has done. He is right.....this team has had a great season just getting to this point.
7-WILL THE WILDCATS GET TO THE FINAL FOUR?? I say yes. But which one?? I think Arizona and Villanova will be gone before Saturday.... but I have Kentucky beating Utah and Duke to get to St. Louis.
8-WILL A COACH THAT HAS ALREADY WON A TITLE, WIN ANOTHER ONE?? I say no. Obviously, Roy Williams and Bruce Weber are leading the top two schools right now....and neither has cut down the nets. But with Izzo, K, Knight, Olsen, Tubby and Pitino out there....you never know.
9-WHICH REGION IS THE TOUGHEST?? Chicago Region. Sure, there is a #12 seed alive there....but it in the only region with a #3 seed and only one other region has their #2. I mean, Arizona and Oklahoma State will battle Thursday night for the right to battle Illinois on Saturday. Wow!!
10-WHAT WOULD YOU CHANGE ABOUT THIS WEEKEND OF GAMES?? I?d actually change two things. One, there should be NO reason that North Carolina-Villanova should be played at 10p in Syracuse. That is horrible. I mean, who plays 10p local time hoops?? The second thing I?d change is to have all of the Elite 8 games played on Sunday. Not that there is anything wrong with two games on one day and two on the next....but it is just so much more dramatic when all of the tickets get punched on one day.
11-SO, WHO IS IN YOUR FINAL FOUR?? Right now I have North Carolina, Kentucky, Oklahoma State and Louisville. North Carolina beats Oklahoma State in the title game.
1 comment:
i like your predictions other than wisconsin making the final four and uw-milwaukee beating the illini. Wisconson has only thusfar one the games they were supposed to have won, and although they have about a 50% chance against the wolfpack, there is no way they can beat UNC. They have no inside presence to compete with May, and they completely rely on getting hot from long range. There is no way they make it that far. For UW-Milwaukee, you never would have thought it possible 2 weeks ago, but since Bama and BC overlooked them, they were able to upset. Illinois not only has a much better coaching staff to look out for them, but has been warned by their firepower in the past 2 rounds. They will intensly prepare for this game and not overlook it. There is NO stopping a prepared Illinois.
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