The Final Four

The Final Four killed my brackets. If anybody chose this exact Final Four, they are completely amazing, and completely lucky. I don’t think it is possible to be this good at predicting upsets and wins.

When Louisville lost, I knew that my bracket was down the drain. It began with the fact that I had Kansas beating Michigan St. in the first place. So when Michigan St. went two further games than what I predicted, I lost. I was confident that Louisville would at least get out of the region, but at least I didn’t have them winning it all. I didn’t think that Michigan St. had it in them. They are coming from one of the easiest conferences in the nation, the Big 10, and they had to play some good teams just to get to the Elite 8. This is why I thought Kansas would pull one off; I think Sherron Collins is the one of the best guards in the nation, but Kevin Lucas proved why he was the Big 10 player of the year. At least I’m not some crazy TV analyst who chose Louisville to win it all and told everybody that there was no way they could lose.

The other Final Four team that I missed was Villanova. Wow I did not see this one coming. In my mind, there were two possible teams that could come out of that bracket, Pitt or Duke. There was no way that the Elite 8 game could be anything but that. I guess I was wrong. But when a team only shoots four for a thousand from the field, they are most likely going to lose. But ok, Villanova beat Duke, big deal, there was no way they were going to beat Pitt. Pitt was just too good. But once again, I guess I was wrong. I don’t know how they did it, I thought Pitt played fairly well, but Villanova pulled off the upset by 2. I can’t tell you how surprised I was.

So the only way that my bracket could have any dignity left will be if UNC and UConn win and UNC wins it all. But I really don’t know anymore. I have basically given up on my basketball predicting skills. But I don’t think I’m alone, I have not heard of anybody who chose this Final Four, so I’m in good company.

Bracket Predictions

Since yesterday was selection Sunday, I think I should write about the NCAA men’s basketball tournament. In my mind, this is a very good and efficient way to find out who the best team in the nation is. I wish college football would do something similar, but that is a whole different topic. So here are my bracket predictions.

The first thing I should say is that I see no clear-cut winner. Nobody is a definite favorite to go the distance. There are many teams that, if they play well, are capable of beating anybody else. As seen by the constantly changing number 1 team during the year, every team has their off day. I think that three of the 2ed seeded teams could have been 1^st seeds. Duke, Oklahoma (with Blake Griffin), and Memphis are good enough to run the table, but if they make one mistake, are bad enough to lose early.

Pittsburg is going to kill me. I think they are a very talented and tough team, but they have their lapses. I would like to choose Pitt to win it all, but I’m not going too. I think that they will have their off game, I just can’t figure out when. I’m not sure if its going to be in the second round, or the championship, but I just don’t have enough confidence to choose them as the best team in the nation. I think Oklahoma is very similar to Pitt. They are talented enough to make a run, but they just don’t have enough to win it all. When Blake Griffin is healthy and playing well, they are a very hard team to stop. But when he is off his game, or when he is injured, they are susceptible to a very ugly loss.

I think that the upsets are going to be hard to call in this tournament. No team got a high seed than they deserved, so the higher seeds have the advantage because the low seeded teams deserve the low seed. The most likely upsets in my mind are Arizona over Utah, and Northern Iowa over Purdue. Other than that, I don’t see many. I’m going to go out on a limb and call a Cinderella story team right now. This is all likelihood will not happen, but if it does, you heard it here first. Cinderella story= Mississippi St. 

Now for my final predictions. The final four will have at least 2, if not all of the number 1 seeds. I have Pitt, and Connecticut as the two that might not make it, but I have confidence that North Carolina and Louisville will. I have North Carolina and Louisville playing in the championship, and it pains me to say this because I dislike them so much, but I think that UNC will win it all. There you have it. 

Basketball Season

Basketball is finally in full swing. Every level and every age is playing and games are beginning. I could say that I am excited for it all, but that would only be halfway true. I am excited to play basketball yes, but the two and a half hour practices followed by half an hour of film is a little much. I liked the old days when I played for just an AAU team and we had one, maybe two, practices a week and tournaments on the weekends and that was it. All you did was show up and play games. But I know that all the work for the school team pay off in the end. The end result of the high school season is about 127 times better than any 8th grade AAU team.

While I am on the topic of basketball, I need to address the activity of basketball viewing. Watching basketball on TV is something I do fairly often, sometimes because it is halfway interesting and sometimes because it is the only thing on. But whenever I watch basketball on TV, I always watch college games. This is for two reasons: 1- college basketball is pure. The players are not getting paid millions of dollars to play; they are playing for the love of the game. 2- NBA basketball is not really basketball, it just a bunch of guys who seem like they don’t even care about the game and are just playing for the money. Isn’t sad that everything comes down to money.

College basketball is basketball at its finest. It is played hard and fair and teams actually try and play defense. Most of the players that you see are not going to the NBA, college players play for the game. They play hard and with emotion. This is what causes some of the best teams to get beat, the underdog just wants it more. One of the greatest television events (even though it is also just a money maker) is March Madness. I love watching this because it is a cumulative result of a year of basketball that comes down to two teams that have out lasted the rest. They may not be the best two teams in the nation, but they, once again, just wanted it more.

NBA basketball on the other hand, is just a wrong. The players are playing for the wrong reasons and they are wrong in the way they play as well. Almost every player is playing for the money, not for the game. I think that they are overpaid, and if you paid them what they actually deserve, almost nothing, then about 95% of them would leave the game. NBA players should not be making millions to play a game, a game that is corrupt and impure, and going down the wrong path.