This year’s Big Dance is nearly in the books, and my bracket is in surprisingly decent shape.
I correctly had North Carolina, Connecticut, and Villanova in the Final Four, but couldn’t have made a dumber pick for my fourth team – one-and-done Wake Forest.
The reward for making it through March Madness? .. a trip to Detroit.
Still, three out of four isn’t bad. Anybody could pick at least a couple Final Four teams when all four No. 1 seeds — UNC, UConn, Louisville, and Pittsburgh — had such dominant regular seasons. But the beauty of the tournament is it’s upsets, and only the two best top seeds made it through. UNC and UConn survived by utilizing their depth and absorbing opponents’ runs.
North Carolina made it look too easy.
Essentially a squad of All-Stars, the Tar Heels are the most loaded team in college basketball. Their entire starting line-up averages double-figures in scoring, and their best player, Tyler Hansbrough, has won just about every college basketball award known to man.
But Hansbrough wasn’t the reason UNC cruised to Ford Field. He had several down games, including a pitiful eight-point performance against Oklahoma in the Elite Eight. Guys like Ty Lawson (20.3 ppg in the tournament) and Wayne Ellington (19 ppg) stepped up, as three different Tar Heels led the team in scoring through four tournament games.
UConn won exactly the same way, with its depth.
Like UNC with Hansbrough, the Huskies have a dominant big man in the 7-foot-3 Hasheem Thabeet. Defenses held him to well below his averages in the tournament, but UConn found success by going outside and spreading the ball around. A different Husky led the team in scoring in each tournament contest, including freshman Kemba Walker, who came out of nowhere with a career-high 23 points against Missouri in the Elite Eight.
While fellow top seeds Louisville and Pitt survived scares from the likes of East Tennessee State, Morehead State, and Siena, UNC and UConn were hardly challenged. The Huskies’ largest deficit of the tournament was two points, and the Tar Heels only fell behind by five against LSU.
Michigan State and Villanova should put up a fight this weekend, but expect UNC and UConn to finally throw down for a national championship.
I’m going with UConn to win it all.
Thabeet should dominate inside and free up the Huskies’ perimeter players for open shots. That, and I just can’t pick against coach Jim Calhoun. UConn has won the title the last two times he’s taken them to the Final Four.
