Final Four Predictions
March 18, 2009 by The Sports Watchers
Filed under More Sports
It’s Wednesday, and after full two days of digesting this 2009 NCAA Men’s College Basketball Tournament Bracket, I am ready to present to you my Final Four predictions. Before I give you my Final Four, here are a few notes on how I got to my picks.
~I have to admit, I really did not have North Carolina going very far in this tournament before I saw the bracket. Honestly, I thought if they saw one solid team with a point guard and a defensive mindset, they would have gone down early on in the tournament. As luck would have it though, they were given a very comfortable route to the Elite 8, so I have them going pretty far.
~This bracket was set up very well. I mean, the idea of the bracket is that the higher seeds are actually better than the lower seeds. Sure, we love upsets, but the only way you can have upsets is if the higher seed is supposed to win the game, otherwise the whole system would be screwed. Needless to say, for the most part, this bracket is set up to have a lot of the higher seeds advance, as I don’t see a whole lot of close match-ups in the first round.
~Lastly, what would college basketball and the tournament be if we could not gauge just how good (or bad) some of these major conferences actually are. Well, we will definitely be able to judge some of them by the end of this tournament. Obviously, the Big East got 3-#1 seeds, and of the 7 Big East teams that made it, they all rank 6 or higher. Therefore, if the Big East is what it is cracked up to be, we should see at minimum 5 Big East teams in the Sweet 16, but realistically, they should get 6. Then there is the Big Ten. I think the conference sucks and I think it is complete blasphemy that they got seven teams into the tournament. That being said, they can prove me wrong by winning at least half of their games during the first weekend. Of course, I don’t think that will happen, and you’ll see that through my predictions.
Anyway, enough notes, here is my Final Four for the 2009 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament.
Midwest Region
There are a lot of worthy basketball teams that could come out of this region. Obviously, the defending champion Kansas Jayhawks are an option. The Big Ten’s best bet in this whole tournament is #2 Michigan State. Then there is the ACC’s 2nd place finisher Wake Forest as a #4 seed. There isn’t much in the way of sleeper picks in this region. I don’t really see Boston College or USC making a run. And Arizona, who barely got into this tournament as a #12 seed, will probably go down as the chalk would have it. At the end of the day, I’m going with the team that won the regular and post-season titles in the most competitive conference in the nation, the Big East. Which means I like Rick Pitino and the Louisville Cardinals to do some damage in this region and advance to the Final Four.
MIDWEST Final Four Prediction: Louisville
West Region
This region is particularly strong with its top 4 seeds being UCONN, Memphis, Missouri and Washington. With such a strong top 4, I really don’t see any of the lesser seeds making it to Detroit, so I have to go with 1 of the top 4 teams. Once again, I just don’t see Memphis and their poor shooting, lackluster offensive, and uncompetitive regular season resulting in a championship. But to take it a step further, I don’t think they’ll advance past Missouri in the Sweet 16. As for Mizzou, they will likely have a tough battle with Marquette, but should advance with Dominic James out for the season, and I predict they will beat Memphis. But they will eventually fall to UCONN, which should have an easy first couple of games, and will likely advance past either Purdue or Washington to eventually beat Mizzou in the Elite 8 to go to the Final Four in Detroit.
WEST Final Four Prediction: Connecticut Huskies
South Region
I have to tell you, there are not a lot of teams I like in this region. I don’t think Oklahoma can win it all. They just looked atrocious down the stretch, and it had nothing to do with an injury to Blake Griffin. As I mentioned in my notes, I don’t like UNC, because they don’t play defense and their best player, Ty Lawson, is perhaps their worst defender. And everybody’s favorite mid-major Gonzaga really isn’t all that good this season. As a result, I have to go with the team that I liked not only this season, but last season as well. My boys from Syracuse, NY will represent the South Region in the Final Four. They have matured throughout this season, and I think you saw that in the level of basketball that they played in the Big East Tournament. They are indeed my 3rd Big East team I have making the Final Four, but like I said, this was the best basketball conference in America.
SOUTH Final Four Prediction: Syracuse
East Region
Lastly, there is the East Region where Pitt is the #1 seed. I loved Pitt all season. DeJuan Blair has been a beast, and never was that more apparent than in that first game between Pitt and UCONN. However, they have proven quite vulnerable since then. They lost to Providence when they were ranked #1. Then they lost to West Virginia in their first game in Big East Tournament. For that, I cannot pick them to do big things this tournament. I also cannot pick #2 Duke to do anything special. They have a nice talented squad but no big men to speak of. As for Villanova and Xavier, they are both respectable teams, but their lack of big men renders them vulnerable to almost any decent team in the region. That being said, I like the talented and big Tennessee Volunteers to win this region. I know this is a ballsy pick, but you have to remember, this is essentially the same team from last season that was one of the top 2 teams in the nation. If they manage to sneak by Oklahoma State, I really think they can upset Pitt in the second round, and from there, they match up well with everyone. If Wayne Chism and Tyler Smith play their best, I see no reason why they can’t board the plane to Detroit on April 4th.
EAST Final Four Prediction: Tennessee Volunteers
