Monday, March 26, 2007

The Final Four. Finally.

And then there were four. Two #1 seeds and two #2 seeds. Boooorrrrriiiinnngggg. Upsets? You want upsets? Watch women's basketball. Rumor has it Rutgers beat Duke. But seriously folks, despite a boring first two rounds, the tournament has been pretty exciting since. Plus, I got three of the four teams right - I was wrong on OSU - and can still win the coveted bragging rights over strangers that the JCMJ pool offers.

My (essentially knowledge-free and therefore useless) thoughts on each of the final four teams:

Georgetown: Streaky, yes, but this team could be down 20 with 7 minutes to play and still win easily. Then can just shut teams down, as they did for the last 12 minutes of the UNC game today (Overtime included). 15-3 in overtime! That's why I think these guys win it all. Defense. Plus, Jeff Green is the best player left in the tournament not named Oden.

Florida: Probably the most complete team in the field. They can score. They can rebound, They can D up. And they do all the little things right. Outside shooting is not a strength though, which is why I think they will have trouble with a big team like G-Town. Still, if it weren't for the fact that Joakim Noah is such an asshat, I probably would have picked them to win. But I can't root for him. He's a very good player that I would welcome with open arms to the Sixers, but geez, what a douche.

UCLA: Athletic as all hell. Can defend very, very well. They can run. They aren't great shooters, but no team left in this tournament shoots particularly well from distance. If this team gets hot they could easily get revenge on Florida. I honestly haven't seen that much of them this year, but even I knew to pick them over Kansas. I mean, come on. It's Kansas for crying out loud. I still think Florida will be too much to handle for this team though.

OSU: The block to end the Tennessee game was awesome. Greg Oden, my hat is tipped. But I'd still draft Durant. A 6'10" 18 year old who can score from 25 feet? I'm sold. However, Oden is a force defensively. You really can't drive to the hoop on him, but Georgetown has the size to keep him in foul trouble and the shooting ability to keep OSU spread out. The rest of the Buckeyes scare no one, despite solid play - especially from Lewis - throughout the tourney. Easily the weakest remaining team of the final four, so don't expect them to play for the championship.

But it's March. Anything can happen. All I know is that if the Hoyas beat the Gators next weekend, I get to gloat to a bunch of strangers. Fingers crossed baby. Fingers crossed.

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