This is the BEST weekend in ALL of sports. I have been to a Super Bowl, World Series, Masters, Stanley Cup, but nothing compares to the college basketball Final Four. The excitement and atmosphere surrounding the semi-final games on Saturday when all four teams believe they have a chance to play Monday night for the NCAA Championship is incredible. The hotels, restaurants, bars, downtown, arena is magical. It is truly “the happiest place on earth”, sorry Disney. College students are the most imaginative and creative when it comes to ways of making their team feel special. Inside the arena their “madness” spreads to the other 30 or 40 thousand “adults” in the room. So, does that have any effect on the outcome of the game? Probably not. But does it make the event memorable? Absolutely.

THE tournament starts with the anticipated Selection Show, which has become a two hour production. After the selection of teams on Sunday, we get to Bracketology, First Four In, First Four Out, Seeds, Bracket Busters, and a whole month of March Madness. The “Big Dance” takes on a life of it’s own that is defined with it’s own terminology. Included in all of the hoopla is the excitement of winning a family pool, a company pool, or a corporate sponsored pool. There was an estimated 2.7 BILLION waged this year on the tournament by over 56 million people. Now, that’s AN event! Since my bracket got busted early be another SEC team (Tennessee last year, Kentucky this year), I thought it would be interesting to focus on just these final four teams. What player(s) on each team will lead their team to the promised land. Despite over 22 years of coaching and 70 years as a fan I have never won a pool, that’s my disclaimer. Charles Barkley said there are no “experts” when it comes to picking the outcome of college basketball games. He is right. So, here is my 5 cents worth, inflation.

NCST (26-14) will win IF “Burnsey” (DJ Burns) doesn’t get in foul trouble or just get worn out trying to defend Eady. The new “darling” of college basketball will need a lot of help. DJ Horne, Casey Morsell and the rest of the Wolfpack must make some 3s to have a chance. I like their perimeter defense and they do play smart. They only outscore their opponents 4.3 points a game. I don’t think 76 points will be enough to win. They do make free throws (.733), they may need to do even better. Burns will find the open man but I doubt the Boilermakers double team him. Can you say “destiny”. Footnote, in 1971 when I was an assistant coach at Oral Roberts University, we invited Connecticut to our Christmas Tournament. On Coach Dee Rowe’s staff was a young coach named Jim Valvano.

Purdue (33-4) will win IF Eady gets 20 or more shots. (.624%) That will also mean he is going to the free throw line more than 10 times where he shoots .705 per cent. Braden Smith has to play a solid floor game. Lance Jones, the “big” addition to this year’s team, is a solid player who defends and scores. The Boilermakers are good defensively but too one dimensional offensively. Eady is the most impactful player in the Final Four. It is impossible to prepare for him. Despite all the rhetoric about Eady and the foul situation, he gets fouled a lot.

Alabama (25-11) will win IF Mark Sears plays 40 minutes, well maybe 39. Like all great point guards he makes everyone on his team better. But he is also a fantastic 3-point shooter. I think this team is the deepest team of the four and the best 3-point shooting team. They can get offense from so many places, even if the 3s don’t fall. They are excellent offensive rebounding team with “quick” leapers. They play with so much confidence that even if the 3s don’t go in they (and Coach Oats) keep the green light on. Grant Nelson, along with Dalton Knecht, are proof that mid-majors have some talented basketball players. Nelson needs to stay out of foul trouble. Nick Pringle, Mouhamed Dioubata, Mohamed Wague, and Jarin Stevenson are all over 6’10” and can play inside. Ryan Griffin, along with Aaron Estrada are good scorers, and can take some of the pressure off Sears. They are the best free throw shooting team in the Final Four at .771 per cent. They have to defend better. I think they have a “plausible” chance to beat the Huskies.

UConn (35-3) will win IF they don’t miss the bus. No, I’m kidding, it won’t be that easy. But if they play like they have for most of the season they will be a tough out. They have it all. Offense, defense, size, shooting, depth, passing, smarts, experience, coaching, and most of all the focus to go back-to-back. In many ways they are like the Florida team of 2006-07 that did repeat as NCAA Champions. They average 81.4 points and only give up 63.3 points a game. So, what would happen if they did have a close game, we will see. The other three teams in the Final Four have a weakness, but I can’t find one in the UConn Huskies. That doesn’t mean they cannot be beaten, it does mean there is a reason why they are the odds on favorite in Vegas and on millions of fans brackets. Maybe Alabama’s overall size could be a problem for them.

In all of sports there is nothing like Final Four weekend. There will be 20,000 in the stands to watch the four teams “practice”. I could be wrong but I think there could be a Final Four in Heaven. Just saying. thebasketballgoat.com