Final Four Predictions | General Admission

Here come the big boys. Although I do not believe these 4 teams are the top 4 in the country, they are definitely the most deserving the way all of them have played as of late. Michigan St. on their path have taken out a Boston College team that upset North Carolina earlier in the year, the former champions Kansas Jayhawks, and the highly touted Big East Conference Champions Louisville Cardinals. As for Connecticut, they cruised through their first two games by an average of a 36 point victory. They then faced Purdue, probably the best #5 seed, and took care of Chris Kramer and Robbie Hummel's perimeter game. Missouri was their toughest opponent so far but UCONN's guards sliced through the Tigers defense and dominated the outside game to win 82-75. On the other side, North Carolina is taking on the sleeper of the tournament in Villanova. Carolina took care of their first two opponents and then did not let the WCC champs in Gonzaga come back after an early hot streak by Tyler Hansbrough and guard Wayne Ellington. UNC then went out and surprised many by destroying Oklahoma in the first 30 minutes (with a little help from Oklahoma's poor outside shooting) to eventually take down National Player of the Year in Blake Griffin and possibly end his collegiate career. For Villanova, they probably had the toughest path here. Their last 3 games have been against UCLA, who know the National Championship trophy better than any other college in the nation and have been to the last 3 final fours, Duke who have great perimeter shooters in Jon Scheyer and Kyle Singler who can be deadly any time they're hot, and many people's favorites Pittsburgh they defeated on last second heroics by Junior guard Scottie Reynolds. All four of these teams found a way to get here, but only one team will prosper.

Now for the match-ups. UCONN vs. Michigan State will be a very interesting game with stars inside such as Hasheem Thabeet, Jeff Adrien, Goran Suton, but the team that will win will not be because of these players' performances, but the guards. If Connecticut still had Jerome Dyson playing, they would no doubt take this game and advance to the National Championship, but with him injured other younger guards must step up and play with State's quick yet powerful guards such as Kalin Lucas and Durrell Summers. Possible guards that may be able to fill this role for the Huskies are Kemba Walker who had 23 points last game in Louisville's defeat and hit the game tying lay-up to send Syracuse vs UCONN into their first overtime in which we now know created one of the best games of all-time. Another possibility will be Craig Austrie who is a specialist shooter but can be inconsistent from game to game. One of these two players will need to step up because Michigan State has plenty of possibilities to go to when they want to keep their starters legs fresh, yet still keep scoring points. State's depth and strength at the guard position will most certainly work in their favor, but that's not the only thing. The Spartan's big man Goran Suton will occasionally step out to hit the big shots in games, especially 3's. This will pull UCONN's big man Hasheem Thabeet away from the bucket preventing him from clogging up the lane and blocking shots. This will help State's penetration of Durrell Summers and Kalin Lucas so they can get to the hoop easily and not get packed out of their minds by the 7'3 Tanzanian. Plus the final four is in Detroit this year which is very close to Michigan State attracting a big fan base and getting the crowd behind the Spartans. Although UCONN is the favorite, I believe all these factors do push towards the idea that Michigan State will come out on top and go to another National title game looking for their third title in the school's history. I predict this game will be 76-69 Michigan State.

In the other match-up, we have Villanova against Tyler Hansbrough and the dominating Carolina Tar Heels. This game will be really fun to watch because you know there will be tons of emotion in this game due to the amount of Seniors on both teams who don't want this to be there last game. Things I can guarantee you for this game are tons of hustle, work, and heart. The one Senior that everyone knows on either of these teams is Tyler Hansbrough. The All- American averaged 20 points and 8 rebounds this year at Forward, but also developed a fine shooting touch from outside as well. One place we know he shoots well from is the free-throw line, where he is shooting 86% and gets there around 9 times a game. Don't expect anything different for this game. Although Nova has great guard play by Scottie Reynolds and Corey Fisher, they lack big men down low. Especially any one as big or as tenacious as Hansbrough. The undersized Wildcats will get out rebounded making them mad and more vulnerable to pick up stupid ticky-tack fouls. Later in the game when Hansbrough has put up a fair amount of points, the Wildcats will collapse on him leaving the corners and wings open for sharp shooters such as Wayne Ellington and Danny Green, who have proven they can hit the big shots. The next factor for the Tar Heels victory will be Ty Lawson. With so much speed and dribbling skill, there is no way that Reynolds or Fisher will be able to keep up with him putting the Tar Heels in common situations such as 5 on 4 or 4 on 3, leaving the man open for the dish. Lawson's assist frenzy will help, but like all coaches say "Defense wins Championships" and in this case, it helps you get to championships. Last game they held the number 5 team in the country to just 60 points and held Oklahoma to just two 3 pointers for the entire game, a season low. North Carolina is very deep when it comes to wing men with players such as Drew II, Frasor, and Copeland, they will be subbing in and out keeping the starters legs fresh, and the opponents legs tired. If you notice, most of Oklahoma's shooters were coming up short on shots during the end of the game due to their legs being tired. With UNC being able to go 9 men deep, they are never gassed and are always ready to shoot the ball. All these factors are making me want to choose North Carolina in this one 79-62.

These are my picks for this weekends games. Write your predictions below.