Well when your bracket is as busted as mine, thanks Duke, all you can really do today is pick the Final Four matchups of the teams that are actually in it.
That being said, this Final Four has a clear battle of protagonists and antagonists.
The good guys are the small schools with the great stories. Virginia Commonwealth and Butler may hate the term "mid-majors" but these teams love playing the role of underdog with star coaches. Brad Stevens and Shaka Smart, Indianapolis and Richmond, the Horizon League and the CAA, Southeast Region Champs and Southwest Region Champs. What's not to love about these two teams?
Although, I hate to say good-bye to the one who loses, I'm going with VCU 69, Butler 65. I would hate to see Butler become the next Tom Izzo in the Final Four.
Then of course, the bad guys here are Connecticut and Kentucky. John Calipari has already been forced to vacate Final Four appearances at Massachusetts (1996) and Memphis (2008). Oh yeah, Kentucky has become the collegiate version of the NBDL with their annual crop of One-and-Done Players. Stay in School? Please...let's go to a big-time program where we can showcase our talents for all the NBA scouts to see. Jim Calhoun is already suspended for three games next year for illegal benefits and we recently learned that an ex-recruit is willing to talk to the NCAA about Calhoun's indiscretions. Underdogs? Not quite, "Big Blue" has already won seven National Championships with fourteen Final Four appearances and UConn has already won two National Championships with four Final Four appearances.
My pick for tonight: UConn 78, UK 71. Can you believe I went this deep into the post without mentioning Kemba Walker?
One thing is for sure, Monday night's Championship Game will have a good guy and a bad guy; television loves a good guy and bad guy.
My pick for Monday's Game will come Monday. That prediction I guarantee will come true.
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