Final Four

After all the upsets and buzzer beaters and other madness in this years NCAA tournament the field has been cut from 64 down the final four. The four teams that have avoided a loss through the tournament are Michigan State, Butler, Duke, and West Virginia. Even though these are not the teams that were expected to make it to the final four they did. They battled and fought and now the have a chance to win it all.
Lets look at the left side of the bracket. The match up on this side of the bracket is Michigan State versus Butler. Both teams are a five seed in the tournament. Michigan may be a five seed but they were favored throughout the tournament because they have coach Tom Izzo who always finds a way to win in march. Its incredible how coach Izzo has gotten his team to the final four this year, his leading scorer and star player Kalin Lucas has not played since he was injured in the sweet sixteen. The Spartans are also missing another key player Chris Allen who has been dealing with an injury all season. The Spartans played the Tennessee Volunteers in the Elite Eight and won by one point. This will be Michigan States sixth final four in twelve years. Maybe coach Izzo can actually win one this season.
Butler on the other hand was not expected to make it this far in the tournament. The Butler Bulldogs right now are every ones favorite underdog. The bulldogs have made a very good surprising run through the tournament. The Bulldogs prevented a last second shot against Murray State to move on to the Sweet Sixteen. The next obstacle in the way of the Bulldogs was number one seed Syracuse. The Bulldogs pulled off the unbelievable upset to move on to the Elite Eight. The Elite Eight is where most people felt the Bulldogs run would come to an end when they would face a tough number 2 seed Kansas State. Kansas state would come into the Elite Eight game with no rest. The night before the Elite Eight game Kansas State played the late game and went into two overtimes to pull out the win and get to the Elite Eight, but they ran out of gas against the Bulldogs. Butler is shocker of the tournament and the alot of people pulling for them to win the whole thing.
Lets look at the other side of the bracket. Not so much of a shocker with the teams left on this side of the bracket. The only number one seed left Duke will play the number two seed West Virginia. West Virginia won the Big East conference title which most people feel the Big East is the best conference. West Virginia is not who most people had being in final four on the right side of the bracket. Most people expected the powerhouse of Kentucky to be there, but West Virginia pulled a bit of an upset over the wildcats to get themselves to the Final Four. Even with there starting point guard out with a broken foot the mountaineers managed to beat Kentucky and move on to the Final Four. West Virginia is who i like to win it all. I think if they play the way they have been playing they have a very good chance at winning the whole thing.
The only number one seed left in the tournament the Duke Blue Devils. This is certainly not the first time or the last time Coach K and his Blue Devils have made it this far in the tournament. But it is the first time most people had the Duke Blue Devils being the first number one seed out of the tournament. The Blue Devils have proven many people wrong and have showed that they deserve to be the only number one seed left in the tournament. The Blue Devils have three players that basically run there team and get them wins. The three are Nolan Smith, Kyle Singler, and John Scheyer. If these three players play the way they have been and Duke continues to make the three ball then they also have a great chance to win the tournament.

Who you pickin?

Selection Sunday for the NCAA men's basketball tournament is five days away. So that means its time to fill out your brackets. Who to pick? anyone can win. What sleeper teams are gonna go far. Who's gonna make it to the final four, who's gonna win it all, who knows.
The teams that i think will make it to the final four this year are Kentucky, Kansas, Syracuse, and Michigan State.
I think Kansas will make the final four because they are gonna be the overall number one team in the tournament. Kansas also has lots of experience in the tournament. There senior point guard Sheron Collins has been to the final four multiple times, so has coach bill self. So the Jayhawks will have plenty experience and know what to do come tournament time.
I feel Kentucky will make it to the final four because of there talent. Kentucky doesn't have much experience because they start three freshman. But they have they have plenty of talent three of the five starters are first round NBA drafts picks. They also have two candidates for player of the year in Demarcus Cousins and John Wall. Not to mention there coach John Calipari has been there before. The cats wont have experience on there side but they sure will have the talent.
I think Syracuse will be in the final four because they have proven they can play. They are the best team in there conference which is the Big East. Which many people feel is the toughest conference to play in. Syracuse has a lot of talent on there team. They also have a very experienced coach in Jim Boeheim who knows how to win come tournament time. Look for Syracuse to make it to the final four.
Last but not least i think the Michigan State Spartans will make it to the final four. Some how every year Tom Izzo gets his team playing well come tournament time. The Spartans might not be ranked very high but they seem to always make a run in the tournament every year. Izzo really knows how to coach and motivate come tournament time.

Madness has Arrived

It is the first day of march, which in the college basketball world this means the madness begins. This is month is when the conference tournaments begin and the selection for the biggest tournament of the year occurs. Some teams have work left to do to get into the tournament and some teams have already secured a spot and are working on there seeding in the tournament
This weekend was an exciting one in college basketball. The top three teams in the country got a loss this weekend. There were many upsets this weekend. Lets start out with the Number one ranked team in the country Kansas. Kansas has lost one game all season and was 12-0 in the Big 12 conference. That all changed when the traveled down to Stillwater Oklahoma on Saturday. The Kansas Jayhawks had a match against the Oklahoma State Cowboys. The Jayhawks have already secured a spot in the NCAA tournament but the Cowboys had not. The Cowboys were fighting for a spot in the tournament and they showed they could compete. The Cowboys led almost the entire game they were up by fifteen points at halftime which is very impressive against the number one team in the country. The Cowboys were able to keep this lead in the second half and hold off the Jayhawks. Oklahoma State has now secured themselves a spot in the NCAA tournament.
Not only did the number one team in country go down the number two team also got a lost this weekend. The number two the Kentucky Wildcats also went on the road to Knoxville Tennessee. The cats would face there rivals the Tennessee Volunteers. They Volunteers lost once to the cats this year in Lexington at Rupp arena so they were looking for revenge. The Volunteers dominated the whole entire game until about the last five minutes when the Wildcats made a big come back to tie the game up. But the cats couldn't regain the lead and defeat the Volunteers for a second time this season. The Volunteers had probably already secured a spot in NCAA tournament but now that spot is more secure. The Wildcats still have the best record in the SEC and have a bye in the first round of the SEC conference tournament.
The number one and two teams went down on the road this weekend, so could the number three team in the country Purdue hold on for a win at home? Purdue would have a chance to be number one in the country if they could the number fourteen team in the country the Michigan State Spartans. Many people were anticipating how Purdue would play without out there star player Robbie Hummel who is out for the season with a knee injury which occurred against Minnesota. Purdue led at halftime but without there star player Hummel they could not hold off they very talented Michigan State Spartans. Purdue had already secured a spot in tournament but with the loss they probably lost there chance to be a number one seed in the tournament. Michigan State also secured themselves a spot in the tournament with the upset.
The madness has just begun. Teams will be fighting harder and harder as march goes on and we get closer to tournament time. Most games will be exciting and hard fought down to the end of game. I'm sure there will be plenty more upsets in the coming weeks.