It's showtime! History has been made, and now we are set with basically the best Final Four in the history of the tournament. No other Final Four group has had such a high win percentage, and you'd be hard pressed to find a more talented overall group. Of course, you'd have to expect this type of scenario seeing at is the first time that all four #1 seeds made it, but they all made it here in slightly different fashions. Let's get on to the Matchups...
UCLA vs. Memphis (-2.5)
Memphis has been nothing but impressive, and if you weren't a believer before, then you had better be now. Memphis has blown out their last two opponents, and with their Rookie sensation Rose, who by the way can jump out of the gym, they are going to be hard to stop. No one believed Memphis could get this far without stumbling, despite Coach Calipari continually saying how good and deep his team actually is. Now, they are sitting in the SemiFinal matchup in the Final Four and favored to beat UCLA.
UCLA, like Memphis, has really had only one tough game getting to the Final Four, and oddly enough both of these close games happened in the 2nd round. However, they have not looked nearly as impressive in their other games as Memphis. UCLA basically has to rely on Kevin Love in this one, as Shipp and Collison have basically ... how can I put... well that ship has sailed (pun intended). Shipp's point total in the first four games are (6, 0, 14, 5), whereas Collison has done slighly better with (5, 21, 4, 19). You can't rely on either one of these two, so Memphis is going to double Kevin Love, run up and down the court, pressure the UCLA guards, who showed during the Western Kentucky game that they couldn't handle ball pressure, and the result will be a Memphis win. Give up the points and take the Tigers.
Kansas vs. UNC (-4)
UNC is the dominant team in the tournament, just ahead of Memphis in my opinion. Scoring 100+ points in your first two rounds helps the overall scoring average, but UNC can run when they want to, then they can pound down low with Hansbrough. Kansas on the other hand, despite playing well in the first 3 rounds struggled to put away Davidson, everyones last Cinderella. It's almost as if they were playing scared and playing not to lose. They will have a different mind set against UNC since they are the underdog, but I don't think they have what it takes to get it done. Rush and Chalmers are both playing well averaging around 15 pts/ game, but as an overall team, UNC is just plain better, and they have Psycho T to boot. My thought is that KU will be rocking early on with the "no pressure" attitude, but if they get the lead and start playing not to lose, UNC is going to eat their lunch and make them pay. Soon enough, they will be playing catch up, and just won't be able to do it. Take the Tar Heels in this one and watch the favorites win you some money on Saturday!
