The Final Four has been decided. Not many people thought that it would be South Carolina, Gonzaga, Oregon, and North Carolina. South Carolina and Gonzaga are making their first Final Four appearances. I am hoping for a "Battle of the Carolinas", and I would be fine with either team winning. Gonzaga and North Carolina are favorites, but as was proven in the tournament this year, you can't be too sure of who's going to win.



                                                                                 The Woman's Final Four has also been decided, and  as you probably guessed, UConn is the favorite. they will face Mississippi State while South Carolina will face Stanford. If Stanford and UConn win, the Samuelson sisters, Katie-Lou of UConn and   Karlie of Stanford could face off in the Final. I am personally hoping for this sister battle, and I am very confident that Katie-Lou and the Huskies will in their fifth championship in a row.                                                                          

 The road to the Final Four ends here, as Oregon, Kansas, Xavier, Gonzaga, Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Kentucky will fight to go to Phoenix. I am rooting for Xavier, but they will have to get through Gonzaga first. Florida will face South Carolina in a match-up that no one expected to happen. In the final seconds of their game against Wisconsin, they were leading, but barely. Then, the Badgers made a miracle three-point runner to force overtime. Wisconsin carried this confidence into OT, but then Florida did the exact same thing. You can see both of them here. Wisconsin- http://www.ncaa.com/video/basketball-men/2017-03-25/badgers-are-back-game           Florida-  http://www.ncaa.com/video/basketball-men/2017-03-25/3-pointer-chris-chiozza 

South Carolina's was not nearly as close. They crushed Baylor, beating them 70-50 to reach their first elite eight. Another blowout was UNC's game against Butler. They didn't win by as much, but it was still dominant. Xavier is the tourney's Cinderella. They beat heavily favored Arizona, and look to do the same to Gonzaga, who beat a very good West Virginia team to get here. The most anticipated game, between UCLA and Kentucky, was won by the Wildcats in a fierce battle.Kansas beat Purdue, who was also a pretty good team. Purdue was upset by Michigan in the Big 10 tournament. The team that beat them, Michigan lost by one point to Oregon, who beat my favorite team, the URI team. It will be interesting to see what happens to these teams that made farther than everyone thought. I thought Duke, Villanova, UCLA, and Arizona would still be here. Expect the unexpected as the Final Four is set

Since the last time I posted, the brackets have been released.  This madness has already begun, but here are my picks.

Second Round: Villanova, Wisconsin, UNCW, Florida, SMU, Baylor, Marquette, Duke, Gonzaga, Northwestern, Notre Dame, West Virginia, Xavier, Florida State, VCU, Arizona, Kansas, Miami, Iowa State, Purdue, Rhode Island, Oregon, Michigan Louisville, North Carolina, Seton Hall, Middle Tennessee, Butler, Cincinnati, UCLA, Wichita State, and Kentucky
Sweet Sixteen: Villanova, Florida, SMU, Duke, Gonzaga, West Virginia, Florida State, Arizona, Kansas, Purdue, Rhode Island, Michigan, North Carolina, Middle Tennessee, UCLA, and Kentucky
Elite Eight: Villanova, Duke, Gonzaga, Arizona, Kansas, Michigan, North Carolina, and UCLA
Final Four: Villanova, Arizona, Kansas, and UCLA
Championship Game: Villanova and UCLA
National Champions: Villanova

I could have gone either way with the championship game, but the defending champs are better. So far, not including the First Four, I have only gotten one game wrong. Virginia beat UNCW today. Also, Gonzaga, Notre Dame,Florida, West Virginia, and Butler have won. If the Northwestern versus Vanderbilt game, and the Middle Tennessee versus Minnesota game continue with Middle Tennessee and Northwestern on top, then I will be 6-1, not including the First Four. In the First Four, I am 0-4. Enjoy the Madness! Comment on your picks!

   

Michigan hopes to make a run in the NCAA
Tournament after it upset Purdue.

It has been 2 days of upsets during Championship Week, which rounds out tomorrow on Selection Sunday. On Thursday, TCU eliminated the #1 team in the nation, Kansas, in the Big 12 tournament.The Big 12 championship between #11 West Virginia and #23 Iowa State is tonight at 6:00.  Later that day, Xavier faced #18 Butler in the Big East Quarterfinal. The final score was 62-57 Xavier. Villanova was nearly upset in the Semifinals by Seton Hall last night, but 'Nova came back and survives to play Creighton in the Big East final tonight. #9 Davidson beat #1 Dayton in the Atlantic 10 tournament. Davidson is currently playing Rhode Island right now in the Semifinals and at halftime the score is 46-34 URI.  The last upset is probably the most remarkable. On Wednesday, Michigan's plane crashed when it skidded of the runway after an aborted takeoff to the Big 10 tournament in  Washington. After that scary experience, Michigan beat #13 Purdue 74-70 in overtime. Tomorrow, we will find out which teams will make to the NCAA tournament during Selection Sunday.

       

Only five more days until Selection Sunday, and the conference championships are going on. UNC-Willmington, Iona, and FGCU won their conferences and will be in the NCAA's this year. Several conferences will be decided tonight, including the West Coast Conference. St. Mary's will face the #4 national ranked team, Gonzaga for the West Coast. The most competitive nationally followed conferences will start later. The Big East, ACC, AAC, Atlantic 10, Big 10, SEC, and many more will start around March 8th. In fact, my cousin will be at Madison Square Garden for the Big East Tournament. Another Conference Championship in the headlines is the AAC Women's, which ended last night when UConn beat USF 100-44 in their 107th win in a row. They are the only Women's team to win the AAC Championship.

In the NBA, the Celtics lost to the Clippers 116-102 for their second straight loss. LeBron couldn't beat the Heat, as he and the Cavs lost 106-98. The Kawhi Leonard and the Spurs narrowly beat James Harden's Rockets 112-110, for their eighth straight win. The Timberwolves game against the Trailblazers was postponed due to the wet court, probably from sweat. The Warriors won again, beating the Hawks 119-111. This is a golden era for the NBA. It is very popular, has lots of superstars, thrilling finals, and super-teams like the Warriors and the Cavs. It looks like Warriors-Cavaliers III in June.    

Spring is in the air, and that means March Madness Winthrop, Wichita State, Jacksonville State, and Florida Gulf Coast have secured automatic bids in the NCAA Tournament. 19 of the top 25 teams played on Saturday, with the higher ranked team winning each won. The Rhode Island Rams and Providence Friars, two teams that I will be following, won crucial games on Saturday. Rhode Island beat Davidson 73-70 in overtime, to earn them a #4 seed in the Atlantic 10 tournament. They will play either #12 Massachusetts, #13 St. Joseph's, or #5 St. Bonaventure on March 10th. Providence beat St. John's  86-75 and has the #3 seed in the Big East Tournament and will play #6 Creighton on March 9th. Another team I will be following is the UConn women's basketball team, which was won 106 games in a row. tonight, they will play in the AAC final against USF tonight at 7:00 on ESPN 2.


In the NBA, the Golden State Warriors will play the Atlanta Hawks after they beat the New York Knicks yesterday. They are 51-11 and have already clinched a playoff spot.The Boston Celtics are going to try to come back form a tough lost to the Suns tonight when they play the Clippers. Tyler Ulis of the Suns hit the three point buzzer-beater against Boston yesterday. LeBron James will face off against his old team as he and the Cavaliers face the Heat. There are a lot of great games tonight, so check them out, and enjoy!