The NCAA Final Four

Well, the NCAA tournament has seen many upsets as it dwindled from 64 teams to the Final Four. The Final Four teams are Michigan State, Butler, West Virginia, and Duke.
Michigan State, while a very good team, is still a surprising member of the Final Four. The team’s best player, point guard Kalin Lucas, tore his Achilles tendon earlier this season, seemingly ending their chances for a tournament run. However, the Spartans have pulled it together and are now in the Final Four.
Butler is the most “Cinderella” team left standing. Butler started as a five seed, and comes from a mid-major conference, but has been a consistently good basketball team over the last few tournaments.
Still, considering that last year’s Final Four consisted of the four number one seeds, it is surprising that Michigan State and Butler, both five seeds, have survived to the Final Four. The match-up between the two teams promises to be intriguing.
West Virginia is in the Final Four after an impressive defeat of Kentucky, who many favored to win the tournament. However, West Virginia has had a strong team all season, and many experts predicted them to advance to the final stages of the tournament. The road to the championship game will not be easy for them, though, as they now have to contend with another tournament regular, Duke.
Duke is the only number one seed left in the tournament, back in the Final Four for the first time since 2004. The traditional college basketball powerhouse was able to remain under the radar this year, and the lack of expectations seemed to have helped them avoid upset, something recent Duke teams have been unable to do. Now, however, the spotlight is back on the Blue Devils as the highest seeded team left in the tournament. They will have to contend with the pressure – and West Virginia – to return the program to its championship ways.
Both match-ups this weekend promise to be great games. The unforeseen game between Michigan State and Butler and the one-two power match of Duke and West Virginia can be seen on Saturday, April 3rd at 6:07 and 8:47, EST, respectively. It’s not a big deal or anything, but this writer’s NCAA bracket has said Duke wins it all for weeks.
Just saying.