UNITED STATES—We officially have our final four for the NCAA Tournament and I will admit 2 of the teams still in the mix are surprises because I didn’t see it happening. More upsets transpired as the Sweet 16 kicked off last Thursday and by Saturday we had our Elite 8 that culminated with our Final Four after all the dust settled on Sunday night. I told people, I told them to watch out for Alabama and I was right; they dethroned the #1 seeded UNC Tar Heels in a nail-biter of a game that was riveting to watch.
That catapulted Alabama in a battle against #6 seeded Clemson, and the victory train continued with an 89-82 victory. Now the game that was slightly uneven was the Elite 8 between UConn and Illinois. I knew Illinois was going to take care of business against Iowa State, which they did, but by a mere 3 points. However, the Huskies busted Illinois left and right. It was just a brutal game to watch, as the Huskies did the same with San Diego 2 days prior. UConn is looking more and more like the favorite as many predicted to win it all for a second year.
I was rooting for Tennessee, if anything I just knew in my soul that they were going to knockoff #1 seeded Purdue, but that was not the case. Tennessee took care of business against Creighton with an 82-75 victory on Friday, only to fail to the Boilermakers by a mere 6 points on Sunday. In my heart of hearts, I just feel Purdue is not as great as everyone wants them to be, and we’re about to find out in this Final Four. Yeah, Zach Eddy is proving to be a force on the court scoring 30 plus points in the team’s victory over the Volts.
There were games that delivered upsets last weekend, and they were a direct result of NC State. I mean first they took care of business against Marquette with a 67-58 victory and it just felt like Marquette was rattled, just rattled and not ready to play. That propelled the #11 seed in a battle against the #4 seeded Duke. Yeah, Duke was the other team that caused an upset last weekend taking out #1 seeded Houston. I knew Houston would lose at some point, I just didn’t know what team would be the one to dethrone them.
However, it was the game between Duke and NC State that was one to watch. Duke I have no clue what was going on. The Blue Devils just weren’ ready to play and NC State proved it by taking them out 76-64. So where does this leave us?
We have Alabama, NC State and two #1 seeds: Purdue and UConn. I already know in my bones that the UConn vs. Alabama game is going to be one to watch. That game is going to be epic and those titans are going to go to war and I want to see what is going to unfold. Now this other game between NC State vs Purdue, you have a titan in Eddy and the Cinderella tale involving NC State. I know there are those out there who suspect that Eddy will end the NC’s journey to the championship game.
NC State is proving to be a strong threat in this tournament then people expect, I think we might see another upset America. So who do I predict to go toe-to-toe in the NCAA Championship Game? I expect UConn and Purdue. I know this isn’t what people want to see, but this is expected, however, surprises can occur. Would I be thrilled to see an Alabama and NC State final 2? Without a doubt people, without a doubt.
