The March Madness 2013 has come down to this – The Final Four. Yes, the Final Four teams remaining from the great race that began with 68-teams on March 19th. Sixty four teams began the quest, the dream, the hustle plays, the blocked shots, big 3-pointers to win and advance and alas, the heartaches and heartbreaks. What a tournament it has been leading up to the Grand Finale which starts off with the Final Four teams on April 6th.
- Representing the Midwest is #1 Seed Louisville Cardinals who survived by defeating #2 Duke Blue Devils on Sunday after a gruesome injury to starting Louisville point guard Kevin Ware who broke his leg in the first half.
- Representing the West Region is #9 Wichita St. Shockers that pulled a ‘Shocker’ of a win over #2 Ohio St.
- Representing the South Region is #4 Michigan Wolverines who upset 1 Seed Kansas Jayhawks on Friday and 3 Seed Florida on Sunday.
- Representing the East Region is #4 Syracuse who knocked off 3 Seed Marquette on Saturday as well.
Wichita St. comes in as the highest seeded team into the Final Four as a 9 Seed and the Louisville Cardinals are the lone survivor as a 1 Seed with Kansas going down in an overtime thriller against a surging #4, Michigan Wolverines.
There have been many games and teams that have caught the eye and the imagination of all March Madness folklore. Probably the most entertaining, loose and highest seed ever to make it into the Sweet 16 was 15 Seed Florida Gulf Coast University who lost to the Florida Gators on Friday. After much hoopla, the ‘Dunk City’ Crew just didn’t have it on Friday evening. FGCU was thumped by 12 and it really was much worse than that but the Eagles of Florida Gulf Coast should hold their heads high for they are now on the Map of the college basketball world. LaSalle is another team that went deep into the tournament, eventually losing to #9 Wichita St. which has a Final Four matchup with #1 Louisville.
With the tournament coming down to the wire, how did your brackets fair? I bombed but I’m not alone for sure. With a lowly 34 out of 60 correct (34-26), I had selected many games that, on paper, should have gone the other way. But, now that we’re in the Finale, it begins afresh. On April 6th, I have #1 Louisville overwhelming #9 Wichita St and the two #4’s of Michigan and Syracuse is difficult to pick but I’m believing Michigan can keep the ‘Big Mo’ going to lead to a Louisville vs Michigan final on the evening of April 8th. This will be, if my prediction is correct, Michigan’s first final appearance in 20 years, the last being when the ‘Fab 5’ were dominating the college ranks with Chris Webber, Juwan Howard, Jalen Rose, Jimmy King and Ray Jackson.
This should be a one of the greatest Final Four’s of All Times with the Championship game being equally heart pounding. So no matter what your bracket looks like, excitement and anticipation fills the air.
I’m Ready for the Grand Finale! Are You?
