The Final Four is set and the Heels are participants!

Go Heels!!





My first year I prepared brackets was in 1982. That year I picked UNC, and they won the Championship. I've had a bracket (just one) every year since.

I've been guilty of picking UNC many of those years. I picked the Heels to win everything in 1982, 1983, 1984, 1987, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1998, 2005, and 2008.

This year, I picked Villanova to win it all. Many people thought the Wildcats were a longshot, but not me. The Cats' have some talent.

My Final Four picks this year are UNC, Villanova, Memphis, and Michigan State. I have Michigan State over Villanova in the finals. But my picks were almost 3 weeks ago. A lot have changed since then.

First, UNC has played the best 4 games of the season since the non-conference portion of our schedule. We've played one cupcake (Radford), one underrated team (LSU), one overrated team (Gonzaga) and one one-dimensional team (Oklahoma). All four teams have had some weaknesses that we exploited. Going forward, teams are stronger and have less weaknesses to exploit.



First off, I think UNC will defeat Villanova. The Wildcats played an excellent game against Pitt, but I don't see them hanging with our big men. The Cats' will have to defend both the inside and the outside. The Heels have too many weapons to stop.



Keys to the UNC-Villanova game:

1. Pound it inside and feed Hansbrough the ball. Enough said.
2. Perimeter Defense...enough said again.
3. Distribute the ball among the players evenly. The Heels have too many weapons not to spread the wealth around.
4. Win the turnover margin. The Heels have won the last 4 games by minimizing the amount of turnovers and capitalizing on the other teams' mistakes.

I expect a hard fought game with the Heels winning, 88-80. I also expect that Michigan State will bring the house down by defeating UConn, 71-67.