Remember last week how everyone was bemoaning the fact that they were doing so poorly in their office pool?\u00a0 After this past weekend, I would think there would be less gnashing of teeth and more people still having a little bit of skin in the game.\u00a0 After all the early upsets, three #1 seeds are still alive and a coach they call the \u201cMaster of March\u201d, Tom Izzo of Michigan State, has his team playing in Indianapolis. \u00a0Michigan State last won a national championship in 2000 and Tom Izzo was the coach.<\/p>\n
I have three teams still alive in our \u201cfor entertainment purposes only\u201d office pool: Kentucky, Wisconsin, and Duke.\u00a0 I picked #2 Virginia to be the other participant, but Michigan State beat them, too, along with the #3 and #4 seeds.\u00a0 Here is the way I see the match-ups for Saturday in Indianapolis.<\/p>\n
#7 Michigan State vs #1 Duke \u00a0– \u00a06:09pm on CBS #1 Kentucky vs #1 Wisconsin Everyone knows that Kentucky is 38-0, two wins away from being the first undefeated team since Indiana\u2019s run in 1976.\u00a0 Kentucky\u2019s John Calipari has a bit of a revenge factor of his own losing in last year\u2019s final to Connecticut 60-54.\u00a0 After winning it all in 2013, Calipari certainly wants Kentucky fans to put him in the same conversation as the great Kentucky coach Adolph Rupp who won four national championships.\u00a0 I am awed by the size and the talent that Kentucky puts on the floor.\u00a0 However, Notre Dame may have shown that they can be beaten losing by just two in the Midwest final.\u00a0 The last two teams since 1976 to enter the Final Four undefeated were Indiana State (Larry Bird and company) and UNLV (Jerry Tarkanian) in 1991.\u00a0 Both lost.\u00a0 I firmly believe that Wisconsin has the talent and the motivation to win this game, but they won\u2019t.<\/p>\n KENTUCKY\u00a0 72\u00a0\u00a0 WISCONSIN\u00a0 69<\/strong><\/p>\n National Championship Game<\/strong> <\/p>\n ABOVE THE EARS (SOME MUSINGS)<\/strong> <\/p>\n ANSWERS:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Remember last week how everyone was bemoaning the fact that they were doing so poorly in their office pool?\u00a0 After this past weekend, I would think there would be less gnashing of teeth and more people still having a little bit of skin in the game.\u00a0 After all the early upsets, three #1 seeds are…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"Yoast SEO Relevanssi index exclude","inline_featured_image":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3,4],"tags":[365],"class_list":["post-76587","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-behind-the-mic","category-featured","category-sports","tag-ncaa-basketball"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
\nBoth Duke and Michigan State were in the 2010 Final Four. Ironically, the semifinals that year were also the held in Indianapolis.\u00a0 Michigan State lost to Butler in the semis and Duke went on to win the national title 61-59.\u00a0 These two teams played earlier in the season in November and Duke won the game by 10.\u00a0 There is no question that Michigan State is the surprise team in the Final Four.\u00a0 Even Coach Izzo said earlier he did not believe his team had the size and talent to compete for a national championship.\u00a0 In Michigan State\u2019s last final appearance in 2009 they lost to North Carolina.\u00a0 Izzo has his team one game away again.\u00a0 Despite his basketball acumen, he goes up against Mike Krzyzewski who has taken Duke to nine championship finals and has won four national championships.\u00a0 I like Duke to win this game, but it will not be easy and it will not be by 10.
\nDUKE \u00a0\u00a066\u00a0\u00a0 MICHIGAN STATE\u00a0 61<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nBelieve it or not, there have only been three Final Four rematches in history and this is one of them.\u00a0 Kentucky hit a three with six seconds on the clock last year that kept Wisconsin from their second national championship game.\u00a0 This is a revenge game for sure.\u00a0 Wisconsin\u2019s stars, Frank Kaminsky and Sam Dekker, made it known that they did not go to the NBA just so they could get back to this position again.\u00a0 Is this one of those \u201cbe careful what you wish for\u201d moments?<\/p>\n
\nKENTUCKY 73\u00a0 DUKE 71<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nAn NCAA Championship Quiz<\/strong><\/p>\n\n
\n