Frantic, frenetic, fantastic, fascinating. Just oh-so-many words that can describe this year’s March Madness, which has seen 68 teams lose almost every way possible.
Of course, I must mention the millions of fans that annually and inevitability burn or shred their bracket picks.
After all the chaos and destruction the madness has produced the final four teams filled with youth, experience, NBA talent and an incredible winning streak.
Florida, Connecticut, Kentucky and Wisconsin punched their tickets to the Final Four in Arlington, Texas.
The number one overall seed Florida Gators, winners of 29 straight, will take on Shabazz Napier and Kevin Ollie’s Connecticut Huskies in the first matchup of the Final Four.
The Huskies have made an improbable run through the NCAA tournament, knocking off basketball Goliaths Villanova and Michigan State.
Napier has played the role of Kemba Walker in leading UConn to the Final Four, averaging 23 points in the last three games.
This will be a rematch from early in the regular season when Napier beat the Gators at the buzzer, which was also the last time the Gators lost a basketball game.
After Napier’s clutch shot fell through the orange cylinder that holds up the white net, Florida looked up to realize they lost the game by one point.
A feeling that evokes shock overcomes your mind after playing hard for 40 minutes just to look up at the scoreboard at the end to see reality written all over it.
The Florida Gators have not experienced that feeling since Napier’s big-time shot and it’s mostly because great teams get over losses quickly so they can get back on the winning path.
For the Gators the reality right now is that they have not lost a game since that day, they went undefeated in the SEC and they are two wins a way from delivering a third national title in basketball to the University of Florida.
The Gators do not possess more NBA talent than a Kentucky but they have two elements that are important: experience and amazing coaching.
Billy Donovan is a two-time national champion coach and he has proven himself to be an elite motivator and leader at the collegiate level.
Florida also has loads of experience with four seniors and a sophomore. That’s why they beat SEC Final Four companion Kentucky three times this season.
In a new college basketball landscape with plenty of first-years and “one-and-dones,” they pretty much have a bunch of old men that just know how to win basketball games and take care of business.
UConn does not lack experience either, but it will be a tall task to halt the Gators’ impressive run.
Stopping the likes of Patric Young and Scottie Wilbekin will not be easy, but this will be a great game to watch between two experienced teams that play smart and hard.
UConn beat a great Michigan St. team but Florida knows how to win and the defense the Gators have played the last 29 games down the stretch is suffocating, especially when they apply the press.
Napier will keep UConn in it to the end, though, giving them a chance.
Prediction: Florida wins 68-63
The second Final Four matchup will feature Kentucky versus Wisconsin.
Wisconsin just reminds me of a car that looks like nothing special. It is probably that boring car your parents drive that makes you believe they’re boring people.
It’s not flashy, extremely fast or obnoxiously expensive; just a machine that gets the job done every time it is called on.
That is what the Wisconsin Badgers have been all year: a well-oiled machine that efficiently and quietly ground games out.
Badger head coach Bo Ryan should tell his superiors at Wisconsin to contact the marketing team at Ford so they can put his team in a commercial.
Frank Kaminsky could play the lead mechanic in the commercial because he has been the key cog in this slick machine, and he might be the best college basketball player in this year’s Final Four.
He finished with 28 points, 11 rebounds and one turnover against a very good defensive team in Arizona.
Traevon Jackson and Ben Brust are very good college basketball players that make up an experienced backcourt.
This efficient Ford Focus will go against a team that people thought was college basketball’s Ferrari or Lamborghini. Heck, I can even go to Bugatti.
The hype surrounding John Calipari’s new crop of first-years was at an all-time high in the preseason.
How could it not be with six McDonald’s All-Americans donning the classic blue jersey’s born in the Bluegrass State?
Somewhere along the way, though, that shiny foreign car that was stopping in Kentucky for at least one year turned into a Jeep Cherokee.
They went from a possibly historic undefeated season to 10 losses and dropping out of the top 25, but then something remarkable happened.
Coach Cal rolled up his sleeves, lost his mind, untucked his shirt and went to repair this car that started breaking down on him.
Whatever motivating tools he used worked, because the Wildcats entered the tournament and have showed the world what they can do.
They took down an undefeated Wichita State team that did not lose a game up to that point.
After that was rival and defending champion Louisville, and finally on Sunday they beat defending national runner-up Michigan.
Just like that three teams in the Final Four were eliminated at the hands of one team starting five freshmen.
Kentucky and Wisconsin have followed two different paths and certainly two different models to get to this point.
Julius Randle and the Harrison Twins have been tough, unfazed, and clutch during this run.
The go-ahead step back three-point shot Aaron Harrison hit with a defender in his face to beat Michigan is the most cold-blooded shot you will ever winess.
Randle has been a beast at 6-9, 250 lbs. He just eats, breathes and gets doubles-doubles.
Kentucky obviously has more talent and pro prospects.
Wisconsin will win this game, though, because they will crack the first-year code of the Wildcats and make one more big play.
Prediction: Wisconsin wins 72-69
So this means the national title game is another rematch from earlier this season between Florida and Wisconsin.
This is a tough one, but…
Prediction: Florida wins 62-56
Damon Griffin
Sports Editor
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