College Basketball coming into the home stretch

After this weekend's college basketball fiasco, the Final Four is all set. Butler will take on Michigan State on Saturday at 6:07 p.m. while West Virginia will face off with Duke on Saturday at 8:47 p.m. I thought that Butler getting this far has been a fluke and a joke in the NCAA Tournament thus far. It's not. In their first 11 games of the season, they faced the likes of Minnesota, Clemson, Georgetown, Ohio State, UCLA, Xavier and Davidson and they beat five of those seven teams only losing to Clemson and Georgetown, and they started the season 8-3. They lost their next game to UAB and have won an astounding 24 consecutive games since. Now they are in the Final Four. I thought that it was initially terrible that Butler is in the Final Four because they are a mid-major team who has had an easy schedule, but when they started out the season by beating quality teams, I decided to give them more respect.
Michigan State, NCAA Championship runner-up, is in the Final Four for the sixth time since 1999, the most among any team since then with Duke trailing with five times since that time period. I really love this team. Before the tournament started, the Spartans faltered in their last 10 games with a 5-5 record after starting out the season 19-3. When they defeated New Mexico State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, Michigan State appeared to be well on their way to enter the Final Four once again. But after their star point guard Kalin Lucas went down with an injury in the first half against Maryland, it looked like they were done. Korie Lucious fills in for the injured Lucas and ends up being the hero by hitting a game-winning three pointer at the buzzer to advance the Spartans to the Sweet 16. They won close and exciting games against Northern Iowa and Tennessee and now they are in the Final Four once again. They got lucky against Tennessee because they couldn't hit their free throws in the final minute of the game, but sometimes its better being lucky than good. I say this every year, I don't care what seed Michigan State is in the tournament but never count out a Tom Izzo coached team.
Duke to me is the most consistent basketball program in America is in the Final Four for the first time since 2004. This team came into the tournament with several issues, but have answered the bell and have rectified all of their mistakes they have made in past games. They are in the Final Four for four reasons, the Big Three in John Scheyer, Kyle Singler and Nolan Smith have all produced when it matters, their front line in Brian Zoubek, Miles Plumlee and Lance Thomas have been monsters on the boards and defensively, their defense has been putting the pedal to the medal and they are hitting their free throws. I think this is the scariest team in the Final Four because they have the ultimate weapon, coach Mike Krzyzewski. To me, he is the most brilliant coach since former UCLA legend John Wooden. No matter what team he coaches, they are always an elite team. Yes, they have faltered in the NCAA Tournament in years past, they are in it every year.
West Virginia is another team that is very dangerous. They also have an dangerous weapon, coach Bob Huggins. He is a winner. He had a very successful career at Cincinnati which includes a Final Four appearance. He coached one season in Kansas State University, went 23-12, advanced to the second round and recruited Michael Beasley who became #2 pick in the NBA draft in 2008. Now he is at his Alma Mater and has made West Virginia become a Big East powerhouse. It is also their first Final Four appearance since 1959. They are a tall-long team that includes Devin Ebanks, Da'Sean Butler, Wellington Smith and Kevin Jones. They are an efficient offense and a tremendous rebounding team.
This Final Four is either going to be amazing or awful. This will be the ultimate round to this exciting tournament. These are the four best teams in America and I hope Saturday's games will show the identities of these four teams. Hopefully it won't be disappointing. My prediction: Duke beats West Virginia and Michigan State beats Butler.