It’s been six years since I last blogged about the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, as COVID cancellations, along with moving and my commitment to various other projects, have all caused me to casually follow it again yet still not enough to get back into sports-writing on a regular basis. However, I’m coming off the sports-writing bench to blog about my predictions for the two Final Four match-ups, especially since all four one-seeds each made history, by being the first set of one-seeds to advance to the round of four for the first time since 2008, with the UCLA Bruins, Memphis Tigers, North Carolina Tarheels and Kansas Jayhawks being the teams that achieved the feat that year. So, given this historic occurrence, I’ve decided to blog my predictions for both match-ups, starting with the Florida Gators taking on the Auburn Tigers.
So, eight weeks ago, the Gators went on the road to beat the Tigers, while the latter was number one in the nation. Of course, the same game and same season aspect doesn’t necessarily translate to the same result when higher stakes are on the line, such as the New York Giants losing to the Green Bay Packers during the 2007 and 2011 regular seasons, only to avenge those particular losses both times in the playoffs. But I’m a believer in momentum, as the Gators won the SEC tournament against the Tennessee Volunteers, whereas Auburn lost in the semifinals of that conference tournament against that same opponent. So, given that and the fact that the Gators dethroned the back-to-back national champion Connecticut Huskies, I’m picking the Gators to advance to the national championship for the fourth time this century and the first time since 2007.
Now onto the Houston Cougars vs. the Duke Blue Devils.
Alright, so unlike Auburn, the Blue Devils won its conference (ACC) tournament championship and should have been the number overall seed as a result of that, whereas I don’t know enough about the Cougars other than the facts that they look stronger this season than they did last season and they won the 2024-25 Big 12 conference tournament. Furthermore, Kelvin Sampson’s squad lost a heartbreaker against Jon Scheyer’s squad in the Sweet 16 last season, thus the element of revenge. So, with that being said, will the 69-year-old coach (Sampson) and his squad avenge that heartbreaking Sweet 16 loss? I’m going to say yes, thus the third and fourth announced one-seeds of Selection Sunday (March 16) will meet in the national championship on Monday night.
Tune in Monday afternoon/evening to find out my prediction for the final game of 2024-25 NCAA Men’s Basketball season.