Final Four

We're down to four, and not one of the teams still remaining is a No. 1 seed. That's impressive. It signals to me, at least, that there was a good deal of parity in this field of 64. Congratulations are in order again for the selection committee. They constructed a solid group of teams for this tournament, and it seems like every team they chose -- aside from some Big East schools -- proved its worth. So we head to Indianapolis now for the Final Four. I would presume that most people didn't have any of these teams in their personal Final Fours. Maybe they had LSU or Florida, but surely not both. No one outside the George Mason campus picked George Mason. And I bet if you polled all the students at GMU, you'd find that most of them didn't have their team advancing this far. The Patriots were 400-to-1 odds in some places, so if you put some money on them, the future is looking bright, provided they win the championship. And you know what? There's no reason why they can't. The four remaining teams are pretty evenly matched, and surely you have to give George Mason at least a 50-50 shot of winning after taking out perennial super powers Michigan State, North Carolina and UConn in this tournament. My brackets are shot. I picked UConn to win the whole thing. But even yesterday I found myself rooting for George Mason against the Huskies. I'm glad to see they recovered from what could have been a demoralizing buzzer-beating lay up to force overtime. Good win, George Mason. I hope you win the whole thing.

With none of my Final Four selections still remaining, I think this tournament is LSU's to lose. The Tigers will face UCLA this weekend. It will be a defensive battle, and the game will probably resemble the UCLA/Memphis tilt from Saturday. It will most likely be a low-scoring, grind-it-out affair. Defensive rebounding and ball control will be key in this one. UCLA has not impressed me with their tournament run. I think they play great defense and exhibit a massive amount of resiliency. But the Tigers seemed primed for a national championship. I think LSU is the most athletic team remaining. They're long, they're lean and they're talented. LSU will take Afflalo and Farmar out of the equation, which will leave the Bruins with little offensive productivity. LSU makes it to the title game.

Florida will look to bring the Patriots back to earth in the Final Four's other matchup. It's hard to bet against George Mason. They're so sound at every position. They play great team ball. They don't resort to elaborate offensive sets. They're vanilla. But, most importantly, they're effective. And, to use a sports cliche, they're hungry. They remind me of the young Florida Marlins team that won the World Series in 2003. The Patriots are too inexperienced and young in regards to the NCAA Tournament to know that what they're doing is unheard of. The pressure won't get to them. Unfortunately, I think Joakim Noah. He's just too big and too dominant. I'm going with the Gators in this one -- narrowly. That said, a Patriots win would not surprise me. I just have a feeling that Florida finds a way. But my feelings have done me all wrong in the last couple of rounds.

So, that sets up an LSU/Florida title game. Although, in my dream scenario, LSU would play George Mason. LSU will hold a special place in my heart because they took care of Duke in the Sweet Sixteen. The Patriots are exciting, too, because they've done the unthinkable. An LSU/George Mason final would be the best possible championship game for me. I'm rooting for George Mason to win this whole thing.