No way you had this Final Four. One side has two teams with brains (Butler/VCU), while the other side has two programs with brawn (UCONN/Kentucky). Two very different games.
We all knew the officiating was almost as sloppy as the play in March Madness, but I didn't know it was fixed until this year. Butler in the Final Four two years in a row? Without their best player from last year, NBA Lottery-pick Gordon Heyward. C'mon man! Butler is from Indy, where the Final Four is held every year. It was just released that the CEO of the Tourney pulls in around $2.3 million per year. Connect the dots: get the local Cinderella-team on their home court and watch the tickets sell faster than last year.
Butler is a smart team though. They have the nerdy coach, Brad Smith, that every college co-ed thinks looks like their cute professor. He gets all the credit for the team's success, despite ever playing. They're comprised of Matt Howard, a small forward who outworks everyone for 40-minutes, and a star point guard in Shelvin Mack. I hate bashing a team that's been successful, but I will because I believe their success has come strictly from favorable officiating. Around 60% of the country had Butler losing in the first-round this year against Old Dominion!
Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) is this year's Butler. The small conference team that shouldn't have even made the tournament, yet won their way in and have kept it rolling for a month. They took out the beast of the tourney, Top-seeded Kansas, when Kansas was the last #1 left. It's not just about winning either, it was how they won! VCU lights it up from behind the 3-point line, which keeps them in every game. They also play at an extremely up-tempo pace, which makes them fun to watch. And back when I gambled like it was going out of style My buddy told me they are a "covering machine" against the spread too. They've also beaten a Top-10 team from every major conference, so the big boys don't scare them. Biggest storyline: The coach, Shaka Smart, is the star of this team just like Stevens is for Butler, except he looks like Tupac 's Character Birdie from Above the Rim. A badass former baller, who turned down Harvard, Yale, and Brown to play Division-III basketball at Kenyon College?! Smart lost his Grandfather this past Tuesday, expect him to use it somehow to motivate his modern-day "Hoosiers" to victory. Plus Nate Dogg died this year and he appeared on the Above the Rim soundtrack, so I feel like this is the year of SHAKA!I can't bet against Tupac!
Result: Butler tries to slow the game down and bleed the clock, while VCU speeds them up and blows them off the court with 3s. If VCU gets up by more than 10-points, look out! Butler's offense and style is not designed to come from behind, especially quickly. VCU wins. Also, Butler is a home team favored by (-)2.5, which according to gambling manifesto's is a sucker bet! Take VCU!!!!
Kentucky is back! Coach John Calipari is the poster-child for how to run a sketchy, illegal college basketball team. Whether it's forfeiting multiple season's worth of wins for various colleges, or paying the best players in the country to come to his school for just one year, Calipari does whatever it takes to stock his team with players. Unfortunately, most of them are simply using their exposure to get into the NBA, so the concept of "team" usually disappears in crunch-time. Every player on the floor is looking to be "the man" and make his draft-stock rise. Calipari's stud this year? Freshman Guard Brandon Knight. He's explosive, he can score, and he's 18, which is exactly why I DON'T trust him running my offense in a big game.
Conversely, UCONN has the best player in the country, Kemba Walker. He's the country's leading scorer, proven he's the most clutch player in the league, and already graduated in three-years! I'm impressed. All UCONN did was win the Big East Tourney, the toughest tournament of the year. They've won 9 games in 19 days, and are brimming with confidence. If Jeremy Lamb has a decent game (i.e. 14pts, 6asts, 4rebs) and Alex Oriakhi plays aggressively, UCONN could win it all. Oriakhi has to contribute for it to happen.
Result: UCONN wins. They either do it comfortably, or Kemba wins it for them at the end. He's done it about 5 times this year. He's the best finisher in college, can create a shot from anywhere, and has never shown more confidence. Gambling-wise, UCONN is a (+)2.5 HOME DOG! This also goes along with NCAA basketball gambling manifestos. Take an underdog if you think they can win outtright, never bet against home dogs, and most importantly, pound a home dog in basketball when they are getting 3 points or less. HUSKIEEEEEEEEEEEEES!
Champion: UCONN, unless it's VCU vs. Kentucky, then VCU.
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