Final Four.....Final Weekend of College Ball

So, earlier, I wrote my initial thoughts about this year's Final Four...in San Antonio.

Games tip off at 6:07 PM EST (can they find a more random time to start a game?), and I still haven't written the most detailed analysis yet...so here it is.

Four #1 seeds...four different shades of blue...four different playing styles from wildly different coaches.

#1 North Carolina:

The storied program of Dean Smith, James Worthy, and Michael Jordan. Featuring the running attack of Ty Lawson, the sharpshooting of Ginyard, and the ferocious competitiveness of Tyler Hansborough.

They love to run and gun, but also have the ability to grind it out in the half court.

shade of blue - "carolina"

#1 UCLA:

Equally as storied, if not more storied, than North Carolina. Ghosts from the past include John Wooden, Lew Alcindor (kareem abdul jabaar), the O'Bannon brothers.....
they are the typical blue-collared defensive grinders....they love to play in the halfcourt set.

shade of blue - "true" blue

#1 Kansas:

I'll admit that I don't know much about Kansas, except that the entire state still holds a grudge towards Roy Williams. The last time the Jayhawks reached the final four, they were upstaged by 2 things...(1) a young man named Carmello Anthony and (2) the secret negotiations of then Kansas coach Roy Williams, planning his return to his alma matter of North Carolina.

They love to run, and struggle to grind teams. Brandon Rush, Sasha Kahn, all great players. But, can Bill Self finally get over the hump?

shade of blue - Blue (they didn't get all pretentious with their colors)

#1 Memphis:

The last team on the list...the newest incarnation of John Calipari's upbeat blend of running and poor free throw shooting.

This team averaged around 50% from the free throw line, but still put up about 80 points a game.

Will the Memphis High School Tigers finally start getting some respect?

shade of blue - Blue and Gray.

Since the 2 most prestigious programs in college basketball feel the need to dress up their "blueness", maybe Kansas and Memphis might not survive with their normal blues....

With the blueness factored in...my picks for today are UCLA and North Carolina. Kevin Love over Chris Doglas-Roberts (i feel like he'd be at home in a debate club)....Psycho T over Brandon Rush's old school fade....

what are your thoughts?

[update] just got a call from my lovely girlfriend, who just put some bets down in Vegas for the first time (more on this later)....and she has me down for Memphis...so....Go Tigers!!!