It’s been several years since I’ve looked forward to the final four matchups as much as I am this year.  I can’t put my finger on the reason, but I think it has something to do with fact that I picked three of the four remaining teams to be here. 

This really surprised me, since I’m usually lucky to have one of my teams reach this stage of the tournament.  Still, it didn’t hit home until I looked at my overall standing in the brackets. 

Feeling dejected that so many of my teams made an early exit this year, I decided to go to the website that I had entered my picks on, just to see how I was doing relative to everyone else.  I was shocked, to say the least. 

They gave the statistics for local entries and for nationwide entries.  I am actually sitting in the 98^th percentile on both!  Out of 892 local entries, I am currently in 11^th place.  Out of 169,611 nationwide entries, I am in 3,879^th place.  Talk about an ego boost! 

Anyway, back to the games at hand.  

Louisville vs. Kentucky – This could be a close game, but only if Louisville can keep the pace of the game very, very slow.  Otherwise it will only be a matter of time before Kentucky goes on a run and pulls away.  All you have to do is look at their previous four games to know how they operate. 

Last week’s game against a very good Baylor team should be enough to scare the daylights out of any opponent.  They finished with a twelve point victory, but the game was never that close.  They seemed to be toying with Baylor the entire game, letting them think they had a chance, then going off on a 12-0 run to stretch the lead back into the twenties. 

Keep in mind, though that Louisville has one of the best college level coaches ever running the show, so I am not about to rule out an upset just yet.  I just don’t think they have the offensive horsepower to keep up if Kentucky is able to score like they’ve been doing. 

Ohio State vs. Kansas – This is a matchup that I called, and then took a lot of grief about.  All I heard was North Carolina is the only team on Kentucky’s level and Ohio State was not consistent enough to make it to the final four.  I’m glad I stuck with my gut on this one! 

I’ve got Ohio State coming out as the victor in my brackets, and I’m going to stick with that choice.  But I would not be shocked at all if Kansas ends up in the championship game.  They haven’t blown anyone away in this tournament yet, but they have controlled the pace of every game they’ve played so far.  If they are able to continue that trend, they very easily could win this game.

No matter the outcome, Monday’s championship game is sure to be an outstanding show!