2009 NCAA Final Four Predictions: The NCAA Brackets haven’t been out 24 hours yet, and already sports fans across the nation are making predictions in their office pools for who will win, who will upset who, and which teams will make the 2009 NCAA Final Four in Detroit, Michigan. The Big East made headlines on Sunday when three of the four number one seeds came from the conference. Connecticut and Pittsburgh have both been ranked number one at some point this season, however, my prediction is that only one of the Big East teams makes the final four – the Louisville Cardinals. As far as who will win it all, Memphis has proven to be the best defensive team going into the 2009 NCAA tournament and is actually making free throws this season and is my pick to be the 2009 NCAA Tournament champions.
2009 NCAA Final Four Predictions – Memphis, Louisville, Duke, North Carolina
West Region NCAA Final Four Prediction – Memphis Tigers (31-3)
The Memphis Tigers are the first NCAA team to win 25 games in a row in three different seasons having last lost in December. Once the Tigers figured out earlier in the season that T. Evans was their point guard vice Antonio Anderson they have been hard to beat. The Tigers don’t have the explosiveness of last season’s team who had three players drafted for the NBA, but have a better defense, are more deliberate on offense when they need to be, and can actually make free throws this season. I predict they will upset the UConn Huskies in the regional finals and will make it to the 2009 NCAA championship game.
Mid-West Region NCAA Final Four Prediction – Louisville Cardinals (28-5)
The Louisville Cardinals are 19-2 since they beat the Kentucky Wildcats on a last second shot at the start of January before heading into Big East conference play. The Kentucky game marked a turn-around point for the Cardinals who had started the season in the top 10 and drifted to the far right of the rankings before emerging as the 2009 NCAA Tournament’s number one seed. Louisville won their first Big East regular season and conference tournament title’s this season and look to make a Final Four run next.
East Region NCAA Final Four Prediction – Duke Blue Devils – (28-6)
Duke enters the 2009 NCAA tournament having won the 2009 ACC tournament title and eight of their last nine games. You could see a difference in the Duke team that played North Carolina in the season finale (losing in the latter portions of the game) and the one that got smoked by the Tar Heals earlier in the season. Coach K has the Blue Devils on a roll just in time for March Madness. Although Pitt is favored to win the East Region bracket, my prediction is that Duke pulls the upset in the Regional final setting up a Final Four re-match with UNC.
South-East Region NCAA Final Four Prediction – North Carolina Tar Heels – (28-4)
North Carolina coach Roy Williams chose to sit Guard Ty Lawson in the ACC Tournament to make sure he was fully recovered from a toe injury to be full-up for the NCAA tournament. The Tar Heels lost a close game to Florida State in the ACC Tournament, but were 14-1 heading into that game and have been hot. My prediction is they make it to the Duke rematch in the Final Four and overcome the Blue Devils for a third time this season to make the 2009 NCAA Title game against the Memphis Tigers.
References:
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1566829/2009_selection_sunday_ncaa_tournament.html?cat=14
http://www.collegehoopsvideo.com/Mens/NCAA/March_Madness/Final_Four/2009-selection-sunday-ncaa-tournament-seeding-and-brackets-announced
http://www.collegehoopsvideo.com/Mens/NCAA/March_Madness/Final_Four/finding-2009-ncaa-printable-brackets
http://www.collegehoopsvideo.com/2009-ncaa-bracket-challenge/
http://www.collegehoopsvideo.com/memphis-tigers-2/
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/recap?gameId=290040097
