The favorites dominated the first 3 games of the Elite 8. I don't talk about my personal life often. But in 1 word, my job is "adjuster". I work in the insurance biz and learn to adjust my opinion with other experts in the insurance and construction industries. When KU closed at -10 vs. Davidson, I knew this was a serious mistake by Las Vegas. KU, with it's numerous "bad losses" in recent tournament years, was going to play the game quite tight knowing that never before had 4 #1 seeds made it to the Final 4. Placing a nice sum of money on the game, I made up for the previous 3 mistakes of the weekend. Did I flip-flop? Yeah, totally! But y'know what, I knew right away my flip-flop was a great decision. Without further self-absorbed bragging, I must now post my Final 4 predictions:
- Kansas +3 North Carolina-Oooops, I did it again. I have North Carolina over UCLA in my brackets. Even with this pick, hypothetically, it could still happen. Unfortunately, I think KU will win this game outright. North Carolina is the most gifted team in the tourney. What they lack in unity, they normally make up for in talent. Although it's just 1 game, KU is clearly deeper than UNC and in this probable track meet of a game, it will show. KU is the only talented team that can "run" with UNC and looked abnormally bad against Davidson. If it wasn't for the close game with Davidson, the UNC matchup would be a virtual "pick". Because of this anomaly, I'm taking KU plus the points as I think this will be an outstanding game with KU edging out UNC in the very end. I'd price this game as a virtual coin flip...so in that sense you HAVE to take the dog +3. All of that breakdown, and yet, I didn't even bring up the obvious "Roy Williams" revenge factor.
- UCLA +2 Memphis-Wow! Look at the tournament so far! Memphis has surpassed expectations, while UCLA has just "gotten by". Although the Texas game surprised me, this outcome will not. Coached by Ben Howland, UCLA is a team that somehow wins games with their outstanding defense. If you look at the last 2 months of the season, there is no question that Calipari has held his team back to prepare for a game like this. Even with this "preparedness", Memphis will look like the US troops after Bush has declared "Mission Accomplished!" on the deck of a battleship. Take UCLA and the under, and remember the game 2 years ago to get to the Final 4.
Oh yes, there will be a Bullpen Catcher post about the championship game...even if somehow I got 0-2 in these predictions.
