The Final Four is Set

The Final Four is set and it couldn't be a more bizarre field. UConn is the top seed. Butler will be the favorite in their Final Four game. The National Championship game will have at least one Mid-Major playing for the title. See what I mean about bizarre. 

As I said last week, this tournament has had a weird feel. The tournament started with the bizarre concept of the First Four that saw VCU start their hot streak in the tournament. The first day of Round 2 saw five buzzer beaters in the morning to give the tournament a real kick, but from there the tournament felt stale. The rest of the round 2 games, round 3, and the Sweet 16 all felt dull. Then the Elite 8 finally opened up this tournament and gave us that feel again that we were watching something special.

The Butler-Florida game kicked things off when Butler erased an 11-point deficit to defeat Florida and return to their second straight Final Four. I know Butler made it to the title game last season which was remarkable in itself, but this year is even more impressive because they're a lower seed and they don't have Gordon Hayward.

The UConn-Arizona game also went down to the final seconds before the Huskies advanced. The Huskies haven't lost since the end of the regular season going on a remarkable run since the Big East tournament.

John Calipari finally reached his first Final Four this season. The Wildcats needed a last second shot to defeat Princeton then avenged their loss to West Virginia before beating higher seeds Ohio State and North Carolina.



And then there's VCU. The same VCU that a lot of people, including myself, didn't feel like they deserved to even be in the tournament. Their remarkable run is quite astounding. They didn't defeat teams with a series of buzzer beaters to reach the final four, they hammered USC, Georgetown, Purdue, and Kansas to reach the final four. There's nothing fluky about this VCU run.

So what do we have? A truly bizarre final four teams. Two mid-majors and no team above a 3 seed left. Time will tell how good this tournament will be, personally I still prefer last year's tournament and the 97 tournament, but right now the 2011 NCAA tournament is turning into one of the best tournaments ever.