Charles Henderlite

This year’s Final Four featured nothing but power conferences–no Cinderella, and no team seeded below a two. The action kicked off with No. 1 Ohio St. against No. 2 Georgetown . Although a very good game until the end, Ohio St. was victorious against the Hoyas winning the game 67-60. In the other game, the Bruins looked outclassed from the beginning leading to No. 1 Florida having no problem knocking off No. 2 UCLA 76-66.

In the National Championship No. 1 Ohio St. took on No. 1 Florida. Florida came into the game as defending national champions and was looking to become the first team to repeat in 15 years. And repeat they did. Florida handed Ohio St. an 84-75 loss and became only the fifth team in NCAA history to repeat as national champions. The outcome of the game was never in doubt, with Florida leading by 11 at halftime and the lead was never smaller than five points after that.

Ohio St. center Greg Oden looked great in this one. He finished with 25 points and 12 rebounds in 38 minutes of action. Now the big question is whether or not he will make the jump to the NBA next year. The way he looked in this game–I’d say he is more than ready. I guess we’ll find out in a couple of months what he decides to do.

On the other side of the ball, Florida is projected to have their entire starting five drafted. A rarity to say the least.

As for me, no, I’m not going to be drafted in this lifetime, but I can finally put an end to this site. It was a lot of fun and hard work and looking back on it now all I can say is–I’m finally done.

Not that 23 points in a game can be considered a scoring slump, but for Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant , it could easily qualify as one. After five consecutive games of at least 40 points, four of which were 50 point games, the Memphis Grizzlies “held” Bryant to only 23 points. An impressive defensive effort for the Grizzlies considering they gave up 65 points to Bryant less than a week ago.

During the scoring spree Bryant had games of 65, 50, 60, 50 and 43 points. The Lakers were 5-0 during this stretch and currently hold the sixth spot in the Western Conference playoff race. The Lakers have 11 games remaining until the playoffs. The Grizzlies currently have the worst record in the league and are headed for the Lottery.

No. 1 Florida earned the right to represent the Midwest region in the Final Four following a 85-77 win over No. 3 Oregon in the Regional Finals.

In other Regional Finals action it was No. 2 UCLA coming out of the West region after a 68-55 victory over No. 1 Kansas . No. 2 Georgetown will represent the East region in the Final Four after beating No. 1 North Carolina 96-84. And the South region saw No. 1 Ohio St. move on after upending No. 2 Memphis 92-76.

So, the Final Four match-ups are as follows: No. 1 Florida vs. No. 2 UCLA and No. 1 Ohio St. vs. No. 2 Georgetown. This should be a great ending to an excellent college basketball season!

In the South region No. 1 Ohio St. squeaked past No. 5 Tennessee with a last minute comeback to steal a 85-84 win. No. 2 Memphis had the same problem against a great Texas A&M squad. In the end, Memphis eliminated the No. 3 Aggies with a 65-64 victory.

In the East region No. 1 North Carolina eliminated No. 5 USC with a final score of 74-64 and No. 2 Georgetown eliminated No. 6 Vanderbilt with a gritty 66-65 win. North Carolina will now face a tough Georgetown team with the right to play in the Final Four on the line.

No. 1 Kansas marched into the Elite Eight after a win against No. 4 Southern Illinois . Kansas will now face No. 2 UCLA for the right to play in the Final Four following a 64-55 victory for UCLA over No. 3 Pittsburgh .

The Midwest region saw No. 1 Florida move into the Elite Eight with a 65-57 victory over No. 5 Butler . Florida’s opponent will be No. 3 Oregon following a 76-72 win over No. 7 UNLV .

The second round of the South region didn’t see anything surprising happen to any of the top seeds. No. 1 Ohio St. advanced to the Sweet 16 with a 78-71 win over No. 9 Xavier ; No. 5 Tennessee won in a mild upset over No. 4 Virginia 77-74; No. 3 Texas A&M moved on with a 72-69 victory over No. 6 Louisville and No. 2 Memphis coasted over No. 7 Nevada 78-62.

A couple of upsets took place in the second round of the East region. The most surprising upset saw Kevin Durant’s No. 4 Texas Longhorns losing to No. 5 USC 87-68. The other upset involved an underrated No. 6 Vanderbilt team beating No. 3 Washington St. 78-74.

In other second round action it was No. 1 North Carolina over No. 9 Michigan St. 81-67 and No. 2 Georgetown beating No. 7 Boston College 62-55.

The top four seeds in the West region all advanced to the Sweet 16 following their victories in the second round. The results were: No. 1 Kansas over No. 8 Kentucky 88-76; No. 4 Southern Illinois beat No. 5 Virginia Tech 63-48; No. 3 Pittsburgh eliminated No. 11 VCU 84-79 and No. 2 UCLA was victorious over No. 7 Indiana 54-49.