By Ryan Bologna, GHS Class of ’17
We’re down to four in the NCAA men’s basketball tournament, with many surprise teams, including local college, UConn. Both the men’s and woman’s teams have had much success throughout the tournament. The men are in the final 4 and woman reached the elite 8. The road is tough for the men. They will take on the number one in the country Florida Gators, who since UConn beat them back in early December Florida has won every game since then. The woman will play Texas A&M and they will be favored and the other team that poses as the best threat to them is Notre Dame. I will make my predictions for both the final four games for the men.
Wisconsin (2) vs Kentucky (8) Preview and prediction:
Coming into the season, Kentucky was expected to do big things. They were something of a let down. They were supposed to be one of the best in the country. Since the tournament has started, they have stepped it up and managed to pull one out against Michigan in the elite 8 with a late go-ahead 3 point shot.
Meanwhile Wisconsin has played well and had a tough overtime game against Arizona (1) to get to the final four. This game seems like a game Wisconsin should win. But nothing is guaranteed in this tournament. I wanted to pick Kentucky to upset but I see Wisconsin winning in a tough game by around 4-6 points.
credit Owen Bologna
UConn (7) vs Florida (1) preview and prediction:
UConn has been a big surprised and has caused many peoples brackets to get busted. As you can see from the UConn basketball Twitter account they apologized to president Barack Obama for busting his bracket after the win against Michigan state. The president had Michigan State winning the Tournament but his champion was eliminated by UConn in an upset.
The Florida Gators have been on a roll since their heartbreaking loss to Connecticut back in early December. They haven’t lost a game since then. They will be the favorites in this game. But don’t count out the Huskies in this game. Shabazz Napier will be the main man to watch for UConn. He is showing shadows of the Kemba Walker run in 2011. It seems whenever he shoots a tough 3 pointer it is going to go in. You can almost predict it. But it will take more than just Napier to do the work for UConn. Boatright, Daniels, and Brimah have been factors for this team. They probably won’t get past St. Joes in the first round. The game will be close and Napier will try and keep the Huskies in it as they probably will be trailing for most of the game. I have UConn in an upset, honestly it doesn’t look like they will give up. They have a lot of chemistry and the nearly identical to the Kemba Walker run will keep them going to the championship game against Wisconsin.