Courtesy of Parliament    

  UNC and Duke certainly have a shot at the Final Four, but can they realistic compete for the National Title?  ACC fans will tell you that.  And hey, they have a point.  For UNC its all about getting healthy.  Lawson needs to run that team and lead them to the promise land.  Will it happen?  Probably not, don’t get me wrong, I have UNC as a Final 4 team, but I have been saying it all season, a team that relies heavily on Tyler Hansbrough will never win any championship.  From the begin of the season, I thought the Heels were as good as anyone on paper, but the development of Deon Thompson was critical.  Hansbrough is a solid, even dare I say great, regular season college player, but when you get into a one game format, where athleticism and basketball abiiity are so important, Hansbrough just doesn’t match up.  The Heels still rely on this over-achiever to be their go-to-guy, and thats why they can’t win it all. hans

Duke is young, athletic, sharp shooting, but deathly small.  I love their defense intensity, and like that up to 6 different guys can lead the team in scoring on any given night.  What I don’t like is the severe lack of inside presence.  Zoubek?  Thomas?  come on.  Duke is good enough to get to the Elite Eight, if all goes right.  Thats their ceiling.  Coach K has done a great job this season, one of his best as a coach.  But the talent just isn’t there this season.

For the record, my Final 4 right now is UCLA, Memphis, UNC, Mississippi State (sleeper)

I thought yesterday’s loss by Memphis was critical, the Tigers needed some modesty.  Calipari will use this game as a learning tool, and drive this team to the title.

Memphis wins it all over UCLA in the finals.