Final Four time! You ready?

Even though coach Ben Howland called this UCLA team his “best by far,” this is the best Final Four of the three years and his squad still has limitations. They don’t have a good perimeter game and one of their “better” players, Josh Shipp, hasn’t done shit all tourney. He’s like the Nick Punto of this team. So UCLA will be relying on the freshman Love, the great Collison and their team experience. They’ll also be used to the hype, the media obligation and the overall schedule that accompanies the Final Four. Nothing will be new for them—this will help.

This could be enough to win it, but with four No. 1 seeds, these games aren’t going to be easy and I think UCLA is the “worst” team out of the four. They’ll play a fast Memphis team and if they win they get the winner of UNC or Kansas! Good luck Chuck. But you could say the same thing about any other teams. Every team is going to have a tough road.

Does UCLA have enough? If you’re looking for a prediction in this line, you’re kidding yourself. I don’t do huge sporting events predictions anymore (Superbowl, March Madness, etc…) I leave that up to TKOT’s own Brandon Lang...Q. He’ll be doing his prediction voicemails on Wednesday this week for all of you subscribers. Read beyond the Memphis part for his expert prediction on this game.

Memphis

"First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win."—Mahatma Gandhi

This quote fits them well because they were widely ignored by the majority, they were laughed at for their poor free throw shooting, which was a common theme on why they would end up losing early. They were fought in the sense that they had to face the disrespect factor for two weeks and then in the end they ended up winning despite all of this. Gandhi said it well.

Memphis was the No. 1 seed that almost everyone had losing well before the Final Four. You heard it mentioned multiple times by announcers and analysts that they didn’t have what it takes to get to the Final Four. Horrible free throw shooting team, bad shot selection and shaky defense were the things that flew out of these “experts” mouths. Coach Calipari has even gone to lengths of defending his team in post game conferences. They proved that all wrong with a victory over Texas on Sunday, putting them in the Final Four for the first time since 1985.

Memphis made it to the Elite Eight the previous two years, which I believe is what helped them this year, finally get over the edge. That and Derrick Rose. Love this kid. I’ve been pimping Michael Beasley for a while on this site for the Timberwolves in the upcoming draft but I think I need to change that opinion to this stud.

Look, I’m not going to cry if we get Beasley. He’s a scoring machine and is NBA ready but this Rose kid looks like the next star point guard. Star point guards make bad players decent (Pargo in NO), average players good (Marion when in PX) and good players great (Amare in PX). The game is so much easier with a really good PG. The T-pups don’t have one. Foye is still trying to figure out his NBA position and Telfair is alright. Rose would completely change how we do business on the basketball court.

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