Congratulations... I Guess?

I have been trying to think all day about how to congratulate the Duke Blue Devils and well it has been almost 24 hours since the almost greatest shot in championship history went just long so here it goes.

Congratulations DUKE on destroying the hopes and dreams of the Butler Bulldogs and the Butler mini-nation.

Congrats on ruining an what would have been an amazing night for everyone that roots for the underdogs.

Congratulations that you worked your way through the easiest bracket imaginable. 

Congrats that you made the ugliest national championship game even uglier by winning it.  Many are calling this the greatest championship game ever.  The greatest game does not involve teams going more than five minutes between field goals. 

Congratulations on telling kids everywhere that where you go to school no matter how hard you work matters. 

Congrats on playing the worst officiated game in college basketball history.  I am by no means advocating that Duke won becuase of the officials only stating that the game was officiated horribly fo both teams. 

And most importantly congratulaions on causing me to lose my bracket! I am man enough to admit I had Duke getting upset by Louisville in the 2nd round.  Rick Pitino I blame you entirely (Man enough to admit my mistakes, but apparently not man enough to take responsibility for them).   

Sorry I just had to post this again it gets me every time.

Coach K, You Devil!

The Four6Three's photo of the day is from the sports section from today's Indy Star.  The photo says it all!

Do you think it was inappropriate, dead on, or just a funny joke?
Let the Four6Three know what you think.  Leave us a comment or Tweet us.

Strange Foursome

Ever showed up to the golf course as a single and gotten put in a foursome where you don't know any of the other three.  About halfway through the round you realize that the other three don't know each other either.  That is the kind of Final Four we have for college basketball completely different stories for each of these teams and none of them or their coaches would feel comfortable hanging out with the others. 

Duke is a basketball blue-blood who has not made the trip to the Final Four since 2004.  Why Duke will win it all? Teamwork, Talent, Toughness, Tenacity, and inTangibles.  Duke is the best balance of all facits of the game.  Although they may not be the best at any one thing Duke is really good at all of them. Also being the bigget name left in the tournament Duke won't be afraid of anyone. 

Michigan State is the next closest in basketball tradition and although does not have the titles that Duke does in recent history the Spartans have been to 6 of the last 12 Final Fours.  They are used to this atmosphere after all they are here every-other year.  Michigan State just finds a way to win.  If it is close with a few minutes left the Spratans like their chances and I do to. 

West Virginia sticking to their name has not won a championship since Jerry West played for them, now his son a reserve will try to be the West on this championship team.  This team is tried and tested.  The Big East Tournament Champions made it through that on-slaught and have since weathered even the likes of the great Kentucky Wildcats.  West Virginia will not play a team more talented than Kentucky, but the question remains can they stop a team that plays team basketball the way Duke does. 

Butler has been a great bracket buster program for the last few years, but steadily has been moving in on top ranked status.  This is different though this is the Final Four and Butler is the first little guy since George Mason to be there except Butler has a chance to win it all.  Home sweet home.  Butler will be playing in front of a home crowd in Indy.  The arena is 6 miles from Butler's campus.  This will either be a huge advantage or the pressure may cause the Bulldogs to crack. 


Later on in the Week the Four6Three makes our picks. 

SAY IT AIN’T GONE JOHN!

UMass and Memphis would like to let Kentucky in on a little secret. If John Calipari leaves Kentucky any Final Four trips that he makes while wearing blue might walk out the door with him. The NCAA has officially denied Memphis appeal to not vacate their 38 win season in 2007-08 including Memphis Final Four Trip. Calipari the famous recruiter, great motivator, and winning coach can now also be known as the only coach in NCAA history to have Final Four Trips vacated at two different schools. When Coach Cal leaves town he takes everything with him and we mean everything; recruits, victories and Final Four banners. Kentucky may enjoy the benefits of the kind of turnaround few if any besides Cal can manage in just one year, but what will be the long-term costs. The real question is whether anyone in Lexington even cares? Probably not, their heads are too high in the Kentucky blue clouds dreaming dreams of a spring trip to Indianapolis.

Day 2 Underway

The Second day of the Big Dance is off and rolling. 
Continuing with the theme from yesterday Cornell upset Temple, however they did so in undramatic fashion.
Xavier proved too much for Minnesota although the Gophers tested the Musketeers.
West Virginia showed why many think they have a legitimate shot at making a Final Four run defeating Morgan State by 27. 
Three down fifteen still to go!

Expert Advice

Last night ESPN was kind enough to help everyone with their brackets by providing a 3 hour special with a panel of 8 experts discussing and voting on who would win the NCAA tournament. For a team to move on to the next round the 8 experts would vote on who would win each matchup. The results were astounding.

This panel of experts went chalk basically the whole way. Their Elite 8 was the four one seeds and the four two seeds. The Final Four was the four one seeds. The winner was Kansas the number one overall seed beating Kentucky the number two overall seed.

Thank you captains of certainty! This just in the lower the number next to your school’s name the better you are supposed to be. This would have really helped to know last year when four number one seeds made it to the Final Four for the first time ever. Will it happen again twice in a row? No! The experts decided, what we all know, the higher seeds are better teams than the lower seeds. These guys did a fantastic job if this was a selection committee special, but it wasn’t. Telling me that Kansas and Kentucky are really good, Duke has an easy bracket, and Syracuse is a tough matchup for its opponents, is like telling me that I should eat healthier. I know those things are true, but it does not mean they are going to happen. This would have been a tremendous show for anyone who has never heard of the NCAA tournament and was looking at their bracket for the first time.  I doubt, however that any rookies tune in for the 3-hour special and if this was their purpose they could have done a 5-minute segment on SportsCenter.  If the Elite Eight is all chalk I will write an apology to the panel of morons on this show, if it isn’t I expect them to apologize for wasting my time.