Well, it’s almost that time. As I wrote last month, I won’t be watching the games live tomorrow, but I will be catching up on Sunday.

Here’s my hope, as stated a couple weeks ago: the games are good. Especially after so many good games in the regionals last weekend. To have another dud like last year, where the games just weren’t worth watching, would really ruin this year’s tournament. It’s set up to be a great Final Four. Hopefully, it won’t be a letdown.

Normally I’d go ahead and give my picks of the games, now that the Final Four is set and half (or more) of the teams I picked are not playing. But, since I picked the entire Final Four correctly, I’ll be letting my picks from two weeks ago stand. I’m tempted to say I’m going to be wrong and make different picks, but I’ll go ahead and let my picks stand even though I lack confidence. I certainly wouldn’t have expected to see my four teams playing, so maybe it will turn out like I predicted after all.

Regardless, I just want some good basketball.

Best Duke comparison - Florida or UCLA?

Pat Forde - who I don’t like - actually has a good article on ESPN from yesterday. He talks about how Florida is being compared to Duke’s 91-92 teams, what with them attempting to repeat this year. He says that perhaps UCLA should also be compared to Duke’s 91 team.

Duke lost in the championship game to UNLV the previous year, and met the Rebels again in 91 on Saturday at the Final Four. UNLV had beaten Duke with ease in 1990, but the Devils had their revenge, upsetting the undefeated Rebels by two, spoiling the tournament favorite’s bid to repeat. It was a foregone conclusion that UNLV would repeat, but it didn’t happen.

Florida beat UCLA with relative ease in last year’s final, and now the Bruins get their shot at revenge on Saturday as well. Most people have assumed that Florida would do the same. Not with as much certainty as UNLV in 91, I don’t believe, but still, they have the best starting five in the country and the experience of a championship last season. UCLA hopes to be to Florida what Duke was to UNLV.

“Experts”

Here’s the picks by ESPN’s so-called experts. Andy Katz and Jay Bilas are the guys I listen to the most. Vitale is too emotional to trust all the time. Doug Gottlieb is an idiot. So, I usually stick with these two. Bilas has the same final as I do - G’town over UCLA. Katz has Florida over G’town.

Rematch

Both Final Four games are rematches from last year. Of course, UCLA-Florida was the title game, and G’town-OSU was a second round game. The title game could also be a potential rematch. Florida beat Ohio State early in the season, when Florida easily dismantled OSU in Gainesville. However, the young OSU team is significantly better than they were then, so I wouldn’t expect a repeat of that game. Florida also beat Georgetown in the tournament last year, in the regional semifinals.

To become only the seventh team to repeat, Florida is going to have to beat two teams it’s beaten in the last year. Michael Wilbon said this week on PTI that, even though he picked Florida to win it all, he thinks it will be difficult to win two rematches. Certainly, facing teams looking for payback, plus having the pressure of repeating - particularly for the players who passed up major cash last year to do just that - could be a factor. Part of it, however, is coaching. Donovan hasn’t been down this path before, but if I was going to pick a young coach to lead my team in such a situation, I’d probably pick him.

Speaking of Donovan, the rumors continue about where he’ll be coaching next year. One report even says he’s told at least one recruit that he’s staying at Florida. Of course, the rumor is just that - a rumor - and it’s nearly impossible to know what’s true and what’s not in these situations. Nevertheless, like Roy Williams in 2003, he’s trying prepare his team to win a national championship while, at the same time, deflecting questions about his candidacy for one of the highest profile jobs in college basketball. He hasn’t said publicly that he’s staying at Florida. Whether or not that actually means anything remains to be seen. My take is - and I may be wrong - that Kentucky is in for a huge disappointment.

More on coaches

John Feinstein’s article on the the coaching rumor mill in the hotel lobby at the Final Four makes me wish I was there. He relays some of the talk going on in Atlanta. It’s a great article, and funny at times. This paragraph cracked me up:

Everywhere [Tubby] Smith turned, he was being congratulated — not so much for becoming the coach at Minnesota as for no longer being the coach at Kentucky.

Man, that’s cold.

ACC

A couple of articles that, of course, would interest me. Barry Jacobs on Familiar Faces at the Final Four and The ACC in the Final Four. This the first time since 1980 that the ACC has not had a team in the Final Four for two consecutive years, although they still have the most appearances and the most titles since that time. They’ve had a pretty impressive run, which I believe will kick back into high gear next year.

He Hate Me

It’s almost as if Joakim Noah wants to be disliked. I’ve made no secret that I don’t care for him. It seems that last year he was the darling of the tournament. Everyone loved him, especially the media. Some of them seem to be turning on him. Gregg Doyel is telling him to shutup, and Randy Hill says it’s now easy to hate him. Do a simple Google blogsearch on hate Joakim Noah and you’ll see they’re not alone. The number of Facebook groups devoted to hating him continues to grow. And, when people are starting to invoke the name of Christian Laettner when they’re talking about you, it’s safe to say you’re no longer well liked.

But, as Doyel points out, he brings some of it on himself, with all the attention he seems intent on drawing to himself during games - the screaming, the chest pounding, etc. Certainly incidents with the Kentucky cheerleader and Vanderbilt coach Keving Stallings are part of that as well. Now, of course, he’s even saying that the media hates Florida.

Personally, I like Donovan, and I like Horford and Brewer (they’re probably both better than Noah, too.) And I think that if a lot of people want Florida to lose, for many of them it’s probably more because they don’t like Noah than any dislike of Florida in general.

Humor

If you ever questioned Duke’s success over the years, just take a look at this. Apparently, they were even in the sweet 16 in what I can only assume would be called “Pope Madness”. (Interesting that Ratzinger was a #6 seed. Is that a bad sign?)

Finally, a little Final Four humor from one of my favorites, The Onion: Greg Oden On Final Four Appearance: ‘I’m Happier Than I’ve Been In 30 Years’.