Well, the NCAA tournament has come to this - what I like to call the “Digger Phelps bracket.” For many years, Digger would inevitably pick all four #1 seeds into the final four on selection Sunday. I haven’t checked to see what Digger’s picks were this year, but if he went with chalk once again, he was finally right.

I’ll tell you who was right, though. My man Jay Bilas. He picked all four teams to reach the final four. Except that he didn’t do it two weeks ago when the bracket was revealed. He did it in October. That’s pretty impressive. Probably that Duke education.

So, for the first time since the tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985, all four #1 seeds have survived the regionals. Now it’s being called the greatest final four ever. Perhaps the lineup is the greatest as far as teams go. There are 143 wins between these teams. That’s amazing. Memphis has tied the single-season win record, currently with 37 wins, also held by Duke (1986, 1999), UNLV (1987), and Illinois (2005). One more win and they break the record. Along with Memphis’ 37 are UNC with 36, and UCLA and Kansas with 35 each. That’s unprecedented as well, I believe, and awfully impressive.

Odds are still against Memphis. People started questioning them after they lost to Tennessee at home. They play in a weaker conference than most other highly ranked teams, and so a home loss to a quality opponent seemed to increase the doubts. After a difficult game with Mississippi State in the second round, everyone expected them to fall before now. I was one of those people.

However, they seem to be playing with the proverbial chip on their shoulder, suggesting that nobody respects them. The last team I remember vocalizing that regularly throughout the tournament was the 1995 Arkansas team. The defending champions struggled during some of their SEC play, and then, as a #2 seed, won their first round game by only 1 and had lost their second round game with only seconds left before Syracuse’s Lawrence Moten took a cue from Chris Webber and called a timeout he didn’t have. Arkansas sent the game to overtime and eventually won. They reached the final game that year, singing the same “no respect” song Memphis is singing. Unfortunately, they did finally lose. To UCLA. Who, this year, plays… Memphis.

The other thing going against Memphis is that no team has won the national championship with less than 2 losses since Indiana’s undefeated season in 1976. Memphis has only one loss. In 1979, Larry Bird and Indiana State were undefeated before losing the championship game. UNLV was undefeated in 1991 before losing in the final four. Duke had just one loss before losing in the title game in 1999, and likewise, one loss Illinois fell in the 2005 title game. For some reason, it’s hard to finish without a couple of losses.

I picked UCLA to win it all. While I only picked two of the final four this year, my finals is still intact (UCLA over Kansas) for the moment. I’ve said before that if UCLA returns to the final four for the third straight year, they will win it. They have had to battle in some of their games, but that’s not uncommon for national champions. I was a little nervous yesterday after Memphis won. That was three #1 seeds, with Kansas playing red hot Davidson in the final game. With four #1’s reaching the final four being unprecedented, and Bill Self coaching the fourth, odds were stacked against Kansas. But they pulled it out, and I’ve heard several people say in the past week that they looked like the best team. Perhaps Self and the team getting that monkey off of their back will allow them to relax and just play this weekend. .

Whoever wins it all has their work cut out for them, because obviously they’re playing two of the best teams in the country to do it. After a number of blowouts in the sweet 16 and even the regional finals, the last three games should all be quite good. I’ll be surprised if any of them are decided until after the final TV timeout.

Thing I’ve loved about the tournament: since UNC hasn’t lost yet - and for the love of God will somebody please beat them? - Davidson is the obvious next best thing. That was a great run. They proved early on this season that they could play with anyone, losing close games to UNC, Duke and UCLA (despite leading UCLA by 12 in the second half). They weren’t the Cinderella that GMU was two years ago. Everyone knew (or should have known) they could play coming in. And they were one final shot away from the final four. I’ll be anxious to see what they do next year.

Thing I won’t miss about the tournament: listening to the likes of Clark Kellogg, Digger Phelps and, most of all, Bill Raftery, who makes my ears bleed. I didn’t even mention Billy Packer, which astonishes even myself, but these three are just unbearable.

My final four prediction will remain. As I said, I picked UCLA over Kansas in the final, which almost certainly means Memphis and UNC will be playing Monday night. But I’m going to stick to my guns.

All you need is [Kevin] Love. UCLA over Kansas on Monday night.

GTHC, GTH! And I agree with Roy…