The beauty of the Madness
Now that the NCAA men鈥檚 basketball tournament is down to the Final Four, we know that the national champion will either be Michigan State, Texas Tech, Virginia or Auburn.
Last week in this column, we looked at how there weren鈥檛 a lot of upsets during the opening weekend of March Madness.
However, the Sweet 16 and Elite 8 were a different story!
Virginia was the lone No. 1 seed to advance to the Final Four, and it almost missed out as Purdue took them to overtime in the South regional final.
The Cavaliers make their first trip to college basketball鈥檚 biggest stage in 34 years and are the odds-on-favorite to win it all.
But when it comes to Virginia, do the odds mean anything?
A year ago, it became the first No. 1 seed to lose in the opening round when it fell to 16th-seeded University of Maryland-Baltimore.
Saturday night, the Cavaliers face Auburn, who is making its first trip to the Final Four.
The fifth-seeded Tigers knocked the Midwest鈥檚 top seed, North Carolina, out of the tournament in the Sweet 16 before topping SEC rival Kentucky out Sunday night.
In advancing to the Final Four, the Tigers eliminated Kansas, UNC and Kentucky, the three all-time winningest programs in NCAA men鈥檚 basketball history.
Auburn is athletic but lost starter Chuma Okeke in the win over the Tar Heels, and his absence could be instrumental.
If Virginia plays its game and is fundamentally sound, it should advance to Monday.
Another Final Four first-timer is Texas Tech, the third-seed out of the West.
The Red Raiders throttled second-seeded Michigan in the Sweet 16 and then stifled Gonzaga in the Elite 8 to advance.
Texas Tech will take on second-seeded Michigan State, the second seed out of the East.
The Spartans advanced with a thrilling win over tournament favorite Duke in the East final.
Many were surprised that the Blue Devils lost, but it was predicted in this column two weeks ago that Duke would not cut down the nets.
Ironically, the Blue Devils are the one common thread with the quartet of Final Four as they played all four teams.
Other than its loss to Michigan State, Duke defeated Texas Tech in Madison Square Garden, defeated Auburn in Hawaii and swept Virginia in ACC play.
Look for the Spartans to face Virginia Monday night, but then again, the prediction here two weeks ago was North Carolina over Gonzaga and that prediction didn鈥檛 turn out too well!
Gaul at it again
Gianna Gaul, a Belle Vernon Area graduate, recently earned the University of Louisville Cards of the Week 鈥淣otable Performance Award鈥� for the female athlete following a first-place performance in discus at a track & field meet at the University of Houston.
She followed that up with a fifth-place finish at a meet at Rice University with a throw of 151-8, and is looking to finish her senior year strong.
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