Oh, To Be a Tarheel Fan in the Month of April

UNC and losing in the Final Four go together like Lucky Charms and 2% milk. For the 13th time in 17 chances, UNC has gone to the Final Four and not come away with a national championship. As a fan, this loss was particularly difficult to stomach coming on the heels (no pun intended) of last years' devastating collapse against G'town. Also this particular team, much like the one that preeded it and won it all, is very likable with the likes of the nation's best player, Danny Green Marcus Ginyard, Ty Lawson, and Wayne Ellington. These guys are fun to watch. One can hold out hope that the big three will decide to stay, but this seems unlikely. It is hard to imagine Hansbrough, Lawson, or Ellington amounting to anything more than bench players in the NBA, but this does not usually weigh into the thinking when guys go pro. As for the game, Kansas played 15 of the most perfect basketball a team has ever played in jumping out to 40-12 advantage. Personally, I have never seen such a combination of exceptional shooting and suffocating defense played, even if for a short period of time. UNC roared back but ran out of energy late. Another Final Four, another loss. In the other semifinal, Memphis pulled a mild upset in defeating the UCLA, thus three consecutive trips to the Final Four and no championship for the Bruins. Tonight's game should be fantastic, but the semifinal games were supposed to be fantastic and we see how they ended up. With that, I make my final projection and if it's like my others, it will probably be wrong.

My final projection-Kansas over Memphis