HOUSTON
Kentucky, Connecticut, Butler and Virginia Commonwealth -- the
improbable, the implausible, the unthinkable and the downright
unimaginable.
In one game in Houston next Saturday, No. 4 seed Kentucky will
play No. 3 Connecticut -- not a completely absurd thought as a Final
Four matchup, though hardly a trendy pick given their up-and-down
regular seasons.
In the other game, it will be No. 11 Virginia Commonwealth
against No. 8 Butler -- the team that was panned when its name was
called on Selection Sunday against the defending national runner-up
from a 4,500-student campus whose amazing success story had
supposedly run its course.
"It never gets old," Bulldogs senior Matt Howard said.
Nor does the NCAA tournament, the three-week office pool that
places the so-called experts on even footing with those who fill
out brackets because they like a team's colors or its mascot.
Anything goes. Anyone can win.
And never has that been more true than this year.
Four teams with a combined 37 losses and a combined winning
percentage of .755, second lowest since 1985.
Four teams whose combined seeding equals 26, breaking the record
of 22 in 2000.
Not a single No. 1 seed for only the third time since seeding
began in 1979 and, according to STATS LLC., the first time that no
1 or 2 seed will be there.
ESPN, which sponsors one of the country's biggest bracket
tournaments, said that out of 5.9 million entries, only two had
this foursome making its way to Houston. President Barack Obama? He
went 0 for 4. He had plenty of company.
Kentucky is the new favorite in Vegas, at 8-5. VCU is listed at
7-1 -- the longshot in the field, but still quite a bit better than
2500-1, which is where the Rams were listed at the start of the
season.
"I think what it does as much as anything, it just puts a spin
on the NCAA tournament," said Kansas coach Bill Self after his
top-seeded team lost 71-61 to VCU. "It's wild. ... Because seeds
are so overrated. It's about matchups. And their players could play
for us any day."
VCU (28-11) got up early on Kansas on Sunday and never looked
back, another upset winner in a tournament that's all about
underdogs.
"Our guys have done a phenomenal job of putting all the
doubters aside, putting all the people that didn't believe in us
aside and going out and doing their job," VCU coach Shaka Smart
said.
The Rams are the third No. 11 seed to make the Final Four and
the first since George Mason in 2006, which also hails from the
Colonial Athletic Association. But the Rams are the first ever that
will need to win seven games -- not the usual six -- to win the
title. They were one of the last at-large teams to make the
newfangled 68-team field. They played in the new "First Four" --
an extra round that was added as part of the NCAA's new $10.8
billion TV deal.
Now they're in the Final Four.
They'll play Butler (27-9), which slumped through big chunks of
this season, a somewhat predictable result after what was supposed
to be a once-in-a-lifetime trip to the Final Four last year, played
a scant six miles from their Indianapolis campus.
This year, the destination is Reliant Stadium -- 1,036 miles
away. The Bulldogs are once again proving that all it takes is good
players -- not a power conference, a big school or gobs of money --
to compete on the biggest stage in college sports.
Last season, in one of the most epic finishes in Final Four
history, Gordon Hayward's halfcourt shot banked off glass, nicked
off the rim and barely bounded out to leave Butler two points short
of Duke for the national title.
It was a heartbreaker, but maybe one that set the Bulldogs up
for a repeat. They've won one game by one, another by two and
another by three on this year's road to the Final Four. They beat
Florida 74-71 in overtime Saturday to make their second straight
trip.
"I think it (last year) helps you with knowing how you need to
prepare and what you should do and what you should not do," Howard
said. "I think that will help us."
Though UConn and Kentucky each struggled at times this season,
they've had Final Four pedigrees for years (decades when it comes
to the Wildcats) and they lived up to them this month.
Connecticut was 9-9 in the Big East this season but won an
unprecedented five games in five days in the conference tournament
to win its first big trophy of March. The big question was whether
the Huskies, led by one of the nation's best players in Kemba
Walker, would have enough energy to keep things going in the NCAA.
Short answer: Yes.
They held off Arizona 65-63 on Saturday and are in the Final
Four for the fourth time since 1999.
"I've been fortunate over 39 years to have a lot of teams do a
lot of different things," coach Jim Calhoun said, "but never
could I imagine the team winning nine games in tournament play in
19 days."
To win No. 10, UConn (30-9) must beat Kentucky, a team led by
three freshmen that might, nonetheless, have its biggest star on
the bench. Coach John Calipari joined Rick Pitino as the only
coaches to lead three different programs to the Final Four.
Brandon Knight, Doron Lamb and Terrence Jones are the three
freshmen who helped the Wildcats (29-8) get to the Final Four for
the first time since their 1998 national title team.
This was a team that lost four out of seven earlier this season
and looked every bit as close to the tournament bubble as a
national championship. Since then, the Wildcats have won 10
straight, including the 76-69 win over North Carolina on Sunday.
"We got Kentucky back," senior forward Josh Harrelson said.
"A lot of people really didn't think we would be the team we are.
We know we struggled early in the season, lost a couple of close
games that we should have won. And you know, we really pulled it
together as a team. And, you know, we're back now."
Vegas likes the Cats Las Vegas casinos have tabbed Kentucky the
latest favorite in an NCAA tournament full of upsets, and are
hoping that Virginia Commonwealth ends its improbable run without a
title.
Executive Director Jay Kornegay of the Las Vegas Hilton race and
sports book said Sunday night that Kentucky was a 2-point favorite
to win its semifinal game against Connecticut, while Butler was a
2 1/2-point favorite over Virginia Commonwealth.
Race and Sports Director Mike Colbert of Cantor Gaming says his
books made Kentucky an 8-5 favorite to win the title. Connecticut
is the next favorite at 11-5, while Cantor is giving Butler 4-1
odds and VCU 7-1 odds to win it all.
Colbert and Kornegay say a VCU title would be troubling for
their casinos given some big bets on the long shots.
President's bracket a bust...but so was everyone else's
President Barack Obama has come up empty in
the Final Four.
Like millions of other fans around the country, Obama lost his
last Final Four team -- and his national champion -- when top-seeded
Kansas was stunned by Virginia Commonwealth in the Southwest
Regional final Sunday.
Obama picked all four No. 1 seeds to reach the Final Four in
Houston, but Pittsburgh, Ohio State, Duke and Kansas have all been
eliminated during a wild NCAA tournament filled with upsets.
No. 8 seed Butler will play 11th-seeded VCU in one national
semifinal Saturday. No. 3 seed Connecticut faces fourth-seeded
Kentucky in the other one.
Obama filled out a bracket for ESPN for the third straight year.
He is in the 94th percentile out of 5.9 million brackets submitted
on ESPN.com.
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