Saturday Final Sport Four

Men's Basketball has us all confused this morning, with the Milwaukee Bucks removing the LA Lakers from NBA contention!?!  This will be the first year in almost two decades without a LeBron James in the NBA finals.  Maybe the Lakers should move back to Minnesota?  

That is where the true  action is this weekend, Minneapolis, Minnesota, which is the site of today's Final Four in the championships of USA's NCAA Men's College Basketball. The championships are being played at the US Bank Stadium, better known to readers of this space as the new home to the Minnesota Vikings of the NFL.  I guess they finally wanted to have some champion play at their new stadium.  

This year's is not the most exciting of recent Final Four match-ups, as we have heard over, and over, and over...  A top seed, a past champion and two first-time visitors will play for the national title this weekend.  

They are still playing in the tournament, right, so they must be pretty good.  This space foresees some exciting basketball this evening.

In the first match-up,  tournament surprisers Auburn will contend with fellow southerners Virginia.  Virginia is the last top seed in the tournament, and Auburn is making their virgin visit to the finals.  The Auburn Tigers are peaking, being on a 12 game winning streak.  The Virginia Cavaliers have a top rated defense.  Auburn has some players who may be out for the flu...  The Tigers have the plan and could very well win, but they have their work cut out for them.  

Later, Michigan State, of the Big 10, who won the big dance in 2000, will take on Texas Tech, also Final Four Virgins.  The Michigan State Spartans have a top rated offense and defense, so come into the game strong.  The Texas Tech Red Raiders have surprised everyone in the tournament so far, and could very well pull off a surprise today.  


The Red Raiders are known for a very strong defense, but their offense has been coming alive all tournament long.  

Sport Sunday: NCAA BBall, Six Nations Rugby, Cricket

The subzero weather hardly predicts  short wait for Spring, as the groundhog did last week.  There is a lot of sports to heat up your February, so there's that. 

March Madness is very closer, so the NCAA top 10 rankings for men's basketball become much more interesting.  Saturday's first unveiling of the top 16 seeds by the NCAA tournament selection committee provided a glimpse into the future. But the day's game slate also served as a reminder that there's still plenty of basketball to be played in the next five weeks up until Selection Sunday. So, thanks NCAA, for March's ratings today. 

In a battle between two forecasted No. 1 seeds, Duke once again out-dueled Virginia. The Blue Devils started the day as the top overall seed, per the committee's assessment, and ended the day with an even stronger profile. The Cavaliers, meanwhile, only suffered their second loss of the season, but this one was a much more convincing loss and on their home court.

Villanova was perhaps the most notable snub on the selection committee's list of top four seeds in each NCAA tourney region, and the Wildcats had an opportunity to beat a No. 3-seeded Marquette team on the road. Instead, they lost their first game in Big East play and the Golden Eagles got a statement win to bolster their already impressive résumé behind Markus Howard's 38 points. More than that, it was a statement win that punctuated the progress of the Steve Wojciechowski era in Milwaukee.  

In the Coaches' Poll, the top ten teams are currently:

1.  Tennessee  20-1

2.  DukeDuke  19-2

3.  Virginia  20-1

4.  Gonzaga  21-2

5.  Kentucky  18-3

6.  Nevada  21-1

7.  Michigan  20-2

8.  North Carolina  17-4

9.  Marquette  19-3

10.  Virginia Tech 18-3

Meanwhile, in Daytona Beach, all is gearing up for the weeklong festival of racing preceeding the Daytona 500.  More on that next week. 

This is weekend two of five in the Rugby Six Nations Tournament.  Today England takes on France at the Twickenham Stadium.  Saturday, Wales already bested Italy at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome, as the Etruscans lost 26-15.  Meanwhile, Ireland beat Scotland at Murrayfield, 22-13.  Wales currently sits, undefeated, atop the rankings. 

In worldwide cricket, England continues their tour of the West Indies, and so far has lost all of their test matches.  The  'Sky is the limit' as the Caribbean hosts seek to complete Test series sweep, and snatch all three Test match victories.  West Indies assistant coach Vasbert Drakes said on Friday that "the sky's the limit" for his young team as they look to complete a 3-0 sweep of the Test series against England.  The Caribbean side leads the three-match series 2-0 following victories by 381 runs in Barbados and by 10 wickets in Antigua.   The third and final Test got underway at the Daren Sammy Cricket Ground in St Lucia on Saturday.  Coach Dasbert said that "The guys understand the legacy of West Indies cricket and they want to continue to inspire the next generation of cricketers to play the game."  

He said  "We are all really looking forward to playing in St Lucia. It reminds me of the wickets that were prepared for us, the West Indians, in the 1970s and '80s," he said.  Although the England side has not been as powerful in recent years, a total defeat would be  complete embarrassment to England.   

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