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Sports

Final Four now set for grand finale

ELI JABBE
Sports Columnist 

This year's March Madness has brought the excitement and unpredictability that fans have come to expect. Underdog George Mason, who many sports "experts" felt were not worthy of a spot in the tournament, took out the past two NCAA champions, North Carolina and Connecticut. LSU also stunned many by eliminating Duke and Texas. Meanwhile UCLA took out No. 1 seed Memphis to reach the Final Four, and Florida thoroughly beat No. 1 seed Villanova to reach the Final Four.

Saturday night's action featured No. 3 seed Florida facing off against No. 11 seed George Mason, a mid-major team that was this year's surprise team in the tournament. Unfortunately, the Patriots ran out of magic against the Gators. While the Patriots managed to stay close in the first half, Florida eventually pulled away and won 73-58. The victory that brought Florida to the championship game was also historic, as the Gators tied the NCAA record for 3-pointers in national semifinal games with 12 treys.

Meanwhile, No. 2 seed UCLA faced off against No. 4 LSU in the other semifinal game. This was expected to be a competitive game, but UCLA had LSU on the ropes in the first half and had a big lead at halftime with a 39-24 margin. LSU's Glen "Big Baby" Davis, who was key in the Tigers' success in the tournament, didn't have his usual impact against the Bruins, finishing with 14 points on a poor 5-17 shooting from the field. Luc Richard Mbah a Moute had a key 17 points. Stud sophomore point guard Jordan Farmar, who was a McDonalds High School All-American two years ago, had a good over-all game with 12 points, four rebounds and four assists and was UCLA's main outside threat with 3 treys. UCLA ended up winning by the score of 59-45.

Tonight's championship game features UCLA against Florida. Florida has a group of solid young players like Taurean Green, Corey Brewer, Joakim Noah, and Al Horford. UCLA has a 12 game winning streak, and has been led by Josh Shipp, Arron Affalo, and the aforementioned Farma and Moute. 

So, who I am picking in this game? I'm going with UCLA, but not because I'm from LA. It's because of one word: defense. UCLA limiting LSU to a paltry 45 points epitomized its lock-down defense in this tournament: its only giving up an impressive average of 52.8 points per game, which is close to the NCAA record. So, tonight, expect to see the Bruins celebrating their 12th national championship.
 

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