Monday, March 26, 2007

A Final 4 Where REMATCH is on Everyone’s Mind

Could it be? Odin, the powerful Norse god, will be battling Dr. Hibbert on Saturday night. Two 7-foot giants with very different skills. One is a God of War. The other? Has a contagious belly-laugh and likes to stick people with needles. Seriously though, two hyped centers with NBA-bodies matching up in college doesn’t happen often. I can’t even think of the last great matchup in college between NBA-caliber centers. Someone will have to make a suggestion in the comments.

The thing I find most interesting about the Final 4 are all of the REMATCH storylines.

1. Florida-UCLA – Florida kills UCLA in the 2006 championship game. And that was when UCLA supposedly had a better center. Its been said already in the press, and I have to repeat it here - the similarities between UNLV-Duke from the early ‘90s are stunning (UNLV crushed Duke in the finals, the next year, Duke shocked UNLV in the Final 4).

2. OSU-Georgetown – The 7th-seeded Hoyas absolutely demolished the Buckeyes in the 2nd round in 2006, when the Buckeyes were unable to grasp the concept of the backdoor cut. The roster may have been different for the Buckeyes last season, but the coach is the same, which is certainly alarming for Buckeye fans.

3. Florida-Georgetown – In the 2006 Sweet 16, the Gators squeaked out a victory in a very tight game that could have easily gone either way.

4. OSU-Florida – (back in December) – The game was even for about 28 minutes, and then OSU was down 5 and started jacking up 3s. The game became a blowout very quickly. It was different than the OSU-Tennessee game because the Buckeyes didn’t have a halftime to get themselves back together.

I’m not even bothering trying to predict the Final 4, because I have no idea, and I just want to enjoy the games for the colossal matchups that they represent. I’m also curious as to how many teams can succeed in achieving REVENGE for past defeats this weekend. In honor of all the REMATCHES, I typed “Rematch” into Youtube and I selected the first clip to include on the blog… the Final 4 will probably be a competition similar to these 4 breakdancers – and I still have no idea who wins the Final 4 or this “Rematch” involving breakdancing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_CKf6oQDEQ

No comments: