The NCAA tournament resumes tonight as the Final Four tips off from Reliant Stadium in Houston Texas, normally the home of the NFL's Texans. First up is the Cinderella matchup between #8 Butler and #11 VCU. The game is scheduled to begin at 6:09 eastern on CBS as Butler will be looking to advance to its second straight NCAA championship game. Be sure to check out our full in depth preview.
Our own Michael Levin has predicted a 76-65 Butler victory.
when it comes down to it, Butler can comfortably go 8-10 deep, while VCU pretty much has a 6-man rotation. I think the Butler guards will be too difficult for VCU's to contain and with Howard, Marshall and Smith going after rebounds, the Bulldogs will force their way into the championship game again.
The second matchup of the night, scheduled for 8:49 eastern is basically the opposite of the night's first game. Kentucky and Connecticut are not Cinderellas. These are two major basketball programs with resumes of NCAA tournament success from power conferences. Check our full preview of this game.
Levin's prediction is a 71-68 UConn victory
While Kentucky goes deeper and probably is the more talented club top to bottom, I don't think they'll be able to contain Walker for 40 minutes, and Oriakhi cleaning up on the boards. If I'm UConn, I'm worried about how well Kentucky can space the floor and hit open shots, but ultimately it's going to come down to Kemba vs. Knight, and I'm taking the junior from the Bronx in that matchup. Kentucky, who almost lost to Princeton in the first round, will go down here to the last Big East team standing. A UConn-Butler championship game sounds good to me.