If the season ended today, who would be your Final Four?

[Jasoncuse]

A little under a month from the Tourney, who does everyone think has the best shot at reaching the FF?

I'll go with:

Michigan State
Kansas
Kentucky
UNC

Quite chalky, I guess, outside of UK. I think they have the best backcourt, or at least top 3, in the country and seem to be really putting it all together.

Dark horse 4-6 seed type: Purdue, though Duke will probably be everyone's pick, especially if Jefferson returns at all.

Real deep dark horse: USC

 

[Cusefan0307]

Kansas
Michigan St
Virginia
UK

I don't trust UNC in the tournament. Their guards arent good enough. The teams I really like outside of those four are Zona, West Virginia, and Miami. I wouldn't be surprised if any of those teams make it. They are balanced teams good on both sides of the ball.

 

[Alsacs]

Michigan State is really the only team I would bet on making the Final Four.

Then I will go with Xavier, Miami, Kentucky.

I don't trust Oklahoma, Kansas, North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Villanova to win 4 games in a row.

 

[Cuseball]

My final four as of right now:
Kentucky, Kansas, Maryland, Syracuse

• Kentucky has most talent and seems to be putting it together, especially shooting
• Kansas has great mix of inside and outside and most complete
• Maryland plays down to opponents, but in tournament its hard to find a better guard than Melo and Stone is a beast
• Cuse will shoot their way to the final four and pull out some thrillers

 

[Knicks411]

I feel like I'm going to short Oklahoma because of how much they rely on the 3.

 

[nycfan]

Oklahoma
Michigan State
Kansas
Xavier

I know Bilas has been high on UNC all year, but just don't trust them, and their backcourt is inconsistent. I can't pick Nova just based on their customary early departures. Iowa--the loss the other night told ya all you need to know. The Xavier pick was tough as I also like Virginia. Might actually change my mind by next month. The one team that intrigues me is Miami. If they beat UNC tomorrow will be very impressed.

By the way, does anyone else watch certain games specifically to "scout" for the office pool? I only bring this up because I don't watch much Big East basketball anymore, but last week decided to watch the Xavier/Butler game as I hadn't seen Xavier play much this year (they looked great in that one btw).

 

[Trueblue25]

Syracuse and three sacrificial lambs.

 

[Jeremy L.]

Oklahoma, Kansas, UNC, Michigan State

 

[jncuse]

Michigan St
Kansas
Virginia
Villanova (just to stir up some discussion)

 

[jncuse]

Apologies for the small picture -- these are the current odds for all teams at 66-1 or greater.

Any that you strongly disagree with .. or those you think are good bets for the final 4?

 

[jncuse]

How good is a team like Miami? Not sure -- but we may find out a lot about the upper echelon in the ACC over the next 2 weeks.

Feb 20: Duke at Louisville
Feb 20: Miami at UNC
Feb 22: Virginia at Miami
Feb 27: UNC at Virginia
Feb 27: Louisville at Miami
Mar 5: Louisville at Virginia
Mar 5: UNC at Duke

Each of the top 5 teams has 3 games left against another top 5 team... except for Duke which has 2.

 

[Alsacs]

Apologies for the small picture -- these are the current odds for all teams at 66-1 or greater.

Any that you strongly disagree with .. or those you think are good bets for the final 4?

View attachment 55688

Providence at 6000-1 is really good odds. They got Dunn/Bentil and have good guard play. They could be like us in 2013 and take off in March.

I also like Virginia at 1400-1 as long as they aren't in Michigan State's bracket they could do damage.

 

[nycfan]

Apologies for the small picture -- these are the current odds for all teams at 66-1 or greater.

Any that you strongly disagree with .. or those you think are good bets for the final 4?

View attachment 55688

If you were to bet Duke you really aren't getting very good value here at +1300. That is the same or better than a bunch of teams that will probably be at least a 2-seed: UVA +1400, Xavier +1400, Iowa +1500. (and one of these teams could even end up with the fourth 1-seed, which is wide open right now). And do you really think Duke is THAT much better than Miami (+3500), if at all? I sure don't. Remember, this is a team that wasn't even ranked 2 weeks ago, and now they are listed here only a hair behind the #1 ranked team in the country, Villanova (+1100). And at the moment, they have 2 key players hurt.

Just from purely a value perspective, Purdue +3000, WV +3300, Texas +3300, Oregon +3300, Miami +3500 are all capable of getting hot and winning a bunch of games in the tourney. Of the upper echelon teams, UVA and Xavier (both at +1400) look like the best value to me.

 

[Jack Hall]

Michigan St
Kansas
Virginia
Villanova (just to stir up some discussion)

Thats what i got at the moment, but it will probably change next week...

 

[OrangeYaGladi]

Syracuse and three sacrificial lambs.

CAKEWALK

 

[CusefanATL]

Maryland sleep walks with the best of them. but they are by far the best team in the country when not sleep walking.

put it this way... there are only 2 teams I dont want Syracuse to play. Maryland and Syracuse.