Funny thing about the Final Four. In no other sport is merely making the semi-finals treated as such a big deal. Making the Final Four gives schools a relative reverence from fans and media that even making the World Series or winning your conference doesn't. You don't hear the stats of how many times the Cowboys have made the NFC Championship the way you hear about how many times North Carolina has made the Final Four. An upstart like Butler merely getting close wouldn't be enough for the coverage Butler gets in other sports.
↵For whatever reason, winning your region in the NCAA Tournament is treated almost like a championship to itself. As though these schools have just won a major tournament, and now have a second Tournament of Champions sort of thing after the impact is weighed.
↵Two of those teams are decided. Butler is now just the fourth eight seed to make the Final Four, and Virginia Commonwealth will try and top that today by becoming just the third 11th seed to make it.
↵Instead of a guide today, I'm just liking straight to the scouting report pages for each team courtesy of Ken Pomeroy. Everything you'll want to find is there, including key players, strengths, weakness, overall ratings, and projections. Spend a few minutes on those pages and you'll be pretty familiar with every team playing today.
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1:20 - (1) Kansas vs. (11) Virginia Commonwealth
↵Pomeroy gives Kansas an 88% chance of winning, with a projected score of 81-68. Bet Vega has the Jayhawks as 11.5 point favorites with an over/under of 145.5. Click the links in the heading for full scouting reports.
↵SB Nation Dallas-Ft. Worth Staff Picks
Code: Kansas
Fittz: Kansas
Ponting: Kansas
Starkey: Kansas
Griffin: LouisvilleLondon: Purdue
Perryman: Notre Dame
4:05 - (2) North Carolina vs. (4) Kentucky
↵Pomeroy gives Kentucky a 57% chance of winning, with a projected score of 73-72. Bet Vega has the Wild Cats as 1.5 point favorites with an over/under of 146.5. Click the links in the heading for full scouting reports.
↵SB Nation Dallas-Ft. Worth Staff Picks
Code: UNC
Ponting: Kentucky
Fittz: OSU
Griffin: OSU
London: OSU
Perryman: OSU
Starkey: Syracuse