(1) North Carolina vs. (2) Georgetown
If my brackets hold up, Carolina will advance out of the East region, with their most serious challenge coming from the hot perimeter shooting of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the Sweet 16.Georgetown will advance out of the Midwest Regional, topping Wisconsin in the Sweet 16 and a surprising Vanderbilt squad in the regional final.
The game is evenly matched and close most of the way, but Carolina pulls away when Tyler Hansbrough draws a fourth foul on Roy Hibbert, and the Tar Heels prevail.
(1) UCLA vs. (4) Pittsburgh
The top-seeded Bruins have a fairly easy time coming out of the West, thanks in part to the home-court advantage they enjoy playing the first weekend in Anaheim.The Panthers, on the other hand, are my bracket's giant-killers, building off the momentum of their Big East Tournament run to knock top seed Memphis and second seed Texas out of the South bracket.
As story lines go, Pitt vs. UCLA is a TV producer's dream. UCLA coach Ben Howland was the head man at Pittsburgh, and is largely responsible for implementing their aggressive defense and establishing the pipeline of New York City players that re-established the program as one of the nation's best.
Howland left in 2003 to take over at UCLA and handed the reins to his assistant, current Pitt coach Jamie Dixon.
You can almost hear the "Master and Pupil" voice-over from Billy Packer already, can't you?
Unfortunately, the game isn't as good as the story. A third straight matchup against a top-ten team proves to be the end of Pitt's run, as UCLA advances to the title game.
(1) North Carolina vs. (1) UCLA
CBS executives lie awake at night, dreaming about a championship matchup like this. Two of the biggest, most successful, most popular teams in the sport, battling it out for the title. This is Lakers/Celtics. Or Yankees/Dodgers.
In a game that lives up to the remarkable hype, Carolina takes home the title on yet-another game-saving play by Tyler Hansbrough, giving Roy Williams his second title since taking over at Chapel Hill.