2011 NCAA Tournament - Final 4

The Final Four is upon us. We are now just a day away from the most unlikely of Final Fours beginning. All four teams in Houston have taken unlikely paths. We can throw out a number of stats that can put the 2011 Final Four into perspective. When you add up the seedings of all the teams, it equals 26, which is the largest number ever competing in the Final Four. For the first time ever, there is no number 1 or number 2 seed represented. It is just the second time, and the first since 1979, that two teams from a mid-major have advanced this far. And when Butler and VCU square off Saturday night, their seedings combined will be the largest we have ever seen by two teams playing each other in the Final Four. The list actually goes on, but I will spare you. Let's take a closer look at this historic Final Four that features the aforementioned mid-majors in Butler and VCU, as well as traditional powers UConn and Kentucky.

8 Butler -2.5 vs. 11 VCU

How they got here:

Butler beat - Old Dominion 60-58, Pittsburgh 71-70, Wisconsin 61-54, Florida 74-71 OT
VCU beat - USC 59-46, Georgetown 74-56, Purdue 94-76, Florida St. 72-71 OT, Kansas 71-61

The team leaders:

Butler
Points - Matt Howard 16.7 PPG, Shelvin Mack 15.2 PPG
Rebounds - Matt Howard 7.8 RPG, Andrew Smith 5.4 RPG
Assists - Shelvin Mack 3.6 APG, Ronald Nored 2.6 APG

VCU
Points - Jamie Skeen 15.3 PPG, Bradford Burgess 14.0 PPG
Rebounds - Jamie Skeen 7.5 RPG, Bradford Burgess 6.1 RPG
Assists - Joey Rodriguez 4.8 APG, Darius Theus 2.2 APG

Who could have possibly seen this coming? This game will lead off this historic Final Four, and these two teams have plenty to do with why it is so historic. VCU joins fellow CAA member George Mason and LSU as the only 11 seeds to ever reach the Final Four. And in the inaugural year of the "First Four" they become the first team to win 5 games to reach this point. The Rams aren't the only story line here though. Butler is the only team in the country to reach the Final Four in 2010 and 2011, and look to advance to the title game as a 5 seed and an 8 seed respectively. I actually had both Butler and VCU losing in the Round of 64. Boy did they prove me and plenty others wrong. One of them will reach the National Championship Game and have a chance to knock off a national powerhouse for the title. Shaka Smart's team has had a fabulous run, but they will run into a bigger and more experienced Butler team. VCU needs Joey Rodriguez to control the tempo of this game and get open shots for Jamie Skeen and Bradford Burgess in transition to win. Brad Stevens and his Butler Bulldogs want to make this a half-court game and grind it out with Shelvin Mack and Matt Howard leading the way. If VCU continues to shoot lights out from beyond the arc they will win. Unfortunately, for the Rams I think their luck finally runs out and the experience of Butler leads them into their second consecutive National Championship Game appearance.

Prediction - Butler 68 VCU 65

3 UConn +2.5 vs. 4 Kentucky

How they got here:

UConn beat - Bucknell 81-52, Cincinnati 69-58, San Diego St. 74-67, Arizona 65-63
Kentucky beat - Princeton 59-57, West Virginia 71-63, Ohio St. 62-60, North Carolina 76-69

The team leaders:

UConn
Points - Kemba Walker 23.5 PPG, Jeremy Lamb 10.3 PPG
Rebounds - Alex Orhiaki 8.5 RPG, Kemba Walker 5.3 RPG
Assists - Kemba Walker 4.3 APG, Shabazz Napier 3.0 APG

Kentucky
Points - Brandon Knight 17.5 PPG, Terrence Jones 16.5 PPG
Rebounds - Terrence Jones 8.9 RPG, Josh Harrelson 8.8 RPG
Assists - Brandon Knight 4.2 APG, DeAndre Liggins 2.5 APG

When these two teams met in the finals of the Maui Invitational back in November it was unlikely that they would meet in the Final Four. At the time, UConn was unranked, and though ranked in the top 10, Kentucky was a team lead by freshmen. Kemba Walker emerged as a star during that tournament and never looked back. UConn had its ups and downs throughout the season and eventually wound up 9-9 in the Big East. Kemba Walker was always up despite some of the downs that the rest of his team had. He had an epic run through the Big East Championship that lead to 5 wins in 5 days and included a buzzer beater versus top seeded Pittsburgh. Then came the NCAA Tournament. Walker has lead his UConn squad to 4 more wins making them 12-0 in tournament games this season and getting them into the Final Four. They will face a Kentucky squad that has been just as impressive of late. They had some mid-season struggles on the road, but got hot at the right time. They won the SEC Tournament and has ridden that momentum into the Final Four. Their freshmen have more confidence and experience than ever. This game is tough to call. Looking at the rosters, Kentucky has the better team. But I am so hesitant to go against Walker and the UConn Huskies. I am taking team over individual in this one though. Kentucky moves on to their first National Championship game since 1998.

Prediction - Kentucky 67 UConn 62

Ringer's NCAA Tournament Record
ATS: 32-32
SU: 42-22