BASKETBALL

In college basketball, after two weekends of madness, we finally arrived at the main event:  The Final Four in Atlanta.  Just making it to the Final Four is a huge success for each of these programs.  Anything that comes next is a bonus.

First up, it was #1 Louisville, playing with a determined goal of winning the National Championship for their fallen player Kevin Ware.  They would take on the red-hot Cinderella team — #9 Wichita State.   Before the game, everyone was handing this one to Louisville.  They were bigger, stronger, faster, and had more NBA prospects.  But the Shockers would hear none of that.  They jumped out to a 12-point lead in the second half.  However, as we saw last week, they are not good at protecting leads.  They get nervous.  And these nerves allowed the Cardinals to get back in the game and reclaim the lead down the stretch.  Wichita thought they would get one more chance to tie the game at the end, but a controversial ‘jump ball’ was called by the refs and it was Louisville’s ball.  That’s all she wrote for the Shockers and the Cardinals advanced to the National Championship game.   Louisville 72, Wichita State 68.

Next up, it was the battle of the #4 seeds between Michigan and Syracuse.  Nobody knew who was going to take this one, as both teams were playing at an exceptionally high level coming into this match-up.  Michigan had the edge early, holding on to a 9 point lead for most of the first half.  But in the second, Syracuse came surging back and even took the lead late in the game.  That’s the thing about college basketball.  It’s never over until the buzzer sounds.  Unfortunately for Syracuse, their best player, Michael Carter-Williams had a terrible game with just 2 points, and that hurt them severely, as  in the end, Michigan had the greater will and the superior athleticism to muscle out a hard fought victory.  Michigan 61, Syracuse 56.

So it will be Louisville vs. Michigan in tonight’s National Championship Game at 9:00pmET on CBS.

And in some unprecedented news, the Clippers took on the Lakers on Sunday.  The Clippers grabbed the win behind a solid game from both Chris Paul and Blake Griffin.  With the win, the Clippers swept the Lakers for the first time in franchise history.  A huge deal considering that the Clippers have been the ugly step-child to the mighty Lakers for the past 30 years.   Also, with this win, the Clippers grabbed the Division title for the first time ever.  The Clippers have been up and down this season, but they’re definitely peaking going into what should be a very exciting playoffs.  LA Clippers 109, LA Lakers 95