\jeff{krimmel}

My Prediction for the Basketball Game

The NCAA championship game for men’s basketball is tomorrow night, and since my Super Bowl pick turned out better than expected, I will give it another whirl. My pick: North Carolina over Illinois, 83-77.

I know, I’m going against the grain of picking Illinois to take the championship, but after a little watching of each Final Four game, I decided North Carolina has the greatest chance to throw on the after burners down the stretch and take the lead. Both of these teams have had close calls (when Illinois had to have a Herculean comeback to beat Arizona and North Carolina needed a traveling call in the final seconds to beat Villanova), which I think means they’ve both been sufficiently scared that they won’t take anything for granted coming into this game.

Another reason I am picking North Carolina is a built-in bias I have from years of rooting actively against Duke. Rooting against Duke often means rooting for North Carolina, and factoring in the Michael Jordan angle (Jordan is a North Carolina alumnus), I have to pick the Tar Heels. Go Heels!