Feel the Bern: The Final Four -- what a year!

Florida Atlantic head coach Dusty May holds up the championship trophy after Florida Atlantic defeated Kansas State 79-86 in an Elite 8 college basketball game in the NCAA Tournament's East Region final, Saturday, March 25, 2023, in New York. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger) (Adam Hunger, Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

The final four begins this Saturday in Houston. The first game features Florida Atlantic vs. San Diego State.

That’s followed by Miami vs. UConn. As you’ve noticed, except for UConn, the other 3 teams have never been this far in the NCAA’s. And we say that’s just fantastic. And that’s what the tournament should be about.

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The blue bloods decided to take the NCAA’s off for this year. Kansas, Duke, North Carolina, Michigan State, Kentucky, and the rest will all be watching at home. Some say they’re not going to watch because the big names aren’t there. But you have to realize that many years ago, the big names were just little names trying to get big. And that’s what you have in the final four this year.

Keep in mind, many are saying this is one of the best tournaments ever because of the number of upsets. But who pulled off those upsets? The little names who have been growing with each round. Alabama, Houston, Kansas, and Purdue all went down, and all were number one seeds. By the way, all the number 2 and 3 seeds are also out. This is the beauty of one and done. If you don’t play well in one, you are done!

The truth is you’ll watch college basketball because of the unknown. It’s unknown if the upsets will continue. It’s unknown who will win it all. And that’s the beauty of the sport. The unknown.

But we know this...put a basketball fan in front of a TV and give him or her a terrific close game, and you will hear no complaints. Except that their brackets were nuked early...


About the Author

Bernie brings sports to Metro Detroit. You can catch him on Local 4 News weekdays at 5, 6 and 11 p.m.

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