Then there were four. After an amazing two week run in the Circle City, the 2020-21 college basketball season will end at Lucas Oil Stadium with four teams having their sights set on advancing to Monday night's National Championship game. Baylor, Gonzaga, Houston and UCLA have all made it this far and look to take the next step on the path to playing for the national crown of college hoops. Welcome to the Final Four.
This year's NCAA Tournament had no shortage of excitement and upsets. A record 13 upsets happened in the big dance (Upsets are counted as seeds who are five spots worse than their opponent). The Final Four this year includes two number one seeds, Gonzaga and Baylor, number two seeded Houston and the upstart 11th seeded UCLA Bruins who barely even made the tournament, having to win a first four game just to make it in the dance. This Final Four will be the eighth consecutive in which a seed ranked higher than 5th will have made it to the national semifinals. With a record number of upsets and crazy outcomes this March, its a wonder how we made it this far with two top seeds and a number two seed in the final four to begin with. That's the beauty of March madness.
Gonzaga looks to be the heavy favorite this weekend. The Bulldogs have breezed their way through the tournament with no resistance at all. Gonzaga won their first four games of the tournament by a combined 96 points. The lowest victory margin being a 16 point win over Oklahoma in the second round. The Bulldogs are a prolific team that has dominated on both sides of the floor. Gonzaga is led by sophomore big man Drew Timme who has dominated in this tournament, scoring 75 points in his last 3 games. Gonzaga will look to continue its dominance on Saturday night against UCLA and take one step closer to becoming the first undefeated national champion since the 1976 Indiana Hoosiers.
UCLA is the cinderella of this year's Final Four. The Bruins came into the tournament as an 11 seed and had to get by Michigan State in the first four just to be included in the round of 64. Not many gave the Bruins a chance. Yet here they stand in their first final four since 2008. A shocking run that included wins over several conference champions in Alabama and Michigan. The Bruins are led by Sophomore Jaime Jaquez who has scored in double figures in four of UCLA's five tournament games. UCLA's tenacious on ball defense has affected their opponents in this tournament so far. They will need to be on point on both sides of the ball on Saturday night as they go up against Gonzaga who will be the toughest task the Bruins have faced all year. UCLA will need to avoid turnovers and keep Gonzaga out of transition on offense to have any chance on Saturday night.
Baylor comes into the Final Four as the other number one seed and having won 26 of their 28 games played so far, the Bears look poised to take the next step on the way to their first national title game since 1948. Baylor is perhaps the best shooting team left in the field. The Bears are the nation's best three point shooting team at 41 percent this season. Baylor is also one of the highest scoring teams in the country as they rank sixth nationally at 83 points per game. Defensively the Bears have had an outstanding four game stretch, forcing 69 turnovers against their opponents. Baylor is led by Junior guard Jared Butler who leads the Bears in scoring at 16.5 points per game but also is a very tenacious defender who has averaged 2.0 steals per game during the tournament. Baylor will look to try to outplay the Houston Cougars who are coming into Saturday night as the best defensive team in which they have allowed only 55 points per game to their opponents. Look for Baylor to get out and run early to get the Cougars scrambling on defense.
Houston is making their first trip to the Final Four since the Phi Slamma Jamma days of Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler in the 1980s. The Cougars are looking for their first national title in school history. Houston comes into the final four as one of the best teams in terms of defense in the country this season. They have only allowed opponents to shoot 37 percent from the floor. That defense will need to be up to point on Saturday evening as they face the best three point shooting team in the country in Baylor. The Cougars are led by DeJon Jarreau who was the American Athletic Conference defensive player of the year. Look for Jarreau to be guarding the best perimeter player on Baylor which will most likely be Jared Butler. Houston must be able to guard the perimeter against Baylor to have any chance in this game. If Houston is able to get in their half court offense and knocking down shots early, it could be a shootout to see who advances to Monday night's national title game.
Baylor vs Houston. Gonzaga vs UCLA. Three schools without a national crown and one school in UCLA who is one of the blue bloods in college basketball with the most national championships won with 11 titles. Two teams will leave the floor on Saturday night one step closer to a national championship. It all happens on Saturday night at Lucas Oil Stadium.
