Is there anyone in America that is a college basketball fan that doesn’t have this region coming down to the Tar Heels battling the Jayhawks?  Roy Williams leading his current team from Tobacco Road to face his former employer.  Who says the NCAA doesn’t place teams based on storylines?

Let’s look at the bottom of the bracket first.  I think North Carolina State is poised to make a good run in the tournament this year.  They played well down the stretch and totally got hosed in the semifinals of the ACC tournament when the refs jobbed them on two calls in the final seconds to guarantee victory for the media darling Heels.  I think they will carry that anger with them and play inspired basketball while beating San Diego State and a very overrated #3 seed in Georgetown.  Has any school road an image of greatness longer on such a short amount of actual greatness?  The Patrick Ewing, Dikembe Mutumbo, Alonzo Mourning years were a LONG TIME AGO.  They haven’t really been relevant in a national title discussion since those days.  The best thing about the Hoyas is their logo…one of the coolest in college basketball:

The Kansas Jayhawks will keep up their end of the dream scenario by beating Detroit, Purdue and NC State to advance to the Elite Eight.  They couldn’t keep their end of the bargain for getting a third game against Mizzou in the Big 12 tournament but they just have too much talent to lose before the Elite Eight.  Get ready to hear a lot of Rock. Chalk. Jayhawk.

The top half of the bracket is no match for the powerful Tar Heels.  Temple will have a nice run and use their quirky style of play to beat South Florida and an overrated Michigan Wolverines squad but UNC will roll thru Vermont and then dispatch a very head strong and stubborn Creighton team.  North Carolina will then put it to Temple to advance to the Elite Eight and give ESPN, the NCAA and fans of college basketball history what they want.

I think the Elite Eight matchup between Kansas and UNC will be a dogfight.  Kansas will put up a helluva fight and probably make Old Roy cry about 15 times during the game but at the end of the day, Kansas wasn’t one of the three teams at the beginning of the year said to have a legit shot at winning the whole thing.  As much as I hate them and as much as it pains me to write this…I think the North Carolina Tar Heels are going back to the Final Four.  Excuse me while I vomit.