Ohio State, Duke, Syracuse, Kansas, Villanova, and Wichita State all have something in common and it isn’t something to be proud of. They all have been upset thus far in the NCAA tournament — sent home packing much earlier than many people expected. March Madness is known for its crazy shenanigans, but so far this tournament has been the craziest that I can remember. There are still many good teams left in the tournament, but what has transpired thus far is unexplainable.

Despite this picture being from 2009, not even Barack Obama could have predicted what would transpire thus far in the 2014 tournament, Pete Souza [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

#1 Florida vs #4 UCLA

#1 Virginia vs #Michigan State

#3 Iowa State vs #7 Connecticut

#1 Arizona vs #4 San Diego State

#2 Wisconsin vs #6 Baylor

#4 Louisville vs #8 Kentucky

#2 Michigan vs #11 Tennessee

This NCAA Tournament has given us some really good match-ups in the Sweet 16 and it’s looking like more of the same in the this weekend. Now here is my preview for what will transpire in the next few weeks:

Sweet 16:

#1 Florida vs #4 UCLA (Florida),

#10 Stanford vs #11 Dayton (Dayton)

#1 Virginia vs #4 Michigan State (Virginia)

#3 Iowa State vs #7 Connecticut (Connecticut)

#1 Arizona vs #4 San Diego State (Arizona)

#2 Wisconsin vs #6 Baylor (Wisconsin)

#4 Louisville vs #8 Kentucky (Kentucky)

#2 Michigan vs #11 Tennessee (Michigan)

Elite Eight:

#1 Florida vs #11 Dayton (Florida)

#1 Virginia vs #7 Connecticut (Virginia)

#1 Arizona vs #2 Wisconsin (Arizona)

#8 Kentucky vs #2 Michigan (Kentucky)

Final Four:

#1 Florida vs #1 Virginia (Virginia)

#1 Arizona vs #8 Kentucky (Arizona)

NCAA Championship Game:

#1 Virginia vs #1 Arizona

I’ve got Arizona holding up the trophy after its all said and done with the final score being 76-69.

What do you think? Did I even get close? Comment below.

What has been spit out the other side? Only the greatest sum of seeds to reach the Final Four. Ever. Before this year, the highest total sum of overall seeds to reach the Final Four was 22 (2000). This season the total is a miraculous and unprecedented 26.

The highest seed remaining in this year’s Final Four are the star-fueled Connecticut Huskies. Kemba Walker is unquestionably the one name still residing that singularly holds the most on his shoulders. His average of 26.8 points, 6.8 assists and only 2.5 turnovers per game in the tournament have been beyond instrumental in Connecticut advancing to its fourth Final Four since 1999 and its third in the past eight seasons.

The Huskies face off against the Kentucky Wildcats in one of the two national semi-final contests. These two teams have a combined total seed of seven. This would conventionally be somewhat of a laughable and unpredicted national semi-final in any other year.

The other semi-final then couldn’t have a total seed of more than three or four right? Try 19. Nineteen.

Considering this, the Connecticut versus Kentucky battle matches the two new favorites to win it all, and could very well be the de-facto national final. Then again, the unpredictable has been the outstanding theme in this year’s tournament, which will make what will be the ‘David versus Goliath’ national final all that much more intriguing.

Last year’s Cinderella, the Butler Bulldogs, return to the now charted waters of the Final Four, yet still are sporting an unlikely 8-seed. They are ironically matched up against this year’s Cinderella, the 11th-seeded VCU Rams.

The only other two occasions an 11th-seeded team reached the Final Four were in 2006, when George Mason University pulled off the feat, and in 1986 when the LSU Tigers achieved the improbable. The fact that this 11-seed anomaly has now occurred twice in the past five years, when it has only happened once before in past decades, speaks to the overall parody being seen in today’s college game.

When asked before their game versus Kansas on Sunday, VCU coach Shaka Smart remarked, “It’s kind of like the movie ‘Dumb and Dumber,”’ setting up a popular line from the gap-toothed dunce played by Jim Carrey. “‘So you’re saying we’ve got a chance?”’

The two most recent 11th-seeded schools to reach the Final Four both hail from the unheralded Colonial Athletic Association. And just as George Mason toppled championship favorite Connecticut to reach the Final Four in 2006, VCU knocked off the last 1-seed standing this season, Kansas.

What may be most unfathomable about VCU reaching the Final Four, is that all the pundits made the selection committee their own personal dartboard on Selection Sunday when VCU was chosen to the field of 68. They spewed ad nauseam over this injustice. For all the shots Eugene Smith, the head of the selection committee took, he must be smiling and snickering now.

Go ahead and eat your crow ‘Dukie-V’ and Jay Bilas. I’m standing table-side with a long, white napkin folded over my forearm, holding a bottle of hot sauce in front of your faces. The ‘yapping catch-phrase clown’ and the ‘smug know-it-all’ ended up with mouths full of excrement in the end, which also puts a smile on my face and leads me to snicker, as well as it should everyone else paying attention.

Shots conceived in hindsight aside, what is ultimately taken from all of this? Talent and the number of ‘recruiting stars’ only goes so far. The team concept: a belief in a system as well as an overall process, now reigns. Take notes coaches and scouts.  Why pursue the hype of the ‘one-and-done’ NBA lottery pick when you can recruit solid pieces that will grow over years in your hardwood garden.

I think it’s safe to say that standard deviation in college basketball is now being tested, which is an exciting occurrence. What has been discovered is that college basketball offers something unique from what the professional game presents. The underdog can actually win in this post-season.  Regularly. Basketball purists should revel in this current status of the amateur circuit.

Despite what unfolds from the madness, one March keynote seems to annually endure – regardless of seed or stature, champions who have earned their place will always remain and will ultimately have their shot to win it all.

In the first game of the night, the 3rd-seeded University of Connecticut Huskies took on the 2nd-seeded San Diego State Aztecs. As the lesser-seeded, and yet more experienced Huskies built an early lead into the second half, the Aztecs then came around and benefitted from having a home crowd. The present tide of the fansmanship willed them back into the game. The Aztecs had their late run, but in the end, the star-power shined too bright for San Diego State to remove themselves from its shadow.

Husky guard Kemba Walker finished the contest with 36 points – 22 of which came in the second half. Down the stretch, he was the Connecticut offense. Walker is the consummate college guard, a 6′ 1″, 180 lb flash of a scorer. All of his collegiate accolades aside, one has to believe a star like Walker has aspirations for the next level. When considering this, the first thing that comes to mind is that NBA point guards need handles, and Derrick Rose, Walker is not. They need to recognize something outside themselves, and it is imperative that they be ‘world-class’ at distributing the ball to others in optimum scoring situations. Walker may lack somewhat in this regard. He can come off screens and shoot with the best of them in the college game, but at his size and overall skill-set, he is realistically no more than a poor-man’s Jimmer Fredette.

This pro-level judgment shouldn’t be the encompassing and long-term opinion of Walker, as the skills of game management and getting everyone on your team involved can ultimately be developed at the next level. Kemba is a talent that can come into his own if given the space and patience to fit into a pro system and find his niche. Regardless of the future, Walker showed he can put a team on his back and carry them to the next playoff checkpoint. We’ll see on Saturday if the checkpoint after that can be achieved.

In the second game of the night, the “whole enchilada from La Mirada,” and the biggest single force remaining in the NCAA tournament, Arizona’s Derrick Williams, showed why he is projected as a top 5 NBA draft pick. Standing 6′ 8″ and weighing 241 pounds, he literally does everything a true forward is expected to do, and does it exceptionally well for a 19-year-old. He has the rebounding hustle of Charles Barkley in his prime. He can finish around the rim with the tip-in-dunk-skills of Blake Griffin. He can hit the 20-foot jumper consistently like David West. He can step outside the 3-point line like Dirk Nowitzki. He can take you off the dribble freakishly for his size like Michael Beasley. NBA general managers who are looking to have a high lottery draft-slot should be drooling over this kid.

On Thursday night versus Duke in the Sweet 16, Williams drained a 40-foot 3-pointer with two hands in his face and legs walking under him from Duke’s 6′ 11″ Ryan Kelly as time was expiring in the first half. This shot brought the Wildcats to within six of Duke, and I believe was essential in creating the second half avalanche Arizona put on the Blue Devils en route to victory. Williams basically carried his team in the second half, finishing with a career-high 32 points, as well as pulling down 13 rebounds. He showed off a display or rim attacking, acrobatic “and-1’s,” as well as cross-over dribbles that morphed into pull-up jumpers on the perimeter. The way this young man can finish around the rim, with either hand, while he negotiates contact, is more that just simply remarkable. He is the All-American forward that can do it all.

The end-result of all that Thursday’s excitement had to offer pits Kemba Walker’s Connecticut Huskies against Derrick Willaims’ Arizona Wildcats in the elite 8, the final game of this year’s NCAA West bracket. Williams’ high school is ten minutes away from where the game will be held. One thing is for sure, the crowd will be pro-Wildcat and pro-Pac-10. Will that be enough to spring a 5-seed upset over the 3-seed?

A Final Four bid is on the line. The star versus star match-up tips off at 4:05pm for us here on the West coast. The impending rain should more than keep you indoors and glued to the TV. You won’t want to miss it, because star-power will win the day again and it won’t disappoint.