Final Four

"The Best Just Got Better" – slogan for “New Coke”, 25 years ago.

In a week that saw Kentucky’s super-frosh John Wall introduce himself to the country against two national powers in North Carolina and UConn, and Texas Tech establish itself as the surprise of the young season, a bigger story got largely overlooked.

After the championship game, CBS once again followed tradition and showed a montage of tourney clips set to the cheasiest song ever written - "One Shining Moment." The lyrics are below.

For all of you who, like me, had their brackets destroyed well before the big game, I have provided a slightly different set of lyrics. Interspersed within "One Shining Moment" are the words to my song, in parentheses - "One Sh!tty Moment". Hope you enjoy.

A lot of talk surrounding Monday night's national championship game surrounded Michigan State, a team that had many uttering the word "destiny" in regards to their run through the tournament. That word was properly used...just for the wrong team. With the first seeds of their championship run planted in San Antonio last spring, the North Carolina Tar Heels completed a dominant run through the tournament with a sparkling performance on college basketball's biggest stage.

 

CBS Sports' coverage of the Final Four on Saturday, April 4 earned an average overnight household rating/share of 9.0/18, up +7% from an 8.4/16 last year.

CBS Sports' overall average overnight household rating/share for the tournament-to-date is a 6.1/13, up +7% compared to last year's 5.7/12.

There were questions in regards to just how much of a factor the pro-Michigan State crowd would be in the first semifinal. While the majority of a record 72,456 people was heard throughout the Spartans’ 82-73 victory, Connecticut had a much tougher time boxing out the five eligible players on the floor. Although the teams tied with forty-two rebounds apiece, the Spartans took advantage of their eighteen offensive caroms and controlled the flow of the game in the second half.

This is a straight-forward list: a ranking of the remaining Final Four players. Most of the teams go about 8 deep now, so the top 8 from each squad is included. Only 3 others players (2 on MSU and 1 on UNC) get meaningful minutes beyond the top 8. Below, the players are ranked by position.

A couple things to note: Look how weak these teams are at small forward, and mostly at power forward as well. On the flip side, look how great all 4 of these teams are at point guard and at center (especially if I swapped Hansbrough as a center in place of Thompson).

#1 UCONN

#2 Michigan St

#1 North Carolina

#3 Villanova

Need help picking the Final Four? CHN writers give their National Champion & Final predictions and we try and come up with some semblance of a consensus.