And Then There Were Four

Tonight, the men's basketball 2008 Final Four tips off from San Antonio. This is the first time in the history of the tournament all four number one seeds have reached the semifinal round. And while it may make for a competitive Final Four, it makes it extremely hard to pick a team to root. Unless someone is a fan of Memphis, UCLA, North Carolina, or Kansas nobody wants to root for a powerhouse. The NCAA tournament is at its best when there is an underdog for the fans to embrace and root for. If it wasn't for Stephen Curry and Davidson's run to the Elite Eight, this year's tournament would be easily forgettable. Too many games this year were noncompetitive and even that ones that had some mild drama ended with the top seeds moving on. What college basketball is left with is the top four teams all still playing. Where's the fun in that? Why even play a tournament? Anyone who follows college basketball could have picked this Final Four in November. Yawn.

So instead of analyzing the Final Four, here are Bleeding Sports top moments of the 2008 Men's NCAA Basketball Tournament.

Siena spanks Vanderbilt

Everyone and their mother picked this upset, which makes it even more amazing that it actually happened. What people didn't expect is how thoroughly dominant the mid-major Saints were against one of the best teams in the SEC. This game drove home the point of just how poor the SEC was this season. For Siena, a team whose loses only one senior and no starters, look for deeper NCAA tournament run in the years to come.


West Virginia sends Duke home

Duke continues to receive too much love from the tournament selection committee. The Blue Devils were given a gift number 2 seed and then backed it up by nearly losing in the first round to 15 seed Belmont. Well the Blue Devils had no such luck in round 2 as West Virgina continued their recent postseason success in a physically dominating fashion. The Mountaineers bullied the Dukies in the second half, exploiting the Blue Devil's weakness on the boards and reliance on the three point shot. Duke couldn't hit anything from the outside and West Virginia smacked Coach K's boys around on the court and in the post-game press conference.

Davidson slays Georgetown

This biggest upset of the tournament. Georgetown shot over sixty percent for the game and still found a way to lose. Turnovers and foul trouble hurt Georgetown, but not nearly as badly as Stephen Curry's riveting second half performance. After being held down by the Georgetown defense in the first half, Dell's son went wild in second half without an array of long jumpers and beautiful drives to basket. Curry carried Davidson on his back and did it against one of the best defensive teams in the country. One of the best individual performances in the history of the tournament.

Xavier escapes against West Virginia

The best game of the year's big dance was this Sweet Sixteen match up. The Musketeers jumped all over West Virgina early and opened up a sixteen point lead in this first half. However, the Mountaineers were able to cut the deficit to single digits before halftime and outplayed Xavier in the second half. However, Joe Alexander and company couldn't finish off the Musketeers in regulation and after taking an early six point lead in the overtime session, B.J. Raymond's two three pointers bailed out Xavier sending Bob Huggins and his Mountaineers home.