What Final Four team are you rooting for?

by theslammer on Mar 31, 2009 12:48 PM PDT

UCLA's out and all of my brackets are destroyed because I picked exactly 0 Final Four teams correctly, so I don't REALLY care who wins. But in order for the games to actually be interesting, I want to have some kind of vested interest in a team. Most people hate North Carolina, but I do have some sympathy for Tyler Hansborough; he stayed for four years to try and win a title, and he passed up a ton of money to do so. Still, I'm not the biggest Roy Williams fan, and I'm so tired of the Duke-UNC rivalry, so I vote no on UNC even though it wouldn't kill me if they won. UConn's a clear "no" for me (recruiting scandal, don't like Calhoun, don't really have an opinion on any of their players). That leaves Nova and MSU.

Yeah, it'd make our loss feel a little better if we could say "We lost to the eventual champs," but I mean, come on: Nova was thuggishly pushing us around that entire game. They pulled two Trevor Arizas on us (the DC foul and the Shipp foul) and afterward were proud of themselves for doing so. I like Nova's coach and I like that this is their first Final Four in 24 years, but I can't bring myself to root for them.

So that leaves MSU. Like their coach, like their style of play, like their tradition, like their team name, like the fact that they don't have a single projected first-round draft pick on the roster. Don't like the conference they play in, but at this point you take what you can get (and it would be so sweet to see the MSM's reaction if a non-Big East/ACC team ended up winning it all). So...go Spartans.

Poll

Who do you want to win it all?

Michigan State

41 votes

Villanova

77 votes

UConn

12 votes

UNC

7 votes

137 votes | Poll has closed

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of BruinsNation's (BN) editors. It does reflect the views of this particular fan though, which is as important as the views of BN's editors.

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Comments

I'm still rooting for UCLA

There are plenty of lawyers around and I’m sure someone can find a loophole that will get us into the championship game.

Or we can just hire Cheatie Petie and he can explain how we actually won the championship this year. He has experience at that sort of thing.

And more to the point, I really don’t care. I hope they all lose.

by Fox 71 on Mar 31, 2009 1:08 PM PDT reply actions

UNC supposedly tied UCLA on F4 appearances...

… but cannot compete with us on overall CHAMPIONSHIPS.

Thus, for purposes of history (i.e., “the public policy argument” which you use when you have no specific facts to back yourself up), UNC’s real competition in this Tournament is our own UCLA.

Accordingly, and by extension, a loss by UCLA further hampers UNC from having any reasonable hope of attaining UCLA’s level of greatness.

For these reasons, and those discussed throughout this site, we respectfully submit that we should root for any team playing against UNC.

"In this program your passion bucket must be full to play SC." -- CRN, to Dan Patrick, 1/2008

by Meriones on Mar 31, 2009 3:48 PM PDT up reply actions

MSU

I think Michigan could use a pick me up.

by brand0n on Mar 31, 2009 1:31 PM PDT reply actions

MSU...

Part of me would feel better about our loss to Villanova if they end up winning the whole thing but I’d rather see MSU win it all. I can’t stand the big east lovefest and I really dislike UConn and UNC.

by King J77 on Mar 31, 2009 1:33 PM PDT reply actions

msu!

ya michigan could use some good news and izzo’s coaching philosophy and style is very similar to cbh. plus, i developed a crush on his wife. screw the big east and although i normally like unc, i can’t stand tyler hansborough.

Across The Face

by rb bruin on Mar 31, 2009 2:17 PM PDT up reply actions

UConn

My wife went to grad school there

Bob O. (Signholder #3)

by TuneMan7 on Mar 31, 2009 1:34 PM PDT reply actions

Nova

i honestly found nothing wrong with how they played us – because the refs allowed them to. So I don’t think we can blame them for it; and I don’t think any of those fouls were done with intent to injure. They were protecting the paint, which I’m fine with. I just wish we had been allowed to play the same way……..oh there i go about officiating again…..

seriously though, I’ve grown into a real Nova fan this year while in PA. They’re fun to watch and their coach is a Bucknell grad. Plus I have them in the finals…

Although I wouldn’t mind if MSU and Izzo won.

by bucknellbruin on Mar 31, 2009 2:15 PM PDT reply actions

UNC

One of my best friends went there and them winning would give my bracket enough points to….uhm……how do you say…….let me profit from this tournament.

by bruinponcho on Mar 31, 2009 2:33 PM PDT reply actions

Villanova by a nose

My only thing against MSU is that I don’t want justsc pointing out how they lost to the eventual champ.

I also enjoyed seeing Magic Johnson cheering on his alma mater. I grew up with the Showtime Lakers and I can’t help but smile a little when I see Magic.

by bruinbabe2000 on Mar 31, 2009 2:50 PM PDT reply actions

I chose UCONN because That's who I have on my Bracket sheet

But I wouldn’t mind seeing Villanova or MSU win it all. I’m not opposed to UNC winning it all either, But I do think they have some of that media darling aspect going for them making it a little harder to root for them.

A coach is someone who can give correction without causing resentment. John Wooden

by MexiBruin on Mar 31, 2009 3:10 PM PDT reply actions

San Diego State Aztecs

Easy money and faithless women, red-eye whiskey for the pain...

by rich87 on Mar 31, 2009 3:32 PM PDT reply actions

nope

gonna have to go with Baylor

by bucknellbruin on Mar 31, 2009 8:59 PM PDT up reply actions

At least it won't be Notre Dame

Digger is still a wimp.

by Barnes2JJ on Apr 1, 2009 5:49 AM PDT up reply actions

The Irish

were schooled by Penn State last night.

(Digger must have done his dance before the game.)

Love My Bruins

by Bruingirl83 on Apr 1, 2009 7:28 AM PDT up reply actions

Villanova

got a little cousin who’s a senior there and he was smart enough to suck up to his big cousin after his team won, so they get my vote…not that it was helpful for any team in this tournament. Sorry guys for rooting for you….prove me wrong!

But hey, what do I know. I’m just the 800 lbs bruin in the room.

by tasser10 on Mar 31, 2009 3:50 PM PDT reply actions

MSU

its close between them and nova, but also dislike the big east media love fest. I think the angriest i’ve been during the tourney was when one of the commentators mentioned that we, a pac 10 team from a soft skill based conference, could not hang with teams from the tough bruising Big East.

It was as if they completely forgot where Howland came from, what his teaching philosophy is, and the kind of defense we displayed on the court the previous 3 years.

O.A.

by Ollie on Mar 31, 2009 4:03 PM PDT reply actions

the big east media love fest

I hate it with a passion.
But let’s face it.
They deserve it.

We can bash the MSM sports writers all they want, but watching them with my own eyes this tournament, they have genuinely dominated this tournament. With three of the best five teams (Pitt, Nova, UConn), how do you argue against it? They were tougher than us. They were stronger than us. And I cannot be bitter with the MSM for pointing it out.

I can be bitter with the MSM for talking about how wonderful UNC defense is when Oklahoma missed open shot after open shot. We’ll see how good the defense is when they play a five-player team like Nova.

by glassbruin on Mar 31, 2009 5:00 PM PDT reply actions

Michigan St.

I’ve always liked Tom Izzo and the program he runs up there.

by Ryan Rosenblatt on Mar 31, 2009 6:19 PM PDT reply actions

Can't vote in this poll

You should have added an option “none of the above”

I lose interest in the Final-4 when UCLA is not involved.

by Nestor on Mar 31, 2009 6:39 PM PDT reply actions

Go UConn!

I have the Huskies winning it all in my office bracket. If they win it all, I win the pool. If UNC wins, another guy does. If MSU wins, a different guy wins it all. So, while I may not be real big on UConn (esp. in light of the recruiting scandal), I’m pulling for them out of my own self-interest.

by Bellerophon on Mar 31, 2009 6:42 PM PDT reply actions

Nova or MSU

I like any team that adopts the Spartans as mascots, but I think I want Nova. They proved to me that they are a good team and I think they deserve it. But, like Nestor, I’ve lost interest. I think I’d have to put money on these games if I wanted to regain interest.

by UCLAbruin920 on Apr 1, 2009 12:38 PM PDT reply actions