As part of our ongoing attempt to bring you the best college basketball coverage anywhere, we enlisted the editors from the finest team-specific blogs we could find to write posts explaining why their team will win tomorrow.

Our first submission is brought to you by Pete of LetsGoNova.com.

Make no mistake about it: Villanova is the underdog tomorrow. North Carolina is favored by 7.5 points in Vegas and by 4 points by KenPom (with a 66 percent chance of victory).

More intuitively, common sense tells us the Tarheels are the superior team. North Carolina features five likely future first-round draft picks: Ed Davis, Danny Green, Tyler Hansbrough, Wayne Ellington, and Ty Lawson will all cash big NBA paychecks.

Villanova might sneak Dante Cunningham into this year’s second round, but that’s pretty much it in terms of NBA prospects as of right now. (Corey Fisher, Scottie Reynolds, and Corey Stokes are also plausible NBA candidates, but are not quite there yet.)

The Tar Heels have lost just four games this season compared to seven for Villanova. While the Wildcats squeaked by Pittsburgh last weekend in one of the all-time great NCAA tournament games, North Carolina blew out Blake Griffin and Oklahoma, with a 12-point margin of victory in a game that was not even that close.

Carolina has not really been challenged in the tournament so far, winning four blow-outs. Villanova trailed American by double digits in the second half before coming up with the win. The ‘Cats also played Pittsburgh to a virtual draw for 39 minutes and 55 seconds before Scottie Reynolds entered the pantheon of great NCAA tournament buzzer-beaters to win the game.

Reynolds hits "The Shot" (Credit: Getty Images)

Villanova was able to blow out both UCLA and Duke, which is a good sign.

North Carolina also will enjoy a tremendous coaching edge. I don’t care how much you like Jay Wright; Roy Williams is one of the all-time greats. I don’t think there can be much debate about that.

Positives for Villanova include a rapid, intense improvement in quality of play late in the season, a versatile bunch of players who can multitask on the court, a superior half-court defense, and a likely favorable crowd in Detroit, especially if Michigan State wins the opener.

Conventional wisdom also says that the Wildcats play “tougher” than the Heels, but I am not so sure toughness matters so much when your opponent has a lineup full of NBA players. (I do think it matters some.) We shall see.

So, in the face of these long odds, how can Villanova actually win the game?

Read the rest of this entry »

Everyone who reads this site knows that the 2009 Final Four, which tips off in just 26 hoops-filled days, will take place in the Motor City this year.  Ahhh, Detroit – the automobile and stagflation capital of the world!

Fergie, the Pussycat Dolls and Staind are among the musical acts scheduled to perform during three days of free music concerts tied to the Final Four in Detroit.  The NCAA and the local organizing committee on Monday announced the first part of the musical lineup for the event, which will take place Friday-Sunday, April 3-5, on the city’s riverfront.  Saturday’s lineup features the Pussycat Dolls and Gavin DeGraw. On Sunday, “American Idol” star Ryan Seacrest will host the day’s activities, including performances from Fergie, Staind and Gym Class Heroes.

Ok, not bad – a party ain’t no party until Ryan Seacrest shows up.  Staind is a little 90s, but Fergie and Pussycat Dolls are more modern and hip, right?  Alright, alright… maybe not, but at least they’re trying to stay relevant – neither have made it on to Celebrity Apprentice yet.

What was left out of the press report were some of the other free celebrations that Detroit has in store for basketball fans that weekend.  Let’s take a look-see…

• Devil’s Night (moved to the night before the F4 in 2009).  Detroit’s version of Kristallnacht.  Burn, baby, burn.  Let’s just hope they leave Ford Field alone.

Devil's Night - Detroit

• Foreclosure Madness.  With all the flush tourists pouring into town ready to spend cash, get ready for foreclosure madness!  Yes, you too can buy dozens of homes for pennies on the dollar.  Or, literally a dollar (see below).  You may come to Detroit as a regular dude with a regular mortgage back home, but you’ll leave there as a hardened slumlord overseeing multiple properties.  The American Dream… who knew it was right there in the Motor City?

Pick One - the Newspaper or the House? Both are $1.

Normally, we might be scared of blowback (probably a really bad choice of words here), but we’re not going to the F4 and it’s highly unlikely Detroiters have gotten the Internet yet.