Isn't a fair fight. By my count, UK fans outnumber UofL fans 2 to 1, and that is only within the Louisville city limits.
I think that a fully healthy UNC could have won this thing this year. That was my pick. I only have 2 of the final four. Missouri was out and was obviously a stupid pick in retrospect. I still like the UNC pick - stupid broken wrist. I'm still in the 88th percentile in ESPN, which I'll be dropping fast. I was winning both of the ESPN groups I'm in until last night. In a separate paper pool, there is a girl at work that is going to blow this thing out of the water. She had Kentucky, Missouri, Ohio State, and Kansas in the final four. Kentucky winning it all. I think she'll nail it.
The best team doesn't always win. That being said, UNC, Syracuse, and UK are the three best teams in the country by a decent margin when all are at full strength. Cuse and UNC weren't at full strength, which makes it Kentucky's to lose. I think of the other three contenders, OSU is the most complete team, but at this point, Kentucky has to be the clear favorite. I think UNC with Marshall or Syaracuse with Melo was a pick'em with UK.
UNC doesn't play anywhere near the defense that Kentucky does. They would have beaten Kansas with Marshall, but each of the next two games would have given them a lot of trouble and I really don't think they would win both of them.
Well, my comments with regard to UNC were made assuming Marshall was uninjured. I always thought Syracuse could give UK a run for their money. When it came time to make picks, it was known that Melo was out. Unfortunately for me, it was obviously not known that Marshall would be out when it came time to make bracket picks....
I had UNC, OSU, Baylor, and Louisville in the only bracket I entered. Seeing UNC lose Marshall and understanding that I could, under no circumstances, ever pick Kentucky, I'm not unhappy about my predictive abilities in hindsight.
Picket Fence. This scene gives me warm fuzzies. [video=youtube;s11Ff8MktME]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s11Ff8MktME&feature=youtube_gdata_player[/video]