Whether you follow sports with intensity or indifference, the NCAA basketball tournament has been lively, fun, and filled with enough upsets to make it rival Duluth’s springtime weather and the Minnesota Twins season as the longest-running April Fool’s joke.
Before the whole thing started, I picked Louisville to beat Michigan State in the final game. Seemed like a reasonable pick.
Our weather? We’ve shattered the illusion that if March comes in like a lion it will go out as a lamb, by proving the month when winter turns to spring can start like a lion and go out like a lioness. And for those who trust April showers to bring May flowers, what to they bring when those showers are of the white, fluffy variety? Remember that last year, we set an all-time single-month record for snowfall in April.
The Twins? Well, they spent $48 million on a four-year contract for somebody named Ricky Nolasco, who started the season opener in Chicago and gave up only 10 hits in six innings of a 5-3 loss. We are led to believe that a starting pitching rotation of Nolasco, Kevin Correia, Phil Hughes, Mike Pelfrey and Kyle Gibson will turn our lads into contenders. Of the five, I like Samuel Deduno best. Oh wait; he’s been sent to the bullpen. Someone who spent a few weeks luxuriating in the wintry spring in Ft. Myers, Fla., actually wrote that the starting rotation has been improved so much that the bullpen won’t be needed as much this season.
As for the offense, there has been much hand-wringing over whether Joe Mauer, who has been switched from catcher to first base, should bat second or third. That was a good debate when the Twins had Justin Morneau batting behind Mauer, back in the days when somebody would get on, Mauer would drive him into scoring position, then Morneau would drive him home. Mauer is batting third, thank you, although it doesn’t matter where he bats if nobody else gets a hit.
To reignite the offense, the Twins brought back familiar old names Jason Bartlett and Jason Kubel, to bolster the RBI-prone Josh Willingham as run producers. So what happened in training camp? That threesome batted .357. April Fool’s! That only happens if you add all three of their spring training averages together.
That brings us to the Final Four in the NCAA basketball tournament, where I had Louisville beating Michigan State in the final. Both got beat in their regionals.  Actually, when Wisconsin outlasted a very good Arizona team to win the West Regional in a 64-63 thriller, it seemed like the Big Ten might wind up with three of the Final Four. That, of course, was a bad April Fool’s joke.
Michigan State, the best defensive team, I thought, played good defense but suddenly started throwing the ball away as if it had caught fire. Ridiculous plays, and season-record turnovers, and Connecticut beat the Spartans 60-54 in the East Regional final. The Spartans brought to life the NCAA tournament theory that it doesn’t matter whether your team is better than everyone else, what does matter is how you match up on any given day on any given court with a team that stays cool, plays up to potential, and can handle your best assets. That might have been the case against U-Conn, except that Spartans players made incredibly bad plays. One time, a guard caught a pass on the left side of the key, and as he started to dribble, he absolutely fanned on bouncing the ball and it squibbed out of bounds.
Michigan, the Big Ten season champ, ran plunk into Cinderella, and Kentucky, with all five starters being freshmen, claimed a 75-72 victory to advance at the Midwest Regional champion. That was after Kentucky also beat Louisville in the semifinals.
The only thing that went according to form was the South Regional, where No. 1 ranked Florida beat Dayton 62-52.
The Big Ten, as billed, might be as good in basketball as it is shaky in national college football power, but instead of Florida, Michigan, Michigan State and upstart Wisconsin, the Final Four will have only Wisconsin to carry its banner Saturday. The Badgers have the balance and the teamwork to win two more games and claim the national championship, but they will have to play a perfect game to beat Kentucky’s swarm of youthful standouts.
In Saturday’s semifinals, I like No. 1 Florida to beat Connecticut in the 5 p.m. game. Then, I’d love to see Wisconsin beat Kentucky in the second game -- but those freshmen are so skilled that I think Kentucky might be in the prime position to beat the Badgers. Wisconsin is the perfect Cinderella team, and it seems ludicrous to think of Kentucky as a Cinderella. But with five starting freshmen, nobody figured Kentucky could make it to the Final Four, so they might out-Cinderella the Badgers, and if they get to Monday night’s final, I think they also could upset Florida in the championship game.
Badger fans needn’t get upset at me for that. It’s April Fool’s Week, and my picks look a lot like jinxes.