An NCAA Tournament full of incredible performances by midmajors has now given way to four #1 seeds in the Final Four, something that’s never been accomplished in the NCAA Tournament. While some people complain about the “chalk” of this Final Four, we’re sure to close this thing out with three incredible matchups. Without further ado, a brief breakdown of the Final Four, which begins at 6:00 PM EST tomorrow.

UCLA vs. Memphis
Certainly the more intriguing game of the two, to me anyway. Both teams have been national championship contenders the last few years, but both have needed enormous contributions from true freshmen to get over the top this year. Lets start with UCLA, a team that’s been raped and pillaged by twice defending champ Florida in the last two tournaments. We know the contributers: Collison, Westbrook, Shipp, Mbah a Moute and to a much lesser extent, Mata(-Real). But without Kevin Love, this team is already out of the tournament. The Pac-10 Player of the Year has been even better than advertised. While CBS has stroked themselves to his outlet passes, Love deserves all the praise he’s received.

As for Memphis, they’ve been proving people wrong all season long. Hell, I had them losing to Pitt in the Sweet 16 and when they got into the Elite Eight, I thought they’d get spanked by Texas. Nope. You can have Beasley, Mayo, Love or any other freshman phenom. If I have the 1st overall pick, I’m taking Derrick Rose. I’ll admit to not having seen much of Rose throughout the Conference USA season but against Texas, I saw all I needed to see. Rose will be a Chris Paul/Deron Williams type of player in the NBA. No doubt about it. After dominating against guys like Drew Neitzel and D.J. Augustin, I see Rose getting the best of Darren Collison as well.

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Sorry NBA teams, Kansas guard Brandon Rush won’t be entering himself into the NBA draft. Rush, who combined with Julian Wright to make the Jayhawks a legitimate contender last season, tore his ACL in a pick up game and will be out of action until at least November.

What have we learned from Aaron Boone? If you play pick up basketball, you will tear your ACL and miss a significant amount of time. Simple as that. Boone owned himself two years ago going to the rack and missed a tremendous amount of time. Rush, who thought he could somehow avoid the pick up jinx, will also miss a significant amount of time and a chance to get drafted in the lottery in this years NBA draft.

If light can be made from this situation, it is that Rush will get another year of college ball under his belt. I am a big advocate of gaining as much experience and improving as much talent as possible in the college ranks before making the leap to the pros. Then again, hardly any college basketball player wants to pass up professional money for another year in college. Rush has no choice.

Hopefully Rush can recover as quickly as possible and help Kansas return to dominance. If he has another great year, his stock will only rise and he will assuredly be a top draft choice in next years draft.

There’s nothing not to like about the Big 12 championship battle that is taking place on Sunday. Seemingly annual powerhouse Kansas, who is currently ranked second in the nation, faces off against young and talented Texas in a game that will undoubtedly be phenomenal.

Texas is a fantastic team to watch play because, unlike most teams in the tournament, Texas is incredibly young, boasting two star freshman in DJ Augustin and Kevin Durant. As we’ve noted before on Sportable, we are running out of words to use to describe Durant. His uncanny ability to take over games is unprecedented in the NCAA this season and, like Carmelo Anthony did for Syracuse in 2003, Durant has the potential to lead the Longhorns to an NCAA championship. DJ Augustin is the other freshman for Texas who has proven over the past few months that he can help Durant carry this team. Augustin averages nearly 15 points and 7 assists a game for the Longhorns, a big boost provided that he is a freshman.

Unfortunately for Texas, they face a tough rival in the Kansas Jayhawks. Led by Brandon Rush and Julian Wright, the Jayhawks look to take not only the Big 12 Conference title, but the NCAA title as well. Rush is a fantastic guard, averaging 12 points a game for the Jayhawks while his teammate Wright leads the team in rebounds and averages 12 points a game. Along with Mario Chalmers, this team may form the best 1-2-3 combination in the NCAA. Chalmers proved his worth against Kansas St in the tournament finals, going for 16 points and starting the second half with two pivotal three pointers that got the Jayhawks rolling towards an eventual finals birth.

Expect this game to be the finest of all the championship games this Sunday. I will stand by the fact that, though Ohio State and Wisconsin match up yet again in a battle of two of the top three teams in the nation, the Big 12 has the best basketball in the NCAA and Texas vs Kansas will be a definite game to watch. Whether it’s Durant taking over or the Kansas three-step of Chalmers, Rush, and Wright take over, this game will be the best on Sunday.