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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The North Carolina Tar Heels did a lot of things right in their victory over Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium. For starters, they won at Duke for the third consecutive year and clinched the ACC regular season championship. They also paid tribute to their late Associated Students President. But most importantly, the Tar Heels all but clinched the top overall seed in this year’s NCAA Tournament.

What’s this mean for UNC? Well, assuming they don’t crash and burn in the 1st round of the ACC Tournament, we can expect them to be seeded first in the Eastern regional. If this happens, they’ll play their first two games in Raleigh before moving onto Charlotte for the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight matchups. Neither venue is more than a couple hours away from Chapel Hill , meaning the Heels will essentially play four home games before the Final Four in San Antonio. That helps. A lot.

To understand the true benefit of short travel during the NCAA Tournament, look no further than UCLA the last two seasons. Two years ago, the Bruins played in San Diego and San Jose on their way to the Final Four. Last year, they played in Sacramento and San Jose before reaching Atlanta. A few years before that, a T.J. Ford-led Texas team benefited from playing their Regional Final in the friendly confines of San Antonio.

With the Blue Devils likely headed for a #2 seed in the tournament, they may have to arrive in San Antonio via Detroit or Houston. What can we take from this game? In the end, probably not very much. A home loss in this rivalry isn’t enormously troubling, largely because both these teams are so well-coached and have dealt with hostile environments so often.

With conference play already winding down (less than three weeks ’till Selection Sunday!), a lively debate has begun about who is deserving of National Player of the Year. While perimeter players like Tennessee’s Chris Lofton and Davidson’s Stephen Curry (if you haven’t seen him play, do it) can make an argument, it’s essentially a two-man race: Kansas State’s freshman phenom and North Carolina’s Tyler Hansbrough.

Beasley follows in the footsteps of last year’s star freshmen, Kevin Durant and Greg Oden. There’s little doubt he’ll be going pro after this year, and there’s little doubt that he’ll be the first pick in June’s NBA Draft. Beasley and freshman teammate Bill Walker have quickly put Kansas State back on the national stage. Over the weekend, he set a Big 12 record with 44 points, upping his scoring average to 26 points to go with 12 rebounds a game. Both of those marks are higher than Durant’s averages last year.

Unfortunately, we haven’t been able to see Beasley on national television as much as we saw Durant, largely because Kansas State games don’t air very often. Last month’s upset over Kansas (a win Beasley guaranteed before the season) wasn’t televised nationally. For those who haven’t seen him play, tonight’s game at Texas will be broadcast on ESPN.

Beasley’s biggest competitor in the National Player of the Year debate is Hansbrough, the psychotic white boy from Chapel Hill. Hansbrough’s physical abilities can’t compare with Beasley’s, but his determination sure can. If it’s possible for the ACC’s leading scorer and rebounder to be “scrappy” and “feisty,” Hansbrough would fit that description.

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Whenever I’ve talked about UNC and their star player Tyler Hansbrough, I’ve always ignored his horrid nickname, “Psycho T.” I understand the guy is intense on the court but the nickname is terrible, plain and simple. Earlier today, I came across a video of Hansbrough playing a game of ping-pong called Texas Ping Pong. The rules are simple. If you lose two straight points, you lift a shirt and have a ball drilled at your chest. Hansbrough owns teammate Bobby Frasor and then unleashes all sorts of psycho on Frasor’s chest.

Now that’s a rivalry game. Duke and UNC, two teams that will never be mistaken for being dirty on the court, played one of the most physical games of the year. The end result? Another UNC win over Duke. But even when we thought the game was all but over, the chaos was just beginning. An offensive rebound by UNC’s star, Tyler Hansbrough, ended up with an elbow to the nose and a bloody snout.

I won’t hide the fact that I’ve never been a Duke fan. It’s not like I despise them, I just don’t like them. But I’m not much of a North Carolina guy either. I’ve just always preferred the players UNC has developed, starting with God himself. I’m pretty neutral in a UNC-Duke discussion but I do believe Gerald Henderson’s elbow was definitely directed at Hansbrough’s face.

It’s not like I blame the Blue Devils for their frustration. With the loss, they were bumped down to the 7th seed in this week’s ACC Tournament. They’ve been owned constantly by Tyler Hansbrough in his two years at Chapel Hill. He ruined the Senior Night of Duke legends JJ Redick and Shelden Williams and yesterday’s performance was one of his best ever: 26 points and 17 rebounds.

Every time these two teams meet, it’s a great event. If someone from Mars wanted to know what college basketball was, you’d probably take them to a game between UNC and Duke. Was the ending uncalled for? Yes it was. But it sure creates one hell of a storyline if these teams meet on Sunday in the ACC Championship.

It’s incredibly obvious that North Carolina has one of the most talented teams in the country. They’re bound to have at least five guys from their current team playing in the NBA. But I still don’t feel comfortable with them in the NCAA Tournament. Why? Because all their talent goes out the window when they play a more experienced team. UNC has romped to countless easy wins but when the game is close, they’ve had trouble securing W’s.

Winning in College Park, Maryland is never easy. It’s been a house of horrors for ACC opponents for as long as I can remember. But Maryland still wasn’t ranked . North Carolina was a top five team and they couldn’t get it done yesterday, losing 89-87. Fact is, you shouldn’t be giving up 89 to anybody, especially when overtime isn’t involved. DJ Strawberry (yes, Darryl’s son) dropped 27 on the Heels.

As talented as Carolina’s freshmen are, they’re still going to struggle against experienced teams in the NCAA Tournament. Three of their top four scorers are freshmen and the other one, Tyler Hansbrough, is just a sophomore. The Heels shot less than 50% from the free throw line yesterday, finishing at 8/17.

“We lacked focus. We didn’t convert the way we should down the stretch,” forward Reyshawn Terry said. “We had another breakdown. We keep hitting the same wall. It’s making me a little nervous, honestly.”

UNC has to be nervous. They’ll probably be a 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament but they simply haven’t played defense lately. They let NC State shoot 60% in a loss a few weeks back. Then they gave up 33 points to Virginia Tech’s Zabian Dowdell in last Tuesday’s loss. Want to go home early in March? Don’t play defense and miss free throws. Simple as that.