Favoritism In The Final Four

3) Michigan State (2-seed): I swear I'm not hating.

Since I started following college basketball with regularity, I've always had a great appreciation for the MSU program. Izzo's always cool (his pre-game speech CBS showed yesterday about Mateen Cleaves was unreal). This year, I've really taken a liking to Goran Suton. He seems like he'd be fun to party with. Hell, just look at the top four pictures when you google his name...

I have no idea how the UCLA chick made it in there, but I'll be damned if I'm not going to give Suton the credit. He deserves it. The dude had one hell of an Elite 8 game against LAWVILLE, too.

Still, I can't help think about Drew Naymick. I feel like he deserved an NCAA title as much as anyone else, and seeing him gone makes me want to pull for MSU a little less.

2) UNC (1-seed): Any other year, these guys would probably be No. 1 on my list, but second's not too bad, either.

I like UNC because Ty Lawson makes college basketball seem legitimate, because Jordan went there (yes, I'm still holding onto that), because you have to choose sides between them and Duke, because I may be one of the only four non-UNC fans who actually likes Tyler Hansbrough, and because Roy Williams gave a funny interview on TV one time.

Truth be told, I just can't stop thinking about this:
UPDATE: Haha, and this.

1) UConn (1-seed): Rooting for a 1-seed?! I know, I know. But I'll give you 1.6 million reasons to root UConn.

In that interview, Calhoun was brash, frank, and ruthless. Was he kind of a dick? Yeah. Were some of his facts about revenue a little off because he probably confused net and gross? Uh huh. But this kind of blunt and reckless honesty is something the world needs in 2009. I mean, he railed that reporter. Just great.

Bonus points:
- Hasheem Thabeet might be soft as hell, but he's too goofy to root against. And what a life story.
- Would I take any money to root for a team besides UCONN? Not a dime!
- Calhoun getting sick before the start of the tournament and missing the first game.
- The alleged UConn recruiting scandal which led Jason Whitlock to write: "This is like a woman busting her husband because she heard he got a lap dance at a strip club," my friend said. "The whole time the husband is laughing to himself thinking about all the housewives in the neighborhood he's slept with."
- JackO's hatred of UConn could make for some good B.S. Report fodder.
- People who disagree? Well, to quote Jim Calhoun, "my best advice to you: to shut up."

In all and absolute honesty, I would have really liked to see Syracuse get here (1:30 mark... just golden).

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And some bonus Chicago links if you made it this far
- Dave Dameshek riffs on Chicago jerseys (best and worst... I enjoyed the worst a lot more, probably because Cade McNown was made fun of)
- TF at Fanhouse covers the Cubs day/night game issue (it's actually sort of interesting).

UPDATE: Some 'Hawks fight that everyone's talkin' about.