You’re Nuts: Who do you think will win the NCAA tournament?

This is... not March. Unfortunately, March is over and we are down to just four teams left in the Big Dance. In case you haven’t heard, UNC is playing Duke and Kansas is taking on Villanova.

Last week, Connor and Justin debated the most impactful transfer so far during Chris Holtmann’s tenure. Without getting into numbers, suffice to say Connor handily won with his pick of CJ Walker over Justin and his pick of Keyshawn Woods.

Here are the updated standings after 44 weeks.

After 44 weeks:

Connor- 20
Justin- 16
Other- 6

(There have been two ties)

This week is simple. The guys are debating who will win it all. Which one of these scrappy underdogs will come out on top?

Also, make sure to tune into the Bucketheads podcast, dropping episodes every other week in the basketball offseason.

Connor: Duke

Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports

Well if he’s not going to take the low-hanging fruit, I’ll do it. The Coach K Farewell Tour™ was always meant to end this way. The entire season has been about Coach K. Games that had nothing to do with Duke would mention Coach K and advertise future Duke broadcasts.

After North Carolina beat Duke in Coach K’s final game at Cameron Indoor, his speech was prioritized by ESPN over the next game that was supposed to be on the air. He’s facing North Carolina again, and it’s the first time that the two rivals have ever met in the Final Four.

I mean c’mon, it’s fate.

Credit to Arkansas for knocking out Gonzaga, but the Bulldogs probably would have given Duke a better battle than the Hogs did. Arkansas advancing to the Elite Eight over Gonzaga was good for Duke, and even better for Coach K. Now they get to play a North Carolina team that — although they’ve been fantastic in the NCAA Tournament — had some low points this season. The Tar Heels got beat by Pitt at home this year, and were bounced early in the ACC Tournament by Virginia Tech. They are an eight-seed for a reason.

My vote for Duke is more plot-based than anything, and I think that’s completely acceptable. When you close your eyes, do you really see Coach K losing to North Carolina in the Final Four during his last season?

Do you see first-year head coach Hubert Davis outcoaching the greatest ever during his final opportunity at a championship? There’s no way No. 8 North Carolina knocks off No. 2 Duke in this game. No disrespect to the Tar Heels, they’ve had a great run to this point. But the basketball gods have made their intentions known for months. This is how it has to be.

And if you want numbers rather than just a bunch of fufu prophetic crap, Duke has four players averaging double figures so far in the NCAA Tournament. With that many guys capable of taking over a game, this team is nearly impossible to beat.

• Mark Williams - 14.5 points, 8.8 rebounds, 4 blocks
• Paolo Banchero - 19 points, 7 rebounds, 3.8 assists
• Jeremy Roach - 12.8 points, 3.8 assists
• A.J. Griffin - 11.5 points, 4.8 rebounds

I’m not saying I’m happy about it, but I’ve just come to accept the fact that Coach K will unfortunately win the national championship and someday rule the world. May God help us all.

Justin: Kansas

Photo by Brett Wilhelm/NCAA Photos via Getty Images

You know the old saying “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”? That describes Kansas for me in a nutshell. The Jayhawks were my preseason national champion, my midseason national champion, my postseason national champion and I am sticking with this horse through the finish line.

Villanova is an interesting matchup for them and if Justin Moore were healthy, I might actually go with the Wildcats in this one. However, Moore is not and I just don’t think the combination of Jermaine Samuels and Collin Gillespie is going to be good enough to take down the Jayhawks.

This team has a little bit of everything. The veteran star guards in Ochai Agbaji, Christian Braun, and now, Remy Martin. They’ve also got the head coach who has been there before and a defense needed to slow down opponents. The Jayhawks were not known for their defense throughout the regular season, but through their first four tournament games, they have held their opponents to just 59 points per game. Last time out against Miami, they stifled the talented Hurricane offense to just 15 points in the second half.

When it comes to defeating Villanova, big men David McCormick and Jalen Wilson should be able to each have big games against the smaller Wildcats. Agbaji, Braun, and Martin are a trio that will make it tough on the Villanova guards without the athleticism and versatility of Moore.

And once they get past that game, the next game will be cake. UNC and Duke are gearing up for maybe the most important and anticipated college basketball game of all time and I find it hard to believe whoever survives that game will have any energy saved up for Monday, especially since teams run fairly shallow rotations.

Kansas to the promised land! Book it! Ochai Agbaji is their MVP! Jalen Wilson is the X factor!

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