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2018 NCAA Tournament: Championship Game Prediction

SAN ANTONIO, TX - MARCH 31: Eric Paschall
SAN ANTONIO, TX - MARCH 31: Eric Paschall

2018 NCAA Tournament: Championship Game Prediction

Most people had their brackets ruined early this year and a 16 seed beat a one seed for the first time ever. It was just any one seed, it was the number one overall seed! It has been a wild ride since then!

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Fortunately, the round by round game is still alive, and we have a mostly clean slate! And the best part: each correct pick earns a donation to Coaches vs. Cancer. So keep playing the round by round!

I only have 40 out of 64 games correct. I missed both semifinal games, and I shouldn’t have. I let my head get in the way!

(1)Villanova vs. (3)Michigan

Michigan ended up playing another ugly game, especially in the first half. The Wolverines were down double digits at one point before clamping down on Loyola’s inside game which was getting to them. The result was Michigan’s 13th straight win.

There wasn’t a team anywhere in the college universe that could have beaten Villanova on Saturday. The Wildcats tied a Final Four record with 13 made three pointers. The difference is they did that in the first half alone! And it’s not like it was one or two guys. Seven different WIldcats made a three pointer in that first half. It’s not like Kansas played a bad game. Villanova just could not – and did not – miss.

Michigan does have one big advantage here, and that’s that they can win in just about any type of game. If you want to get out and run, Michigan will do that. Just ask Texas A&M. If you want to mug them and ugly up the game, they can do that too. Their last two wins have been over teams that slowed it down. Villanova struggled if teams were able to slow them down, but that has always been a big if.

This Villanova team is better than the one that won the title two years ago. They are a deeper and more experienced team with the exception of Jalen Brunson. Villanova has a few guys that were around for that team, so they know what it’s like to win. That experience will be huge.

Pick: Villanova

We have a hot Michigan team against one of the best shooting teams in the country. If Michigan comes out cold, which they did in every game but the A&M game, they wont be able to come back on this team.