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Who do you think is going to win the NCAA Championship? I hope the Longhorns do!

Well, I think and hope Michigan State will.

Well the Longhorns aren't doing as good as I thought this year.

Quote:USA – President Obama keeps faith with Tar Heels in NCAA Tournament prediction

WASHINGTON D.C. (NCAA) - United States President Barack Obama took a short break from his duties on Wednesday and filled out an NCAA Tournament bracket on ESPN.

Obama, who played high school basketball while growing up in Hawaii and is still a keen player, showed he is swept up in the March Madness that always grips America and predicted that the University of North Carolina, Pittsburgh, Louisville and Memphis would reach the Final Four.

He then said for the second year in a row that Carolina would cut down the nets, something that didn't happen in 2008 when Kansas knocked off the Tar Heels and then defeated Memphis in the title game.

"I'm going with experience and, I think that (Ty) Lawson is going to be healthy," Obama said in the White House.

"I think having an experienced point guard who can control the game and make free throws at the end, that's going to be the difference."

Lawson, the Atlantic Coast Conference MVP, sat out the ACC Tournament with a toe injury and wasn't expected to be ready for Thursday's opener against Radford.

Obama showed his sense of humor before saying North Carolina would beat Louisville in the title game in Detroit on April 6.

He turned around, looked around the room and said: "Is there a drum roll around here? No drum roll?"

Obama then announced: "I'm going with the Tar Heels."

At the start of Final Four weekend, Obama will be at the NATO summit in France during a March 31-April 5 trip to England, France, Germany and the Czech Republic.

"We're going to be watching it, but it will probably be 2 in the morning where we are," said Obama. "I'm not going to be able to watch any game the whole way through, but we're going to be checking the scores."

If he is on his plane in transit, though, there’s a good chance he’ll be watching a game.

"Air Force One does have Direct TV," he said.

Obama spoke directly to the Carolina players, whom he practiced with once during his campaign.

"The Tar Heels that are watching - I picked you all last year, you let me down,” he said.

“This year, don't embarrass me in front of the nation. I'm counting on you. I still have those sneakers that you gave me."

The Tar Heels and all of the teams will no doubt borrow on Obama’s campaign slogan and think, “Yes we can.”

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Quote:USA – NCAA Final Four set after wins by Heels, Spartans, Huskies and Wildcats



BOSTON (NCAA) – North Carolina, Michigan State, the University of Connecticut and Villanova are all headed to the Motor City for the NCAA Tournament Final Four after winning their respective games over the weekend.



The game that could go down as the most exciting of the tournament was the Big East battle on Saturday in Boston between Villanova and number one seed Pitt in the Elite Eight.



Pittsburgh, who only narrowly escaped 60-55 in their Sweet 16 clash against Xavier, saw their luck run out against red-hot Nova who claimed a 78-76 victory.



Levance Fields, the hero of Pitt’s win over Xavier, made two free throws with less than six seconds remaining to knot the contest at 76-76.



Reggie Redding, who had just thrown the ball away while attempting a full-court pass on Villanova’s previous inbounds play, this time connected with teammate Dante Cunningham at midcourt.



Cunningham laid the ball off to Scottie Reynolds, who streaked into the lane before making a floater in traffic for the go-ahead basket.



"In that situation, you have four dribbles and a shot,” Reynolds said.



“That's five seconds. All that goes in your head. That's why we practice that every day in practice so we can make an instinct play. We did that. It worked tonight. Only has to work once."



A half-second remained.



After a timeout, Fields caught an inbounds pass, took one dribble and heaved a potential-game winning attempt from three-quarters length of the court but missed.



Villanova will now meet North Carolina in the Semi-Finals after Roy Williams’ Tar Heels cruised past Oklahoma 72-60.



The leading National Player of the Year candidate Blake Griffin scored 23 points and grabbed 16 rebounds for the Sooners but his production wasn’t nearly enough to beat the balanced Tar Heels who got 19 points from guard Ty Lawson and 18 from Danny Green.



On Saturday, the UConn Huskies were made to sweat but they finally overcame upset-minded Missouri 82-75.



Electric guard Kemba Walker had 23 points for the Huskies, who will now take on Michigan State following the Spartans’ surprisingly easy 64-52 triumph over Louisville.



Michigan State is based in Lansing so they should enjoy home advantage with the Final Four at Detroit’s Ford Field.



Goran Suton, who hails from Bosnia and Herzegovina, scored 19 points and hauled in 10 rebounds for the Spartans.

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Quote:USA – Michigan State face Carolina in Monday’s NCAA final



DETROIT (NCAA) - Michigan State and the University of North Carolina will meet for the national championship on Monday after winning their NCAA semi-finals on Saturday night.



Michigan State upset the University of Connecticut 82-79 with Kalin Lucas scoring 21 points while North Carolina got 22 from their ACC Player of the Year, Ty Lawson, in an 83-69 victory over Villanova.



Tom Izzo's Spartans are providing a nice distraction for Detroit, which is suffering from the economic malaise in the United States.



Earlier in the week, General Motors revealed they may file for bankruptcy. The company is based in Detroit and is one of Michigan's biggest employers.



"I hope we were a ray of sunshine, a distraction for them, diversion, anything else we can be," Izzo said.



The Spartans will now face the Tar Heels for the second time this season.



They met on December 3 and Carolina recorded a 98-63 victory.

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Quote:USA – Tar Heels hammer Spartans to cut down the nets in the Motor City

DETROIT (NCAA) – The University of North Carolina rode a strong defensive effort to their fifth NCAA title on Monday night in Detroit.

Ty Lawson had seven of his eight steals in the first half and also scored 21 points as the Tar Heels won 89-72 over Michigan State.

Carolina also got 19 points from Wayne Ellington and 18 from Tyler Hansbrough.

The Tar Heels stormed into a 36-13 lead and took a 55-34 advantage to the break.

That marked the largest lead at half-time in the last 42 years and never before had a team poured in 55 points in the first half.

Roy Williams’ team never looked back.

Ellington was voted MVP of the Final Four.

“It feels great,” Ellington said.

“You never know how it feels until you experience it.”

Carolina were the favourites last year but suffered defeat to eventual champions Kansas in the Final Four.

The previous year, they were also among the leading teams in the country but lost to Georgetown in the Elite Eight.

Ellington shed tears after the win over Michigan State and explained: “I thought about how hard we worked, how hard we worked last year and fell short. I’m proud of all my teammates, my coaches.”

Hansbrough, last year’s NCAA Player of the Year, said: “This is the best way to go out. I couldn’t picture it any other way.”

Lawson shook off a toe injury that kept him out of the ACC Tournament and dominated, especially in the final.

“I was just trying to get in the passing lanes and slow down (Michigan State point guard) Kalin Lucas,” he said of his steals.

Goran Suton of Bosnia and Herzegovina had 17 points and 11 rebounds for Michigan State.

Carolina coach Williams won his first national title in 2005 when the Heels defeated Illinois in the final. That year, Carolina beat Michigan State in the Semi-Finals.

He has now equalled his mentor, former Carolina coach Dean Smith – a member of the FIBA Hall of Fame - in NCAA title triumphs as coach.

Smith’s team that included Michael Jordan and James Worthy captured the crown in 1982 and his Eric Montross- and George Lynch-led Heels prevailed over Michigan in 1993.

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