NCAA Championship Prediction

Author: Dawson Haywood

It’s hard to believe that the NCAA season is coming to an end. Long have we awaited this upcoming game between Gonzaga and Baylor. It’s been nearly two years since we crowned a champion in NCAA Men’s Basketball when Virginia won. It feels good having some normalcy back. 
To start I’d like to congratulate UCLA for coming so close to making it into the championship. For those who read my blog posts consistently, you all will know that I was pulling for UCLA because they would have been the first #11 seed to ever make it to the championship. What is nice about this matchup against Gonzaga and Baylor is that one of these schools will walk away from this with their first-ever National Title. 
This is my last chance to harp on Houston so I’m going to take it. Unfortunately, since I started making predictions in the Sweet 16 I am 1-2 against Houston. I’ll cut them some slack because obviously, they are better than most teams in the NCAA. There is a reason that they lost only four games and had they not lost the three games in the regular season, well obviously they’d be undefeated and be a #1 seed. Houston was not a team I could ever see actually making it to the finals which is why I’ve been calling them frauds over this short series of blogs. 
With UCLA barely losing and Houston proving my point my prediction record since the Sweet 16 now sits at 9-5. Shout out Dolly Parton. Let’s make a prediction.
#1 Gonzaga v #1 Baylor
I feel like I would be stupid to not say, Gonzaga. Right? UCLA really has me torn in this game because Gonzaga really just won on a prayer shot. Baylor has been playing some of their best ball all year and has beat every team in the tournament, besides Arkansas, by at least ten points. Gonzaga on the other hand has beaten every team in the tournament except UCLA by fifteen points and they’re still undefeated. I know a thing or two about losing so this is my take… Gonzaga needed a wake-up call and UCLA was it. Gonzaga will not allow a team to come this close again and risk losing yet another National Championship. Prediction… Gonzaga Win. 

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