Final Four

This weekend's Final Four is being hyped as one of the greatest in the recent history of college basketball. That may prove to be true -- and I for one hope it does -- but until all three games are played, let's not put this group on the same plane as the Final Four's of 2005 (North Carolina, Illinois, Michigan State, and Louisville), 1993 (North Carolina, Michigan, Kansas, Indiana), 2003 (Syracuse, Kansas, Marquette, Texas) or 2001 (Duke, Arizona, Maryland, Kansas). Yet the potential is there for this edition of the Final Four to capture the moment and permanently etch itself into the memories of even casual college basketball fans forever. Years from now, local NBA beat writers will have many easy nights as they will be able to revisit matchups from this weekend before they are played out again in profesiional basketball. The amount of potential players who will see some time on an NBA roster in their career is amazing. Ohio State (Greg Oden, Mike Conley Jr., Ron Lewis, Daequan Cook), Florida (Joakim Noah, Al Horford, Corey Brewer, Taurean Green), Georgetown (Jeff Green, Roy Hibbert, DaJuan Summers), and UCLA (Arron Afflalo, Darren Collison, Josh Shipp, Luc Richard Mbah a Moute) are all loaded with the kind of talent needed to make Final Four weekend stand out throughout time. Here is how I see the weekend playing out: SATURDAY Georgetown-Ohio State: This is being promoted as a "Battle of the Big Men" with OSU's 7-foot Greg Oden squaring off with G-Town's 7-foot-2 Hibbert but keep an eye on Ron Lewis and Jeff Green. Both have come up with season saving shots (Lewis' 3-pointer at the end of regulation to tie Xavir in the second round and Green's up-and-under hoop to beat Vanderbilt in the Sweet Sixteen) and could be called upon again to save the day. With the Hoyas running a version of the old Princeton/backdoor offense, Ohio State may struggle to keep up on defense. Therefore, I see Oden's college career ending with Georgetown winning 78-69. Florida-UCLA: A rematch of last year's championship game. Florida won big last year and should win again this year. As good as the Bruins are -- and they are as good an overall team as you will see in college hoops -- they do have one weakness ... they lack a great big man. Look for the Gators to use the 7-foot Noah, the 6-foot-10 Horford and 6-foot-10 Chris Richard to wear down UCLA inside. When the Bruins try and double down in the post, Florida's Lee Humphrey should get more than enough open looks to bury 3-point shots, ending UCLA's year. 82-71, Florida. MONDAY Florida-Georgetown: The Gators will be the first team since Duke in 1991 and 1992 to repeat as National Champions. The Hoyas will be looking for the school's first National Championship since Patrick Ewing and coach John Thompson won it all in 1984. And even with Ewing's son Patrick Jr. in a Hoya uniform and Thompson's son John III on the sideline, Georgetown won't have enough to match the experience, talent, and hunger that Noah and the Gators will bring to the table. In what could be coach Billy Donovan's final game at Florida (that Kentucky situation has been awfully quiet since Tubby Smith left for Minnesota), the Gators will repeat by a score of 77-73 in a great game. Hopefully for all of us fans, all three games will be instant classics and we will all remember the 2007 Final Four as one of the all-time greats.