Pivotal NCAA Game/Missed Prediction Opportunities

I haven't seen any yet of it (as I type this paragraph), but from the point of view of the championship and the dynamics of how it will play out, the critical game of the tournament is just underway--Louisville vs. U. of North Carolina.

I should have posted since I opined on "Spring Sports Excitement", but I've been away on vacation and haven't had a moment. What I would have said on an intermediate posting just before the tourney started:

1) Unlike some years, the 4-8 seeds looked seriously weak in relation to 1-3, so there shouldn't be too many upsets.
2) I saw an article saying essentially, "People often have #1 seeds facing each other in the Final Four. This is a bad play, as it has only happened once in the modern era of 64-65 teams, in the year that 3 #1's made the semis." I would say that there is a much better chance this year than normal for a showdown of #1's, particularly in the case that exactly two of them make the Final Four. I am personally featuring Memphis-UCLA in most of my brackets.
3) There are about 10 teams that can win it: they include all four of the #1's, #2's Georgetown, Tennessee, and Texas, and #3's Stanford, Louisville, and Wisconsin. Duke, while certainly a top team, doesn't look like Final Four material to me.
4) Davidson looks like the best mid-major contender for a surprise, but I don't like their second-round matchup indicated against Georgetown.

Now, what I'd say: North Carolina and Louisville look like the best teams in the tournament so far. I'd pick the winner of that one, narrowly, over Kansas, UCLA, or Memphis, which I thought was the best team of the regular season, and still improving, but may still have a fatal weakness at the line. Davidson-Georgetown, with Davidson's incredible second-half comeback, has set the tone for the entertainment value of the coverage. This is great, but different from the ultimate question of who will win the tourney.

As for the other sports mentioned in the previous link:

NBA: all 9 teams are still contending in the West and no one has broken clear. My early suggestion that Dallas or Golden State could be the odd one out (check that) now looks like the "smart bet" I often favor, that of the #2 and #3-probability contenders. The favorite was Denver and still is, but that's the one I'd tend to bet against, figuring the money on it was too short.

Boston's successful three-game sweep on the road in Texas has to be considered the wake-up call of the year, if anyone didn't believe how competitive this team could be in the postseason.

English soccer: It's looking now more clearly than ever a showdown between Chelsea and Man U. --definitely in the Premier League and quite possibly in the Champions League. Early season leader Arsenal (my wife's team) has fallen off the pace: their early-season super combo of Fabregas and Robin Van Persie hasn't resumed with Van Persie's return after a long injury. Fabregas/Agdebayor worked well in the interim, but now that Arsenal has both forwards it isn't working. Perhaps V.P. isn't 100%, but I think it's more Fabregas' wearing out.

Meanwhile both Man U. and Chelsea have had enough variety in scoring options that they have never gone cold.