| 2001 NCAA Basketball Final Four | |
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Whenever a major sports event comes up, Pat Premo, the owner of Fast-Action Sports, is kind enough to run some simulations for us.
He chooses great teams from the past, matches them up using his Fast-Action Games, and lets us know what happened. Following are his results for this year's NCAA Basketball Final Four, both women and men. (Alas, my alma mater Temple University once again missed the Final Four -- but John Chaney has a solid group returning for next season!)
2001 Final Four
All of these games were played at neutral sites.
Women
Pat decided on 1996-97 Notre Dame, 1994-95 University of Connecticut, 1998-99 Purdue, and 1991-92 Southwest Missouri State as the best historic teams for those schools. (He thinks that this year's Notre Dame and Southwest Missouri State teams may displace the two above, but says we'll have to wait and see.)
1996-97 Notre Dame 72
Unbeaten Connecticut was a 16-point favorite over Notre Dame, but the Irish played tough -- their defense in particular was amazing and they held a 3-point lead with seconds to go.
Then the unthinkable happened: Connecticut took a desperation 3-point shot as time expired, it went in to tie it, and the shooter was fouled! The free throw was good and Connecticut won by one point! Wow!
1998-99 Purdue 84
Purdue was a 12-point favorite and they played like it, dominating State and winning by 18 points.
Men
Pat's selections for the top team in the history of this year's men's Final Four were 1988-89 Arizona, 1978-79 Michigan State, 1991-92 Duke, and 1973-74 Maryland.
1988-89 Arizona 74
Arizona was a slight favorite, believe it or not. The game was a see-saw event the whole way. Arizona had a 1-point lead with seconds to go, but Michigan St. drilled a 3-pointer to win by two as time expired!
1991-92 Duke 87
Duke was a 5-point favorite for this game; they played good defense and led throughout, winning by 12.
2001 NCAA Championships
Women
1998-99 Purdue 78
Purdue was a big favorite going in and did not disappoint; they opened up a big lead on the Irish and never looked back. (I still think that this year's Notre Dame team will be rated better than the one used above, especially if they win it all!)
Men
(Some may disagree with Pat's selection of 1988-89 Arizona over their championship team, but he feels this was the better team.)
1991-92 Duke 83
Duke was favored by 5 points in this one; both defenses were super, but Duke's was the best and they held on for a 7-point win.
1994-95 Connecticut 73
1991-92 Southwest Missouri State 66
1978-79 Michigan State 76
1973-74 Maryland 75
1996-97 Notre Dame 64
1988-89 Arizona 76
Many thanks to Pat Premo for running these games. Fast-Action Sports can be found on the Web at http://members.spree.com/sports/patrick94/.
