AMAN GUPTA
Duke Blue Devils vs. UConn Huskies -- The latter of Saturday night's final four matchups will surely be one of best and hardest fought games of the NCAA season. UConn boasts the top team in the nation right now, having crushed everything in its path on its way to San Antonio. And Duke, well, Duke is the team that everybody loves to hate because they're always so good.
Emeka Okafor and Shelden Williams will battle to the bitter end in the paint, and as long as Okafor is healthy (and stays healthy), he should dominate that matchup. Ben Gordon (Westchester the Bestchester represent!) is a better and more effective point guard than Chris Duhon, but look for Duhon to certainly hold his own in possibly his final game as a Dukie.
It should be a nice Blair Academy reunion for Charlie Villanueva and Luol Deng, but look for Deng to get the better of his ex-teammate. Rashad Anderson and Talik Brown will be key for the Huskies, and Daniel Ewing and Shavlik Randolph will be huge for Duke.
The ex-factor in the game is of course the White Kid. J.J. Redick is going to have to shoot the hell out of the ball to give his team a shot to win. With the nasty one, two punch of Gordon and Okafor for the Huskies, Redick will have to carry the Devils if they want to have any shot.
Prediction: Look for J.J. Redick to have a big game, but the Huskies inside outside game of Gordon and Okafor, and the outside shooting of Anderson and Brown to be too much for Coach K and the Durham kids. UConn to the championship game, where they're going to kill whoever they play.
JESSE GERNER
Elliott Wiley Jr. vs. Wesleyan's Jeff Maier -- Many baseball fans recall that tragic October, 1996 day when some stupid little Jersey punk named Jeff Maier reached over the Yankee Stadium right field rail, caught -- then dropped -- Derek Jeter's fly ball, and basically handed the Pinstripes a free pass to the World Series.
Last spring, it was discovered that the same punk was a freshman outfielder for the Wesleyan Cardinals. However his potentially life-threatening trip to the Boston area was cancelled due to inclement weather, much like his sophomore appearance in tomorrow's doubleheader at Tufts could be once again.
Anyway, we decided to pit Baltimore lifer and PA system operator Elliott Wiley Jr. against the O's heartbreaker in a fantasy fight. Elliott, with his superior girth and ham hocks for arms (read: 5-9, 225lb), would beat the 5-11, 190lb beanstalk that is Maier, based on pure hatred and cold-blooded emotion. Maier, who is currently batting .451 and slugging .608 on the season, would be the one slugged to a pulp.
Prediction: A 1-1 tie. Elliott would kick some Jersey ass in a fist fight, but you know Maier gets SO MUCH ass based on his teenage infamy. The things people do.
ELLIOTT WILEY JR.
Minority Report vs. the World -- "You can't break the unbreakable, shake the unshakable," a wise man once said.
Well the unbreakable and unshakable are personified in form of myself and Carlos Montalvan. Let it be known that we have been running wind-sprints, suicides, and shuttles, as well as straight practicing our craft and we refuse to go out like suckers. What am I talking about you might ask? If you don't know, ask a friend, but if you do know, just know that we aren't going out like the Baltimore Orioles.
Prediction: We are similar to UConn.
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