Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
USA Today Sports Media Group
USA Today Sports Media Group
Sport
Charles Curtis

The best possible men’s March Madness title game matchups, ranked by watchability

The Final Four is set in the men’s NCAA tournament, and let’s just say not a lot of fans expected to see this quartet of teams in this position as they head to Houston later this week.

Miami, Florida Atlantic, UConn and San Diego State remain, with three of those four squads never having won a title in men’s hoops. The Huskies have won four times, with the last coming in 2014. Also: we’ve got Nos. 4, 9 and two No. 11 seeds playing.

So it’s safe to say we have so much chaos, with a guarantee of one team that’s never won playing for a title.

Now is a great time to rank the possible championship games we could get:

4
San Diego State vs. UConn

David Butler II-USA TODAY Sports

Apologies in advance to Huskies fans. Because even though this UConn team is on fire and Adama Sanogo has been amazing to watch, we’ve seen the Huskies win before, and fairly recently. So I have to rank their games last, because any contest involving Miami (with dancin’ Jim Larrañaga) means we’ll have a grab-your-popcorn matchup between two teams that could win it all for the first time.

Also: San Diego State is stifling defensively. And while defense wins championships (sorry, had to), defense isn’t as fun to watch.

3
FAU vs. UConn

Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY Sports

See above regarding UConn, but how’s this for a storyline? The four-time national champions, facing a true Cinderella that’s making its SECOND tourney appearance.

Clearly, the Owls are the team to root for to win it all, a squad with so much swagger and some delightful players to watch like Johnell Davis and Vladislav Goldin. This would be must-watch basketball, although I wonder if UConn would win this one by like 15.

2
San Diego State vs. Miami

(Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)

Again, do I really want to watch a game involving an elite defense like San Diego State’s over Florida Atlantic’s jaw-dropping run continuing? No. But the Hurricanes and SDSU would be a nail-biter. If you like pitcher’s duels — and I do! I just want more offense in this case! — this one feels like it could be one.

1
Florida Atlantic vs. Miami

(Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)

Perfect. Team Chaos Rules. Give me the two Cinderellas facing off at the ball.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.