Are you ready for this?

At one end, we have the powerhouse Duke Blue Devils trying to reclaim their spot on top of college basketball. At the other end, we have the Butler Bulldogs who are looking to conclude their Cinderella run with the national title.

That is what we’re looking at heading to the 2010 NCAA college basketball national championship game between no.1 seed Duke and no.5 seed Butler. After the very exciting roller coaster ride we’ve been through this March, it all comes down to this one game for all the marbles.

As of this writing, the Duke Blue Devils are favored to win by seven points over the Butler Bulldogs. It’s not surprising really as Duke just cruised to a 78-57 win over no.2 seed West Virginia Mountaineers before punching in their ticket for the national championship game. Oh, the Eagles were just 2.5 – point favorites then.

The Blue Devils are in search for their fourth national championship in the history of their program while the Butler Bulldogs are looking for their very first title this Monday night.

And in case you haven’t noticed, yeah, Butler will have the odds stacked against them when they play Duke. Hell, they just barely edged the Michigan State Spartans, 52-50, to get to play for the 2010 national title and on Monday night, things won’t get any easier.

The good thing about all this is, the Bulldogs will get to play for the national title in their hometown in Indianapolis.

”We’ve been talking about the next game all year, and…”

In case you missed last Monday’s game between Miami and Florida State, you just know you can’t miss what we have for you this weekend.

Oh yes, the 2009 NCAA college football season continues this weekend with a couple of huge games that just might eclipse what most college football fans saw on Monday night.

First, the 6th-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes get another shot at redemption Saturday when they tumble against the 4th-ranked USC Trojans in the Horseshoe of Ohio Stadium. If the Buckeyes want to finally lose the label of being big-game chokers, they need to play much better than they did in their narrow 31-27 season-opening victory over the Navy Midshipmen.

The way Ohio State opened up the season is a concern considering that the USC Trojans team they are facing this weekend just overwhelmed a San Jose State team that were simply outplayed in their opener last weekend, pounding the Spartans into submission, 56-3.

I don’t like Ohio State’s chances.

Next we have the Boise State Broncos looking for another inspiring defensive showing when they host the Miami RedHawks in the very first meeting between the two programs. In one of the most highly anticipated home games in Boise State history, the Broncos defeated then no.16 Oregon 19-8 last Thursday night. Boise State looked impressive in the opener, controlling the line of scrimmage and pushing around the Ducks, the first ranked team to visit Bronco Stadium for a regular-season game.

On the other hand, scoring points is something that eluded…

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It was a storybook ending for North Carolina.

After becoming the only team outside the Big East to earn one of four no.1 seeds for the tournament, after limping towards the 2009 NCAA Final Four with a hurting point guard and after simply dominating the tournament hosts, the North Carolina Tar Heels are the 2009 NCAA college basketball champions.

How about that huh? In Tyler Hansbrough’s senior year, the North Carolina Tar Heels became the 2009 national champions, sending off the face of their franchise like a hero.

Of course, Tyler Hansbrough could not be denied. And with the help of Wayne Ellington and Ty Lawson, who was playing hurt, the Tar Heels simply destroyed Michigan State, 89-72, in a blowout win that was already over as early as the first half.

”I felt like it was fitting for us to do what this group just accomplished,” UNC coach Roy Williams said.

Hansbrough, playing his last game with the Tar Heels, scored 18 points. Wayne Ellington had 19 while Ty Lawson managed to score a game-high 21 points despite playing hurt.

But the story here is Tyler Hansbrough, a guy who came back for his senior year in North Carolina for…

Bittersweet, that’s the feeling for sports bettors as they head into Final Four weekend.

On one hand, there is sure to be some great basketball served up by the remaining four teams in the 2009 NCAA Final Four, but on the other hand, the college basketball season will crown a champ and turn out the lights for another season in a few days.

The futures betting has been steady on the four remaining teams, with the Connecticut Huskies listed at +250 to win the NCAA national championship, the Michigan State Spartans at +500, the North Carolina Tar Heels the odds-on favorite at -125 and the Villanova Wildcats listed as long shots at +600.

Bettors have been enamored with the North Carolina Tar Heels all tournament, and that hasn’t changed this week. According to SPORTSBETTING.COM, Tyler Hansbrough and crew have received a little over 50 percent of all the wagering volume on the ”who will win the championship” future odds option.

Not surprisingly, the other no.1 seed left standing, that being the Connecticut Huskies, are running second with the sports betting public, grabbing 30 percent of the wagering action.

It all tips-off on Saturday and in the first semifinal…

The final four teams in college basketball will collide this weekend.

The cliché ”time flies when you’re having fun” is an old and dusty one, but it really holds true when it comes to the 2009 March Madness bracket tournament.

It seems like it was only yesterday when it was just Selection Sunday and with a blink of an eye, the opening round, the Sweet 16 and the Elite Eight are all in the rearview mirror and now, the 2009 NCAA Final Four is here.

Last year, there weren’t really any surprises as each of top four seeds; the Memphis Tigers, the North Carolina Tar Heels, the Kansas Jayhawks and the UCLA Bruins all made the Final Four.

While there are two no.1 seeds this year with the North Carolina Tar Heels (again) and the Connecticut Huskies making it, the Michigan State Spartans and the Villanova Wildcats decided to crash the party as well, shocking some college hoops fans in the process.

Of the four, SPORTSBETTING.COM has UNC as the odds-on favorite to win the NCAA championship at -125 followed by the Connecticut Huskies at +250. Michigan State is listed at +500 and Villanova at +600.

Listed as a -7.5 point favorite, North Carolina will try to prevent the Villanova Wildcats from reliving its magical 1985 run (shocked Georgetown), while UConn, favored by 4.5-points, will…

Are you ready?

Michigan State, Connecticut, Villanova and North Carolina are all in the 2009 NCAA Final Four as the Big Dance begins Saturday at Detroit’s Ford Field. This sets up several compelling connections to tournament lore.

Let’s start with the Michigan State Spartans. The Spartans not only get to play 90 miles from its East Lansing campus but returns to the Final Four for the 30th anniversary of its 1979 NCAA title. The famous showdown between Indiana State’s Larry Bird and Michigan State’s Magic Johnson that season helped shaped college basketball.

Detroit is an extension of home. The comforts are a reward for the Big Ten regular season champions, who are 9-0 all-time as a no.2 seed, the same seed Michigan State earned for the 1979 title run. Using stifling defense and Goran Suton’s offense, the Spartans manhandled top overall seed Louisville last Sunday.

Michigan State coach Tom Izzo reached his fifth Final Four, all since 1999, joining the ranks of coaches such as Bob Knight, Lute Olson, Guy Lewis and Rick Pitino. MSU’s 2000 championship is the Big Ten’s most recent national title.

Two teams from the mighty Big East qualified, one shy of the record set by their conference in the 1985 Final Four, as the Connecticut Huskies and the Villanova Wildcats make up half of the Final Four.

No.3 seed Villanova feels a connection to the program’s…

A bumpy road, that’s exactly what UConn went through.

Connecticut has managed to navigate its way through a maze of off-court problems to reach the 2009 NCAA Final Four, getting this far for a third time, all in the last 11 years.

Coach Jim Calhoun missed the tournament opener as he was hospitalized to treat dehydration, but his Connecticut Huskies were dominant on the defensive end in a couple of blowout wins.

The day before the regional semifinals, a published report alleged UConn broke NCAA recruiting rules, but the Huskies refused to be distracted, beating Purdue and Missouri to advance. The defense has dominated all tournament as no opponent has shot better than 41 percent against the Huskies, who have 25 blocked shots in the four games.

The Huskies have a perfect 4–0 record in the Final Four, with national championships in 1999 and 2004, coincidentally after coming out of the West Region, just like in the concluding 2009 March Madness bracket tournament.

The Michigan State Spartans have got to be worried.

Hasheem Thabeet has the ability to control a game from the defensive end of the floor. The…

Yes, they’re still here.

The Big East may have two teams in the 2009 NCAA Final Four, but it’s Michigan State who will be hosting the party.

The Michigan State Spartans rode by its trademark, defense and rebounding, and threw in some balanced scoring to get to play in a Final Four just 90 miles from campus.

The Spartans capped the four-game run by beating overall no.1 seed Louisville, which was looking to join fellow Big East teams Connecticut and Villanova in the national semifinals.

Eight Spartans scored in double figures over the four games, but it was the steady play inside and sudden offense from Goran Suton allowed the Spartans to reach the Final Four for the fifth time since 1999. They will play the Connecticut Huskies next.

The regional semifinal win over defending national champion Kansas will become the signature win in what is turning out to be Michigan State’s Cinderella run, as the Spartans overcame a 13-point first-half deficit and went 16-of-17 from the free throw line to rally for the win.

Tom Izzo has taken Michigan State to the Final Four four times, winning it…

It’s in Orlando, Florida where both Georgia and Michigan State will be looking to do their own magic for the Citrus Bowl title.

The 2009 Capital One Citrus Bowl between the Georgia Bulldogs and the Michigan State Spartans is one of the BCS bowl games we have to start the new year. This is a New Year’s Day matchup containing two teams that are both coming off losses.

Neither the Georgia Bulldogs nor the Michigan State Spartans are ranked in the Associated Press top 15, which makes this Capital One Bowl different from any other since 1992, when the Southeastern Conference and Big Ten began meeting in Orlando. Yet this game does have at least two things going for it.

Michigan State’s Javon Ringer and Georgia’s Knowshon Moreno.

Ringer leads the Big Ten in rushing and ranks third nationally after amassing 1,590 yards (132.5 yards per game) and 21 touchdowns on 370 carries. Moreno leads the SEC and is 16th nationally with 1,338 yards (111.5) and 16 touchdowns on 227 carries.

Though the No.16 Georgia Bulldogs rely on Moreno, Michigan State rely heavily on Ringer.

The 5-foot-9, 202-pound senior from Michigan State, has 32 more carries than the second-busiest running back in the NCAA bowl subdivision. In a three-week stretch in late…