Dick Jerardi: Outrageous 4-tune

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - Saturday's two NCAA national semifinals at the Georgia Dome could be a preview of the NBA All-Star Game in a few years. Depending on how the players on the four teams progress, there could be as many as a dozen NBA types on the floor, and certainly a few All-Stars.

There is no George Mason, but if you want to see high-quality hoops and players with star quality, this Final Four has it all. The NBA rule that doesn't let high school players go directly to the league has given us Ohio State's Greg Oden trying for a national title to go along with those three Indiana high school state titles. And it has given us players on
every team who will eventually be playing for money with Oden.

In one semifinal we get a rematch of the last year's title game when Florida beat UCLA, 73-57, with almost all of the same players back. In the other game, we get the Buckeyes against Georgetown, another rematch of sorts. The Hoyas crushed the Buckeyes in last year's second round, 70-52. Of course, that was Ohio State without Oden and Mike Conley Jr.

Each of the four teams has won 30 or more games. They are a combined 127-19. In the 65-team "S" curve that the tournament selection committee uses to seed the teams, the first- (Florida), third- (Ohio State), fifth- (UCLA) and seventh-ranked (Georgetown) teams are still playing.

UCLA will make its record 17th Final Four appearance; it has won a record 11 titles. Ohio State will be in its 10th Final Four. Georgetown is making its fifth Final Four appearance, Florida its fourth. The latter three have each won a single title.

Game 1 is Ohio State-Georgetown at 6:07 p.m.; Game 2 is UCLA-Florida.

The Final Eight had the six tournament champions from the BCS conferences, along with UCLA (regular-season Pac-10 champ) and Memphis (Conference USA champ). There were no surprises. The best teams all season were the best teams at the end of the season.

In the East, it was classic - Big East vs. ACC. In the Midwest, it was SEC vs. Pac-10. The South was Big Ten vs. C-USA. The West was Pac-10 vs. Big 12.

They are back