We’re finally down to the Final Four in the 2011 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament bracket… and if anyone tells you they guessed this combination of teams, they’re either lying or rich enough to fix the whole thing. Not a single 1 or 2 seed has made it into the Final Four and only a single #1 made it into the Elite Eight.
The 2011 “Final Four” consist of #4 Kentucky, #3 Connecticut, #8 Butler and #11 VCU. Neither Butler or VCU even made it into the AP’s top 25 NCAA Basketball poll. So who is laughing now? This is the second trip to the Final Four for Butler in as many years. This time they did it by beating #1 Pitt, #4 Wisconsin and #2 Florida. You can’t say they didn’t earn it.
As for VCU, they appear to have quickly become America’s Sweethearts. After beating USC in the “First Four” play-in game, Virginia Commonwealth bested #6 Georgetown, #3 Purdue and #10 Florida State en route to beating #1 overall Kansas to earn their Final Four berth.
Butler and VCU are the big stories, but NONE of these teams were still expected to be here at this stage of the tournament. The Final Four games tip off on Saturday as the two fairytale teams, Butler and VCU, have to play each other at 6pm EST in Houston. UConn and Kentucky face each other later on that evening with the NCAA Men’s Championship game being on Monday the 4th, also in Reliant Stadium.
Below is a printable bracket showing the results of all but the final three games of the 2011 Tournament. Click here or the bracket below for a full-sized, easily printable PDF:
Enjoy the remaining games of the 2011 Tournament. We’ll cover the final three games, but we’ll most likely concentrate on the cheerleaders.
