Final Four Packed With Intrigue

The 2024 men’s Final Four is all set. Yesterday, Purdue and NC State punched their tickets to State Farm Stadium in Phoenix, Arizona. The Boilermakers and Wolfpack will join defending national champion UConn and first-timer Alabama in this year’s Final Four. 

It’s an interesting Final Four as two No. 1 seeds advanced to the Final Four just one year after none of the top seeds made it to the Elite Eight. Alabama (25-11) has never been this far. The Crimson Tide pounded a bunch of threes in the second half of Saturday’s 89-82 win over Clemson. NC State became just the sixth No. 11 seed to make the Final Four. 

No. 11 & The Final Four

The No. 11 seed is the lowest seed to have ever advanced to a Final Four. LSU in 1986 was the first to ever do so. The Tigers lost in the national semifinals to Louisville, who ultimately won the national title. 

A No. 11 seed in the Final Four didn’t happen again until 2006, twenty years later. George Mason stunned the tournament’s No. 1 overall seed, UConn, in the Elite Eight to clinch a spot in the Final Four. George Mason would also lose in the Final Four to eventual national champion Florida.

VCU in 2011, Loyola-Chicago in 2018, and UCLA in 2021 are the other three No. 11 seeds to advance to the Final Four. All of them lost in their semifinal game. No. 11 seed has ever played for a national championship. 

Sports Hub Has You Covered for the Final Four

Here at Sports Hub, our world renowned handicappers are already hard at work breaking down the data for this coming weekend’s Final Four matchups. We will have the best Final Four picks for all of our members. If you’re not a member yet, sign up today. It’s free and you’ll gain access to all of our best college basketball handicappers like James Acker and Sal Lombardi.

Over the last two weeks, James has made 20 CBB picks and hit on 15 of them. He’s made almost $1000 in the last 14 days just on college basketball. It’s no fluke either. For the season, he’s up $2114, hitting 60.32 percent of his NCAAB picks.

Uncle Sal is actually are most consistent college basketball handicapper of the season. He has hit 57.21 percent of his CBB picks this season and has gained $3845 in profits! Over the course of the NCAA tournament, Sal is 36-22 (62.07%) and has added $945 to his college basketball bankroll.

Yet Another Stellar Day for Our Handicappers

Sal isn’t just a basketball guy. In fact, his specialty is baseball where he just happens to be 21-7 on his MLB picks so far this season. Yesterday, Sal did it again and wound up in Top 5. The top spot went to our partners at Scores & Stats, the Sas Insider.

Let’s take a look at how they did.

• Inside man: Sas Insider went 13-8 on a combination of MLB and NBA picks. The total take was $431. That was tops for yesterday. 
• Uncle Sal keeps it up: We already mentioned how well Sal has performed. Yesterday, he was No. 2 on the board, going 8-4 and adding another $310 to his already fat bankroll. 
• My cousin Computer Picks: Yep, my favorite cousin Computer Picks fired up the generators again and nailed three more NBA picks and collected $300.
• Chief Logan: Also collecting $300 in profits was Logan Wilson, another of our outstanding exclusive handicappers. Logan has been picking up steam. He’s 7-3 over the last three days. 
• The rest of the crew: Three more exclusive SportsHub cappers went 2-0 and earned $200 – Gino Russo, Patrick Doyle, and Robert Jones.

Crunch Time in the NBA

It’s time to dig deep and make it happen for a handful of NBA teams. The Eastern Conference is pretty much set. Boston will have the No. 1 seed. Miami and Philly still have a chance to avoid the play-in tournament. The Heat are 1.5 games out of sixth place. The Sixers are two games back.

The West is tight, even at the top where Oklahoma City and Denver are the only two teams to have clinched playoff berths. OKC is a half-game ahead of the Nuggets. Minnesota is one game out of first, sitting in third place currently. Spots 4 through 6 are separated by just two games. Sacramento and Phoenix are just two games out of sixth place. The final two weeks of the regular season will be very interesting.

Let’s look at what’s trending.

• Men’s Final Four: Two No. 1 seeds, a No. 4, and a No. 11 make up the 2024 men’s Final Four. It all starts this Saturday at 6:09 p.m. ET when NC State takes on Purdue. Alabama and UConn follow at 8:49 p.m. ET.
• Women’s Final Four: What’s interesting is that both the NC State men’s and women’s basketball teams advanced to this year’s Final Four. If the UConn women can beat No. 1 seed USC tonight, they too would join the UConn men in the Final Four.

• Knicks news: Teammate Josh Hart spoke to the media after the Knicks loss to the Thunder last night. He hinted that starters Julius Randle, OG Anunoby, and Mitchell Robinson will not return during the regular season.
• Mavs-Rockets: Houston was busy making a run at the play-in tournament, winning 11 straight before losing 125-107 to Dallas yesterday. The Rockets are two games out of 10th place, sitting behind Golden State who they will play on Thursday after facing Minnesota on Tuesday. Dallas is now tied for fifth in the West after winning seven straight and 11 of their last 12.
• UFL Week 1: It was the first weekend of the UFL and defense ruled. All four losing teams were held to 16 points or less in the league’s first week of play.

April Fool’s Day Schedule

If you’re old enough or just a well-informed sports fan, you may remember when Sports Illustrated pulled off one of the more memorable sports-related April Fool’s Day jokes. George Plimpton, a well-known sports journalist, put together an article on a guy named Hayden Siddhartha Finch. 

Sidd Finch was an orphan who studied yoga in Tibet and could somehow throw a fastball 168 miles per hour. He was the next big thing in MLB. Only he wasn’t. He was a fictional character that was made up by Plimpton. The sports world was buzzing with the news of Finch only to learn it was an April Fool’s Day joke.

No April Fool’s day jokes from Sports Hub today. Just straight up sports.

Here’s today’s schedule.

1. MLB Series 2: With Opening Day completed, most teams have finished the first series of the 2024 MLB season. Now, it’s on to series No. 2. If you look at the MLB standings, you’ll see something you don’t see very often. The Detroit Tigers (4-0) lead the AL Central and the Pittsburgh Pirates (4-0) lead the NL Central. Both teams play today. The Pirates are in Washington and the Tigers play at Yankee Stadium.
2. Down ‘n dirty time in the NBA: Eight games remain for most NBA teams. Boston has clinched the top spot in the East and only Oklahoma City and Denver have clinched playoff spots in the West. It should be an interesting two weeks as teams battle for seeding and to stay out of the play-in tournament. 

3. Another Final Four awaits: South Carolina and NC State advanced to the NCAAW Final Four with victories yesterday. Two more spots in the women’s Final Four will be filled tonight. LSU takes on Caitlin Clark and Iowa for one spot. UConn faces USC for the other.
4. NHL stretch run: NHL teams are down to 10 games or less for the regular season. The Bruins, Rangers, Panthers, and Hurricanes have all clinched playoff spots in the East. The Stars, Avalanche, and Canucks have done the same in the West. There are eight games on the schedule tonight. Edmonton is at St. Louis tonight in the ESPN+/Hulu game. The Oilers will likely make the postseason. The Blues (39-31-4) trail fourth-place Nashville (43-27-4) by eight points in the Central Division.
5. Big soccer day in England: After a big Premier League weekend, the rest of England will be teeming with soccer today. The English League Championship, English League One, English League Two, and English National League all have multiple matches today.
6. Men’s tennis: After Jannick Sinner’s win at the Miami Open, the men are off to three new ATP Tour tournaments. First round play is today in the Fayiz Sarofim & Co. US Men’s Clay Court Championships, the Millenium Estoril Open, and the Grand Prix Hassan II in Marrakesh.
7. Women’s tennis: Danielle Collins took the win in the women’s Miami Open. Now, the women are off to three separate WTA Tour events. It’s first round play in the Charleston Open, the Copa Colsanitas, and the Open Internacional Femini Solgirones.

Today will mostly be anticlimatic after a wild weekend in college basketball. With the Final Four set, we can get back to the remainder of the NBA and NHL seasons as well as the start of the new MLB campaign. As always, Sports Hub is here to guide you and, more importantly, serve up the best sports picks in the industry. 

You can access those picks for today’s action right now. Visit the picks database and search what you are looking for. If you’re not a member, join for free and join the biggest revolution in the sports handicapping world!