The Final Four will tip off Saturday afternoon at 5:09 CT/6:09 ET with the Illinois Fighting Illini squaring off with the somewhat Cinderella UConn Huskies. You could say both teams are Cinderellas, and prolific ones at that. The Fighting Illini had an easy time with Iowa in the South Regional of the Elite Eight Saturday evening, while the Huskies came back from a 19 point first half deficit to shock No.1 seeded Duke in the East Regional Sunday in a dynamic basketball game. More on that below.

That game featuring a pair of overachievers will be followed by, at approximately 7:40 CT/8:40 ET, a pair of Goliaths in college basketball this season, the Michigan Wolverines and the Arizona Wildcats. Michigan easily disposed of Tennessee in the Midwest Regional Final Sunday, while the Wildcats took care of business handily against Purdue in the Western Regional on Saturday Night. There is off the charts NBA talent on these two rosters.

Here are predictions for these two classics on Saturday at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indy.

Record for the Sweet 16 Games

Straight up: 1-7, Overall: 9-14; ATS: 1-7, 8-15; Over/Under: 3-5, 14-8.

I told Excedrin “Gameological” Bates last Thursday that I was taking the Tom Cruise/RiskyBusiness approach to the Sweet 16 picks: “Sometimes you gotta say, what the…Heck?” So I took some chances with the picks. Didn’t work out like I wanted, but you just gotta get back up when you’re knocked down and try again as Bear Bryant liked to say.

Final Four Games

Saturday

Game 1

No.3 Illinois (29-8) vs. No. 2 UConn (33-5)

Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis (70,000)

5:09 CT/6:09 ET

TBS/truTV/HBO Max, a lot of options

Ian (Bird) Eagle, Bill, Grant, Trace, Gene (Rules)

Pregame, Halftime, Postgame: Ernie, Kenny, Charles, Special K, Bruuuce

TV Timeouts: Samual L. Charles, Spike Lee Joint, Earvin, Jenn, Caitlin

Illini by 2 1/2, 139 1/2

What a comeback by the Huskies on Sunday. Freshman Braylon Mullins, from Greenfield,Indiana, connected on a trifecta from downtown French Lick (35 feet) with .4 seconds lefton the clock to send the Huskies to the Final Four. Mullins is going home to try and win a national championship. I like him and these amazing Huskies to do just that. Meanwhile,Duke keeps scratching their head about their young coach, Jon Scheyer (38 years old), and these five-star freshmen that seem to gag in the clutch. But it’s nothing new. They gagged several times under Mike Krzyzewski as well, though he did win 5 national titles. Still think Wooden was better. UConn under Dan Hurley has already won back to back national titles in 2023 and 2024.

UConn 74, Illinois 70

Game 2

No.1 Michigan vs. No.1 Arizona

Lucas Oil

7:49 CT/8:49 ET

TBS/truTV/HBO Max

Same crew calling game, doing pregame/halftime/postgame and commercials

Michigan by 1 1/2, 157 1/2

I’ll take the great UAB power forward transfer, Yax Lendeborg, UNC transfer point guard Elliot Cadeau, and the Wolverines to play UConn in the National Championship Game.

Michigan 80, Zona 78