Nothing breeds success like experience, and I predict that the lessons learned by Oklahoma last year will serve them well in New Orleans. The past three national champions all had players and coaches with previous Final Four experience. The Sooners will make it four and counting.
A Kentucky championship would go against recent trends. It would mean that the Wildcats would end the season with a 29-game winning streak, which no team has done in 25 years.
An underrated Illinois team will get revenge on the teams that have knocked them out of the NCAAs the past two years (Arizona in '01, Kansas in '02). Illinois is starts three first-year players but before you dismiss a team with a freshman point guard, remember Mike Bibby who helped lead Arizona to a title in 1997.
