Looking back, looking Four-ward

He had the pages ready to go to the publisher. Our resident expert saw North Carolina with a 10-point lead late in the second half — "Come on," he said to his bobbleheads, "when has a Roy Williams-coached team ever choked in a tournament game?!" — and knew he could finally publish his first book.

The working title: "How I, the one and only Bracket Boy, correctly picked the entire Final Four."

"The current version is 1,219 pages long," our bracketologist said. "And to think, I left out so much."

But then it happened, one play after another. The Tar Heels, the most talented team left in the tournament, started to self-destruct against the Georgetown zone. The lead was nine. Then seven. Then five.

Then, after BB climbed from under the secret laboratory sofa about two hours later, with the Tar Heels still looking for a #@$#@ basket, the phone rang. "Uh, Mr. Boy. This is the Bracket World Publishing Corp. We’re going to need you to send that book advance back."

"Um ... but I already spent the money!"

So once again, our resident expert is shut out from his lifelong dream of correctly predicting the entire Final Four. He had Florida, Ohio State and UCLA. He did not have Georgetown.

"UGHHHH!!!!"

But his intense financial and emotional pain does not diminish the fact that this will be a great Final Four. So why not look ahead — with your brackets in mind, of course. If you picked ...

OHIO STATE

You should feel good about your pick because ... the Buckeyes have the look of a team of destiny, with two narrow escapes in the second and third rounds. Mike Conley Jr. can break down any defense and Ron Lewis is the biggest clutch performer in the field. Oh, and Greg Oden? He’s a future NBA All-Star.

Then again ... it’s a little hard to feel overconfident when you picked a team liable to disappear for long stretches.

UCLA

You should feel good about your pick because ... nobody plays defense in this Final Four like the Bruins do. Just look at the points they allow to get here — 55, 55, 51 and 49. They also have experience, losing in the championship game against Florida last year. "And come on," BB said, "this is UCLA."

Then again ... they have great chemistry, but talent-wise, the Bruins might rank fourth out of these teams.

FLORIDA

You should feel good about your pick because ... hey, they’re the defending champs. They know how to do this. They have three first-round draft picks in their lineup. They are outstanding defensively. "What more do you need?" BB said. "They’re really good."

Then again ... when the Gators won it last year, they had a much easier road that they will this time.

GEORGETOWN

You should feel good about your pick because ... you watched the final seven minutes and overtime yesterday. That is probably the best stretch of basketball a team has played in this tournament. They were efficient offensively, clutch from the perimeter and limited the Tar Heels to one (often bad) look at the basket.

Then again ... the Hoyas’ 7-foot-2 center, Roy Hibbert, is prone to foul trouble and they’re not very deep.