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Basketball, Baseball and Square Roots

The NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament Comes to a Close

This regular season of college basketball turned out to be wild and unpredictable, so fans hoped that the NCAA Tournament would be the same.

The first weekend of the tournament played out just like the regular season, with upsets and potential Cinderellas. Reality came crashing down during the second weekend as most of the upstarts went home, and the major conferences or basketball powers from non-football conferences were the only programs still standing.

Slowly, the tournament turned into the Atlantic Coast Conference invitational. Seven teams from the ACC got into the tournament, and six went to the Sweet Sixteen. Four ACC teams reached the Elite Eight and two reached the Final Four.

The ACC was so dominant in this tournament that three out of the six of the conference's losses have come at the hands of other ACC teams. University of Wisconsin's win over University of Pittsburgh, University of Oregon's win over Duke University and Villanova University's win over University of Miami (Fla.) were the only non-ACC on ACC losses.

So what began as wild and unpredictable became a question of whether anyone could stop the conference's march to end up as the eventual champion. The uncertainty became full-on blowouts in the Final Four as the University of North Carolina and Villanova rolled Syracuse and the University of Oklahoma, respectively.

Tonight, either the Tar Heels or the Wildcats will win a national championship.

This run in the tournament is something positive for North Carolina after an academic scandal rocked the school. UNC is still waiting for the NCAA to decide what will happen after former athletes and students were found to be taking no-show classes, where students signed up to take a class but didn’t ever see the inside of a classroom even though they earned high grades.

Villanova on the other hand, is living life like it is 1985. The eighth-seeded Wildcats were the last team to win a title with no shot clock.

On its way to the title in 1985, Villanova beat North Carolina, but the Tar Heels won titles in 1993, 2005 and 2009. The Wildcats are looking for their second title in program history.

This game should feature two great defenses and two solid coaches. Villanova reached the final without a possible NBA player on the roster. North Carolina looks for its sixth title and is seemingly always loaded with top talent.

The Wildcats are a team where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. UNC is athletic and long and can control the paint area.

This matchup is the best overall team against the best conference. North Carolina is a three-point favorite in Las Vegas, but Ken Polmeroy’s model favorites Villanova.

Coverage starts at 8 p.m. on TBS for the national broadcast, TNT will provide the homer call for North Carolina, and Tru TV will give the Villanova homer call.

MLB Begins

While college basketball will end tonight, MLB is just beginning. Opening day in baseball is one of the best parts of sports.

Kids all over the country are may spend the day at the ballpark with their dads, moms, uncles, aunts or grandparents. It is a tradition as old as baseball itself.

Opening day got split up between yesterday and today. The Pittsburgh Pirates already got the first win of the season and defending World Series champions, Kansas City Royals, also got a win.

The Toronto Blue Jays also got a win over the Tampa Bay Rays. Chris Archer, Tampa Bay pitcher, became the first pitcher to strike out 12 batters on opening day and lose since Hall of Famer Bob Gibson did so in 1975.

Kansas City won a rematch of last year’s World Series in a 4-3 victory over the New York Mets. The Pirates' Francisco Liriano tied a franchise record with 10 opening day strikeouts in a 4-1 win over the St. Louis Cardinals.

New York Yankees and Houston Astros fans will have to wait another day, as those team's opening day matchup has been postponed due to rain. But there will be plenty of other games to watch.

ESPN is showing the Texas Rangers against the Seattle Mariners at 3 p.m., followed by the Los Angeles Dodgers against the San Diego Padres. The day on ESPN networks ends with a matchup of the Chicago Cubs against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim on ESPN2.

Fans of the Atlanta Braves can watch their opening day game against the Washington Nationals on Fox Sports Southeast. First pitch for that game is scheduled for 3:10 p.m. today.

Just remember, baseball is a marathon—not a sprint. Pace yourself throughout the day.

Square Root Day

Also of note is the fact that today, April 4, is Square Root Day, an unofficial holiday that falls on days when the day of the month and the month itself are the square root of the last two numbers of the year. Four is the square root of 16, so this year, the holiday falls on April 4, 2016.

This year's Square Root Day marks a historical convergence between the two holidays. So besides binge-watch baseball, what do you do on Square Root Day? Squarerootday.net says you can "get things squared away, try to fit a square peg into a round hole, go square dancing, tie a square knot, travel on Route 66, drink root beer from a square glass, root for the underdog, eat a square meal, or watch the pigs root around."

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