NCAA Women’s Final Four is this weekend in North Carolina, with all three games shown live on ESPN2. The premiere semifinal is North Carolina vs. UCLA in what should be the game of the year. The two have been ranked No. 1 and No. 2 most of the season; the Tarheels are undefeated and untied, while handing the Bruins their only loss of the year; neither team has allowed a goal yet in the tournament, while scoring 32 between them. UCLA is good, but UNC is just scary — Cat Reddick, who starred for the U.S. in the recent World Cup, is only one of six Tarheels who are also on the U.S. National Team. The first semifinal pits 11th-seeded Florida State vs. unseeded Connecticut; either will be a decided underdog in the final. Semifinals: Fri., Dec. 5: FSU-U.Conn, 11am; UNC-UCLA, 1:30pm. Final: Sun., Dec. 7, 1pm. All live on ESPN2.
Men’s Final Four is next weekend, Dec. 12-14, in Columbus, Ohio, and again, ESPN2 will show all three games. The quarterfinals are this weekend, with first and second seeds UCLA and Maryland looking like strong favorites to make it to the finals.
European Champions League: The final games of group play are this Tuesday-Wednesday, Dec. 9-10. In ESPN2’s game of the week (Tuesday, 1:30pm), Spain’s Celta Vigo needs a win at AC Milan to advance to the round of 16; Milan’s already clinched a spot. I’d guess that other games will be on in your favorite sports pub — notably Arsenal vs. Lokomotiv Moscow and Glasgow Celtic vs. Lyon, both at 1:45pm Wednesday, and with both British clubs needing a positive result to advance.
Euro2004 Championship draw was announced over the weekend, and while there’s no obvious “Group of Death,” a few interesting matchups suggest themselves: France and England in the same group; Spain and host Portugal in the same group; Italy facing the easiest route; and Germany, Holland, and the Czech Republic the hardest. The quadrennial tournament takes place next June in Portugal; oddsmakers have France the early favorite.
This article appears in December 5 • 2003.