The Coin Toss: And then there were four...

Welcome to The Coin Toss, where I make some bold, unlikely predictions about your favorite sports.

Before spring break, I made some predictions for the first round of the NCAA tournament. I correctly predicted two upsets: (11) Xavier over (6) Maryland and (11) URI over (6) Creighton. (10) VCU lost their first round match-up, busting my third prediction. Still, a successful week with two correct picks out of three.

My overall bracket was not as successful. I had some early picks right, but all of my final four teams (Kansas, Duke, Arizona and UCLA) got knocked out. Perhaps that doesn't help my credibility much, but I have been watching the tournament and I'll try to take a stab at the final four games coming up this weekend. Let's get to it...

(3) Oregon over (1) UNC

This was a tough match-up to pick, but I'm taking Oregon to reach the finals. There are a couple of motivating factors here. First of all, the Ducks have been burning me on my bracket. I had them losing early due to Chris Boucher's injury, but they have gone on an incredible run to reach the Final Four. Secondly, Oregon has a ton of momentum coming out of its big Elite Eight win over (1) Kansas. Tyler Dorsey was scoring with ease, with 27 points on 9-13 shooting. Ten of his 13 shots were three balls, and he made six of them. That was also Dorsey's seventh straight game with 20 or more points. Junior forward Dillon Brooks was hot on the offensive side of the ball as well, as he scored 17. Perhaps the biggest factor in Oregon's win was forward Jordan Bell, who was a lockdown defender and grabbing rebounds all over the court. Bell had eight blocks and 13 rebounds in the game.The junior also added 11 points on five-of-six shooting.

Oregon hasn't been to the Final Four since 1939, and it will face UNC, which is participating in its twentieth Final Four. It will be a challenge for the Ducks, but it's hard to pick against them after they proved me wrong throughout the tournament. I'll take Oregon over UNC in this one.

(1) Gonzaga over (7) South Carolina

Here we have a match-up of two teams in their first Final Four appearances. South Carolina was perhaps the biggest bracket buster in this tournament. It defeated (2) Duke, (3) Baylor and (4) Florida in the east region. They've beaten a two-seed, a three-seed and a four-seed, but I think the first-seeded Bulldogs will be too much for them.

South Carolina's Sindarius Thornwell has been torching defenses throughout the tournament, but he hasn't faced a defense like Gonzaga's. You can bet Gonzaga will focus on Thornwell and force him into some contested shots. Gonzaga had a hard time on the boards against Xavier, as it wasn't boxing out quite well enough. This led to only three rebounds from Przemek Karnowski, one of the team's top rebounders. The Bulldogs saw some great scoring from Nigel Williams-Goss (23 points) and Johnathan Williams (19 points). Their defense won them the game, however, as they held Xavier to 35 percent shooting.

Gonzaga's defense has taken them this far, and it will get them the win over the 'Cinderella' of this Final Four, South Carolina. The pick is in: the Bulldogs will take down the Gamecocks.