The fact that the NBA Lockout continues doesn’t mean that there can be no basketball! On this 11-11-11, a new season of college hoops begins, as the long road to deciding the 2012 NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship tips off. Having loss Kemba Walker, the Connecticut Huskies likelihood of repeating as champs isn’t very likely. Then again, neither was coach’s Jim Calhoun run the National Title last season. 25 years and three championships later, coach Calhoun welcomes a new talented class of players to the program.

It is very hard to win back to back National Championships in any college sport, but it will be especially difficult for the Connecticut Huskies to repeat and cash in on their 2012 NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship predictions as a 12/1 longshot this season. The Huskies will start the season in the Top 10 in the nation, and many like their chances of contending once again in spite of the fact that Kemba Walker has left the school for the NBA.

The 2011 college basketball tournament will conclude on Monday as the #4 Connecticut Huskies will face the #8 Butler Bulldogs in the NCAAB championship game. Tip off for this game is set for 9:23pm ET on CBS with Houston's Reliant Stadium hosting this year’s big game. This game will feature two teams that struggled at some points during the regular season but both have peaked at the right time, and are currently the two hottest schools in the nation.

The 2011 NCAA tournament is down to its final stages with the one thing left to do is nail your championship predictions. The #3 Connecticut Huskies will be taking on the Butler Bulldogs in Houston on Monday, April 4th at 9:07pm ET. The Huskies will try to finish the season with their 11th straight victory as these are clearly the hottest teams in the nation at season’s end. Connecticut will be facing a Butler team that just seems to know how to get it done.

In a game that will generate more common Final Four bracket predictions; the #4 Kentucky Wildcats will face the #3 Connecticut Huskies on Saturday at 8:49pm ET on CBS. The teams met in November in the Maui Invitational final and the unranked Huskies ran off with an 84-67 victory over then #8 Kentucky. Both of these teams have changed a lot since then, mainly because the three freshmen who play key roles for both teams now have a full season under their belt. Both Jim Calhoun and John Calipari are elite coaches, but Calhoun has the edge in terms of experience.

The NCAA tournament has never faced bettors with such an unorthodox Final Four bracket prediction as it will when the #8 Butler Bulldogs square off against the #11 VCU Rams tonight at 6:09pm ET on CBS. These teams have become the highest combined seeds to ever meet in the Final Four in college basketball history.

Most 2011 NCAA Final Four predictions to win this year’s championship are coming from the major conference match-up between the #4 Kentucky Wildcats and the #3 Connecticut Huskies on Saturday at 8:49pm ET on CBS. Kemba Walker has taken Jim Calhoun’s Huskies on his back to bring Connecticut into the Final Four. Kentucky's Final Four betting odds are very strong though because they are coming off two monster victories, knocking off #1 Ohio State and #2 North Carolina.

In the one game where some people got their Final 4 picks correct, the #4 Kentucky Wildcats will take on the #3 Connecticut Huskies on Saturday, April 2nd at 8:39pm ET on CBS. The two more experienced teams and coaches will meet in Houston to decide who goes on to the 2011 title game to face the winner between VCU and Butler, which will have already played once this game tips-off. The Wildcats have put together two strong victories to make it to the Final 4. Kentucky first knocked off Jared Sullinger and the #1 Ohio State Buckeyes before knocking out the #2 UNC Tar Heels.

With the #11 VCU Rams and the #8 Butler Bulldogs becoming the highest combined seeds to ever match up in the semifinals of the NCAA tournament, we find ourselves making Final 4 predictions that we never thought we would. VCU had already made history by making it to the Sweet Sixteen and the Elite Eight, but then they made a statement with their decisive win over top-seeded Kansas. Butler is, well, Butler.

The way that the 2011 NCAA tournament has played out so far ensures the fact that we are in for a wild finish in Houston this weekend as we scramble to correct our 2011 Final Four picks and busted brackets. In the matchup between the two major conference teams, the #4 Kentucky Wildcats will try to end a nine game winning streak when they face the #3 Connecticut Huskies on Saturday, April 1st at 8:49pm ET on CBS. Connecticut defeated Kentucky 84-67 in Hawaii back in November, but both teams have improved greatly since that game.

The 2011 NCAA tournament dates have been set in Houston, Texas, and this year’s Final Four odds could not have been any more unpredictable. The #3 Connecticut Huskies survived their West Region championship game over the #5 Arizona Wildcats, barely beating the Wildcats 65-63.

The 2011 Final Four is set and surprisingly enough, every single number-one seed has been bounced from the tournament. The remaining teams that will battle it out in Houston, Texas will be #11 VCU, who will take on the #8 Butler Bears on Saturday, April 2nd at 6:09pm ET on CBS, and following that game, the #4 Kentucky Wildcats will battle the #3 Connecticut Huskies at 8:49pm ET on the same channel. Since all of the top teams have been bounced from this tournament already, that leaves the Kentucky Wildcats as the unlikely 2011 Final Four predictions favorite.

In Newark, New Jersey, the East Regional final will feature two of the most storied basketball programs of all time when the #4 Kentucky Wildcats try to continue their March Madness run against the #2 UNC Tar Heels on Sunday, March 27th at 5:05pm ET on CBS. Kentucky is coming of a huge win in the Sweet Sixteen where they knocked off the top-seeded Ohio State Buckeyes on Thursday night. North Carolina had a much easier time in their blowout win over Marquette. The Tar Heels led by 30 points in the first half of that game and never really looked back.

The March Madness continues, as the Southwest Regional final will feature the darlings of the 2011 NCAA tournament when the #11 VCU Rams take on the #1 Kansas Jayhawks on Sunday, March 27th at 2:20pm ET on CBS in San Antonio, Texas. The Jayhawks may receive their toughest test yet when the face a Rams team that has come so far during this year's tourney. VCU had to win their first game just to get into the bracket and since then, the only thing the Rams have done, is beat two very good teams by 18 points apiece before topping #10 FSU to get to the Elite 8.

The #8 Butler Bulldogs have done busted many March Madness picks once again; reaching the Elite Eight for the second straight season with their dominant win over the #4 Wisconsin Badgers on Thursday Night. The Bulldogs will now take on the #2 Florida Gators in the Southeast Regional final and tip-off time is set for Saturday, March 26th at 4:30pm ET from New Orleans, Louisiana. The winner of this game will advance to the Final Four in Houston, and if Butler can win this game, they’ll be making their second consecutive trip to the big stage.

The #3 Connecticut Huskies will take on the #5 Arizona Wildcats in Saturday's West Regional Final in Anaheim and tip-off at the Honda Center is slated for a 7:05pm ET on CBS. Connecticut opened as a 2½-point favorite with the total at 145 for this game, but the way that Arizona handled Duke on Thursday night, a lot of people have swayed their NCAA Elite Eight predictions in the Wildcats’ favor.

In the only Sweet 16 picks match-up between two double-digit seeds, the #11 VCU Rams will take on the #10 FSU Seminoles in the Southwest Region of the NCAA tournament on Friday, March 25th at 7:57pm ET on TBS, live from San Antonio Texas. Both of these teams have pulled off two upsets on their path to the Sweet Sixteen, and the winner of this game will advance to the Elite 8 to face the winner between #1 Kansas and #12 Richmond, for the right to represent the Southwest Region in Houston, Texas for the 2011 Final Four.

The first game of the Sweet Sixteen tournament picks schedule within the East Region will feature the #11 Marquette Golden Eagles squaring it off in Newark, New Jersey against the #2 UNC Tar Heels on Friday, March 25th at 7:15pm ET on CBS. The Tar Heels have been picked by many to win it all and even though they are one of the strongest teams in the tournament, they struggled mightily to dispose of the #7 Washington Huskies in the third round before closing out a three-point victory.

The Southeast Region’s Sweet 16 March Madness predictions continue when Jimmer Fredette and the #3 BYU Cougars take on the #2 Florida Gators on Thursday night at 7:27pm ET on TBS in New Orleans, Louisiana. Both of these teams have been very solid and quite decisive in their victories so far. BYU cruised by Wofford and Gonzaga by an average of ten points to bring them to their Sweet Sixteen match-up against the Gators. The Gators put a 28-point stomping on UC-Santa Barbara in their tournament opener, and then held off UCLA 73-65 in the round of 32.

The New Orleans Hornets (40-31) will clash with the Utah Jazz (36-36) on Thursday, March 24th at 9:00pm ET from the EnergySolutions Center in Salt Lake City, Utah. The Hornets will try to keep a hold on the seventh playoff spot in the Western Conference, while the Utah Jazz seem to have accepted the fact that the season that saw them lose their Hall of Fame coach and their star point guard, will come to an end with Utah missing the postseason for the first time in five seasons.

Kemba Walker will continue to lead his #3 Connecticut Huskies through the Sweet Sixteen predictions West Region schedule against the #2 San Diego State Aztecs on Thursday, March 25th at 7:15pm ET on CBS in Anaheim, California.  The Huskies have had an easier time navigating through the first three rounds of the NCAA tournament than the Aztecs have, and now these teams will now get it on with the winner moving into the Elite 8 to play the winner between #1 Duke and #5 Arizona for the right to play I the 2011 Final Four in Houston, Texas.

The top seeded Ohio State Buckeyes will look to continue their run in the East Region of the 2011 NCAA tournament when they take on the #4 Kentucky Wildcats in Newark on Friday, March 25th at 9:45pm ET on CBS. The Buckeyes have just sprinted through their first two games of the tournament and have had plenty of opportunities to limit their star players’ minutes as they approached their matchup with Kentucky. Kentucky on the other hand, played two excruciating games in the first weekend of the tournament and was almost upset by #13 Princeton in their tournament opener.

The New York Knicks (35-35) will be taking on the Orlando Magic (45-26), who have been inconsistent at times this season, but with their playoff future secure and the No. 4 spot all but certain they can now concentrate on preparing for a deep run this spring. The Knicks will be looking to avoid a fourth consecutive setback when they host the Magic on Wednesday at 8:00pm ET on ESPN in Madison Square Garden. New York has lost six of seven, falling to 7-9 since pulling off the deal that brought Carmelo Anthony and guard Chauncey Billups to New York.

In the Southwest Region of the 2011 NCAA Sweet 16 bracket predictions schedule, the top-seeded Kansas Jayhawks will be laying their NCAA odds on the line against the #12 Richmond Spiders on Friday, March 25th at 7:27 pm ET on TBS. The winner of this game will be one step closer to the reaching the Final Four, as the next obstacle would be the winner between #11 VCU and #10 FSU. Kansas has yet to be truly tested in this tournament, and this Richmond team is not going to be the team that knocks off the Jayhawks.

In the late game of the Southeast Region on Thursday night, the #8 Butler Bulldogs will continue their March Madness predictions schedule against the #4 Wisconsin Badgers at 9:57pm ET on TBS. The Bulldogs have had two nail-biters so far as they beat Old Dominion by two points in the second round before pulling off the one-point upset over #1 Pittsburgh in round three. The Badgers have had a little bit of an easier time one could say, cruising past Belmont in round two and then moving past Kansas State with a five-point win in the round of 32.