With this weekend?s Final Four slated to feature three teams that barely survived the second round, it is important to realize that past teams have gone on to win the national championship despite barely escaping the early rounds of the NCAA Tournament.  The old clich? suggests that basketball is 90% mental and 10% physical.  Knowing that previous squads have faced serious scares in the second round only to cut down the nets at the end of the season is critical for a player?s mental preparation.  This postseason could feature the latest edition of a team who overcame an early rude awakening by an inferior opponent.

Three of the Final Four teams fought battles early in the Tournament that were closer than anyone expected.  Only defending national champion Florida was able to finish the final 5-plus minutes of their second round contest without worry.  The Gators never panicked and finished 14 for 14 from the free throw line to seal the victory over the Purdue Boilermakers.  The same, however, cannot be said about their fellow Final Four combatants.  

UCLA survived a 49-49 tie with a minute to go in their game against seventh-seed Indiana.  The Bruins stepped up their game and were able to squeeze out a 54-49 win over the Hoosiers.  Similarly, two-seed Georgetown led by only 1 after seventh-seed Boston College stormed back with less than 3 minutes to go in the game, but the Hoyas relied on Jeff Green and his multiple clutch 3-point plays to seal the victory.  

In perhaps the biggest second round scare, one-seeded Ohio State needed a courageous game-tying 3-pointer by Ron Lewis streaking down the court with only 2 seconds to go.  The Buckeyes would go on to easily handle the Xavier Musketeers in the extra period to advance into the Sweet 16.  

Despite these second round finishes that left their fans holding their hearts, these three basketball programs don?t need to worry.  Since the Tournament expanded from 48 to 53 teams in 1983, and from 53 to 64 teams in 1984, four teams have faced a scare in the second round, regrouped, and rallied off of the adrenaline from near-elimination to win the national championship.  

The following list does not include past underdog teams who survived nail biting second round victories, since all of the 2007 Final Four teams were favored in the Round of 32.  The 1985 national champion Villanova squad that upset Michigan by 4 in the second round.  The eight seeded Wildcats became the lowest seeded team to ever win the NCAA Men?s Division I Basketball championship.  

This list also does not include Jimmy Valvano?s 1983 North Carolina State team that upset UNLV by 1 in the second round.  Everyone remembers Valvano running around the court looking for someone to hug after defeating Akeem Olajuwon?s Houston Cougars on a buzzer-beating Lorenzo Charles dunk off a 30-foot Derek Whittenburg air ball.  However, this year?s championship hopefuls can look to the following four teams to rally themselves to the title.

The fourth-seeded 1997 Arizona Wildcats were nearly upended by twelfth-seeded College of Charleston in the Round of 32.  However, sensational freshman Mike Bibby hit two key free throws with 2.3 seconds left as the Wildcats escaped with a 73-69 victory.  They became the first team in NCAA history to defeat three number-one seeds en route to a national title.  They eventually upset the defending national champion Kentucky Wildcats in the title game in overtime by a final score of 84-79.  

Perhaps the most memorable NCAA Tournament comeback in the second round was in 1995.  The top-seeded UCLA Bruins got a wake-up call when they trailed by their biggest halftime deficit of the season.  However, they rallied back into the game until Missouri scored to take a 1-point lead with only 4.8 seconds remaining.  Tyus Edney then received the in-bounds pass, raced all the way down the court, and put in a running floater over two big men.  That 75-74 win propelled them back to life, and they eventually captured an NCAA record eleventh national championship with an 89-78 win over Arkansas.  

Larry Brown?s six-seeded 1988 Kansas Jayhawks collectively held their breath in the second round of the Tournament when Don Mann?s bid for an upset rimmed in and out with 4 seconds left to go, down by one.  Most Outstanding Player Danny Manning and Kansas held off the fourteenth-seeded Murray State Racers en route to their second national championship over the Oklahoma Sooners, 83-79.

Finally, the 1984 Georgetown Hoyas survived a 37-36 contest over the Southern Methodist Mustangs in the second round.  This was actually the first game for Georgetown, since only 53 teams were in the Tournament.  However, the Hoyas held on to salvage a victory in this low-scoring game, only to storm back behind Most Outstanding Player Patrick Ewing and defeat Olajuwon and the Cougars by a final score of 84-75.

While these four teams get set to battle this weekend in the Georgia Dome, they can take solace in the fact that champions before them have tiptoed their ways out of the second round en route to the crown.  Interestingly, UCLA and Georgetown have already been in this predicament and emerged victorious, and thus should have even more faith than the ballers from Columbus.  Of course, this second round scare phenomena could be completely dismissed if the Gators chomp their way through the three wounded survivors.  

Feel free to contact Jason M. Williams with your thoughts and predictions on which team will win the 2007 NCAA Tournament.  He can be reached at [email protected] for comments.