If I'm wrong, blame my mom

So despite all the upsets, despite all the madness and after all has been said and done, the nation's undisputed top two teams will meet tonight with the national championship on the line.\nTonight's title bout portrays the classic contrast of style versus substance, glamour versus grit and all the other cliché sports jargon you can think of.\nRepresenting the substance and grit, we have Big Ten regular season and tournament champion, Illinois. The nation's No. 1 team for 14 consecutive weeks heading into the NCAA Tournament, the Illini secured their first title shot in the school's history behind stellar backcourt play and an undervalued head coach in Bruce Weber. The orange and blue made a serious run at the 1976 Hoosier undefeated season, and thanks to a three-pointer by Ohio State's Matt Sylvester, the '76 team remains atop the record books as the last team to finish a season unblemished.\nThen there is the glamour team from the glamour conference. North Carolina represents style in such a way they have attacked Crayola's monopoly on color names, forcing the switch from powder blue to the annoying Carolina blue. The Heels, in their 16th Final Four in school history, woke up during the second half of Saturday's National Semifinal against Michigan State, and moved UNC alum and long-suffering head coach Roy Williams within one win of capturing that long elusive national title.\nBoth teams start three juniors and two seniors. However, the Tar Heels start four McDonald's All-Americans (Jawad Williams, Rashad McCants, Raymond Felton and Bloomington's own Sean May) compared to the Illini's one high school All-American (Dee Brown). Then there's the presence of the potential No. 1 draft pick in this year's NBA Draft coming off the bench in the form of yet another Ronald special, Marvin Williams.\nCarolina has played in six games where The Associated Press poll's No. 1 and No. 2 teams have faced each other, and in those half-dozen games, the Heels are a perfect 6-0. \nTonight's contest marks the first final game in which the No. 1 and No. 2 teams in the country will meet for the championship since UCLA defeated Kentucky in 1975.\nThis year's NCAA Tournament started with 65 teams, and for the first time in 30 years the top two have dodged the bullets, squeaked by the close calls and forged the unlikeliest of comebacks to setup the match-up America most wanted to see -- No. 1 versus No. 2.\nSo who's going to win? I would boast about having UNC win the title all along, but I feel compelled to disclose the fact I had Oklahoma State, Syracuse and Wake Forest joining them in St. Louis. \nSo am I sticking with the Heels, proving to myself that no matter how long ago I tore up my bracket, the genius that lies within still persevered? Of course, then there's the fact my AOL screen name begins with the word "ILLINI." It's also my mom's alma mater, whose request to include an essay in its admission application coupled with the omnipresent stench of horse manure forced this future writer to abandon the Illini cause. \nSo in her honor, I pick our Big Ten neighbors, and if I'm wrong, forward your e-mails to her.