Bill Walton
Bill Walton.
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  • Bill Walton has graduated from NBA legend to the most perplexing commentator in basketball.
  • Walton made a rather absurd Final Four prediction involving his beloved Pac 12 basketball.
  • Now with only eight teams remaining in March Madness, Walton looks like a genius.
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Bill Walton knows ball.

The NBA legend-turned-college basketball commentator is one of the most compelling, if perplexing, figures in a sport that is full of characters.

Walton's take on color commentary is that it does not have to always be about basketball, often enlightening viewers with facts about art, geography, and some psychedelic philosophizing in the middle of a late-night Pac-12 broadcast on ESPN.

Heading into March Madness this year, Walton made a fairly bold prediction for his Final Four, refusing to pick any No. 1 seed to reach the semifinals.

Instead, as his play-by-play partner Dave Pasch revealed at the start of the tournament, Walton picked five Pac-12 teams to reach the final weekend of action.

As Pasch points out, there were a few issues with Walton's predictions that are immediately apparent. His Final Four featured five teams, including twice putting two teams from the same region of the bracket into the national semifinals.

But beyond that, these were some pretty bold picks. The highest-ranked seed of the bunch was No. 5 Colorado, followed by No. 6 USC, No. 7 Oregon, and No. 12 Oregon State. UCLA, an 11-seed heading into the tournament, even had to survive a First Four matchup to make the true bracket field of 64.

One could chalk Walton's predictions up to blatant homerism, but now with just eight teams remaining in the tournament, it is Walton who is getting the last laugh.

Thus far, the Pac-12 is 13-2 through 15 games played in March Madness, and one of those two losses came in a Sweet 16 battle between two Pac-12 schools - USC and Oregon. Heading into the start of the Elite Eight on Monday night, the Pac-12 is represented by three of the eight schools remaining.

On Sunday morning, Walton took a bit of a victory lap on ESPN's College Gameday while previewing the day's coming action.

It's going to be tough for the Pac-12 to keep the good vibes going through the Elite Eight all the way to the Final Four - all three Pac-12 teams are significant underdogs in their next games - but given the run they've been on so far this tournament, there's no reason to stop believing now.

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