LOOK: Dick Vitale reveals his Final Four prediction

With the NCAA Tournament bracket finally revealed, Dick Vitale has released his Final Four picks. On a dry erase board, the ESPN analyst sharpied in Gonzaga, Iowa, Kentucky and Tennessee to make it to New Orleans.

Vitale then has Kentucky facing Iowa in the national championship, with the Wildcats coming out on top.

The Volunteers and Hawkeyes also made Vitale’s list of NCAA Tournament snubs, as he claimed both teams should have been seeded higher after winning their respective conference tournaments. Tennessee received a three seed, but Vitale said in his tweet he would have liked to see the Volunteers as a two. He isn’t the only one to think so, as Kentucky coach John Calipari also vouched for Tennessee after losing to them in the SEC Tournament on Saturday.

Thanks Jimmy for sharing as @cbsgreggumbel @ClarkKelloggCBS & @SethDavisHoops r terrific ppl . So so nice of them as I have great RESPECT for them . Feel trapped not being able to speak for 2 months .Have a major exam in Boston on vocal cords 🙏🙏🙏for good news. pic.twitter.com/A8eYzWU5xL

— Dick Vitale (@DickieV) March 14, 2022

Iowa defeated Purdue by a score of 75-66 on Sunday to claim the Big Ten crown. Sophomore forward Keegan Murray stole the show, averaging 25.8 points across the Hawkeyes’ four conference tournament games. Murray’s 26 points in a quarterfinal game against Rutgers allowed him to surpass Luka Garza and become the school’s single-season leading scorer.

By picking Iowa to make it out of the Midwest region, Vitale is also saying Kansas will advance no further than the Sweet Sixteen and No. 2 seed Auburn no further than the Elite Eight.

While Tennessee and Iowa are what many would consider underdog picks, Kentucky and Gonzaga are far from it. The Bulldogs are the No. 1 overall seed while the Wildcats have been highly touted all season long. Both teams have players who are Naismith Player of the Year semifinalists in Chet Holmgren and Oscar Tshiebwe.

The reason Dick Vitale did not talk about his Final Four predictions on air is because the broadcasting legend has been battling with cancer over the past several months. He recently had surgery on his vocal chords, which has rendered him unable to speak.

In spite of this, the ever-upbeat Vitale remains as excited as he always is for the beginning of March Madness. The SEC recently honored him at its conference tournament on Saturday, as the good news came last month that he was in remission after a successful surgery. Vitale hopes to make a return to television next season.

More on Dick Vitale’s battle with cancer

Vitale has been chronicling his journey through cancer treatment since his lymphoma diagnosis in October. He managed to call a few college basketball games this season, including Dayton’s buzzer-beating game-winner over Kansas in November. But he ended having to step away from the microphone in January to rest his vocal cords. That led to a wealth of support from across the college basketball world — and many across the landscape chimed in on Twitter to celebrate the milestone in his journey.

As recently as last week, Vitale still wasn’t able to talk. Prior to Mike Krzyzewski’s final game at Cameron Indoor Stadium, ESPN shared the letter he wrote to Coach K — and Vitale’s good friend Dave Pasch provided the voiceover.

Vitale has been a staple at ESPN since joining the network 41 years ago. He coached at the college level as an assistant at Rutgers and served as Detroit Mercy’s head coach from 1973-77. Vitale served as the Detroit Pistons head coach from 1978-79 before he got a microphone in his hand, eventually becoming one of the most beloved figures in college basketball. This was his second battle with cancer, and once again, he came out on top.

The madness hasn’t started yet, but we already have the first big March victory.

On3’s Stephen Samra contributed to this report.