First, the results of last week's predictions:
— NCAA Tournament Elite Eight, North Carolina-Notre Dame. Prediction: 7.5; final rating: 5.8.
— NCAA Tournament Elite Eight, Syracuse-Virginia. Prediction: 5.8; final rating: 4.5.
— NCAA Tournament Elite Eight, Villanova-Kansas. Prediction: 6.2; final rating: 6.7.
— NCAA Tournament Elite Eight, Oklahoma-Oregon. Prediction: 5.0; final rating: 4.6.
— PGA/WGC Match Play Championships, final. Prediction: 2.7; final rating: 2.0.
— NCAA Women's Frozen Four Final. Prediction: 0.3; final rating: 0.4.
This week's predictions:
NCAA Men’s Final Four, North Carolina-Syracuse (8:49 p.m. Saturday, TBS, TNT and TruTV). NCAA Tournament viewership is at a four-year low entering Saturday’s Final Four, and the downward trend is almost certain to continue. Last year’s Final Four games were unusually strong draws, especially Wisconsin’s upset of Kentucky — which had the highest rating in the round since 1998 (12.4). While North Carolina and Syracuse are two college hoops bluebloods, expect a significant decline. Prediction: 9.1.
NCAA Men’s Final Four, Oklahoma-Villanova (6:09 p.m. Saturday, TBS, TNT and TruTV). Buddy Hield has been the star of the NCAA Tournament, but that has not translated to higher ratings. With a fairly low profile opponent in Villanova, look for Saturday’s game to have a steep decline from last year’s 8.7 for Duke-Michigan State. Prediction: 7.6.
NCAA Women’s Final Four, UConn-Oregon State (6:00 p.m. Sunday, ESPN). Not even the Warriors are as sure a thing as UConn, which enters the Women’s Final Four with only three Cinderellas between them and another championship. Despite the apparent lack of drama, expect a modest increase for their semifinal matchup with Oregon State — which will be sandwiched between a pair of Opening Day baseball games. Last year’s early game between Notre Dame and South Carolina had a 1.2. Prediction: 1.4.
MLB Opening Night, Mets-Royals (8:30 p.m. Sunday, ESPN). Major League Baseball Opening Night features a rematch of last year’s World Series. While Royals-Mets was not a spectacular draw, it did well for FOX and finished with the highest Game 5 rating since 2003. Look for that momentum to carry into Sunday’s opener. Last year’s Cardinals-Cubs matchup had a 2.0 on ESPN2. Prediction: 2.3.
NBA regular season, Rockets-Thunder (3:30 p.m. Sunday, ABC). The Rockets make their second ABC appearance of the season, two too many. Expect a steep decline from last year’s 2.8 for Bulls-Cavaliers. Prediction: 1.8.
NASCAR Sprint Cup from Martinsville (1 p.m. Sunday, Fox Sports 1). NASCAR makes its season debut on Fox Sports 1 with Sunday’s race from Martinsville. Last year, the network scored a 2.4 for the race, which marked its Sprint Cup debut. Considering the downward trend for NASCAR this season — all five races have declined — expect an even lower number this time around. Prediction: 2.3.
Paulsen is the founder of Sports Media Watch and a contributor for Sporting News. Follow him on Twitter @Paulsen_SMW .