What a tournament! Even though the Final Four went according to plan and the four top seeds made it, this will be one to remember. We still had a Cinderella in Davidson and Stephen Curry. The little team that could beat Georgetown and Wisconsin behind Curry's silky smooth jumper. Not to mention the fact that Davidson was one possession of defeating the eventual champion Jayhawks.
But more importantly we didn't have a UNC-UCLA finals matchup. I'm sick of these schools always dominating the national spotlight. UNC is a media darling and an 18 wheel bandwagon for fairweather fans across the nation. Sure North Carolina has a rich basketball tradition, but so do a lot of other schools. They've been living off Michael Jordan's legacy for the last 20 years and will probably continue to do so. But fans forget that UNC probably doesn't have as rich a tradition as the East Coast bias would have us believe. Before the Michael Jordan era, UNC was hardly a tournament regular but had some finals appearances to their credit. Honestly, they are small beans compared to UCLA.
The Bruins have inarguably college basketball's greatest tradition. They won 10 titles in 12 seasons under the great John Wooden with 7 of those being consecutive. But due to their location on the left coast they are mostly forgotten about and take a back seat to UNC and Duke during most of the season. I really wouldn't have minded a UCLA - Kansas finals because it would have pitted two very good basketball teams with rich traditions against each other. And plus, I probably would have won my bracket (which didn't dictated who I was rooting for). However, the game that fate provided us was more than adequate.
I loved this Memphis team. Ever since they narrowly missed the tournament a few years ago due to an excruciating loss in the Conference USA finals to Louisville, they've been my darling. That loss occurred after Darius Washington was fouled on a 3 point attempt at the buzzer. He collapsed at the line onto the floor after failing to tie the game in what was probably the greatest moment of pure sports agony I've witnessed on a nationally televised event. I can't do the moment justice with words, so just watch it. Appropriately, Memphis' national title dreams were dashed by their inability to hit free throws in clutch situations. This has plagued them this past season and ever other season. I don't understand why Calipari doesn't make this a focus of his practices. Or Boeheim for that matter.
However, through my strange allegiances in college basketball, I've always had a crush on Kansas. My traditional teams have been Arizona, Kansas, Texas, and Michigan. Obviously Syracuse had made its way into the rotation because of my affiliation with the school. But I always love to see Arizona, Kansas, and Texas do well. And I probably used to give them a little more credit than they deserved in past brackets.
This Kansas team was too talented not to have won a title in their tenure. They had to put up with Roy Williams basically deserting them for UNC. Brandon Rush and a few of the underclassmen could have left after that, but they stuck with Bill Self and righted the ship. And they exacted their revenge clinically on Williams' UNC team in the semifinal game. Congrats to the Jayhawks and Tigers for giving us a thrilling championship game. Either way, I would've been happy with the outcome. That being said: Rock Chalk, Jayhawk!
But more importantly we didn't have a UNC-UCLA finals matchup. I'm sick of these schools always dominating the national spotlight. UNC is a media darling and an 18 wheel bandwagon for fairweather fans across the nation. Sure North Carolina has a rich basketball tradition, but so do a lot of other schools. They've been living off Michael Jordan's legacy for the last 20 years and will probably continue to do so. But fans forget that UNC probably doesn't have as rich a tradition as the East Coast bias would have us believe. Before the Michael Jordan era, UNC was hardly a tournament regular but had some finals appearances to their credit. Honestly, they are small beans compared to UCLA.
The Bruins have inarguably college basketball's greatest tradition. They won 10 titles in 12 seasons under the great John Wooden with 7 of those being consecutive. But due to their location on the left coast they are mostly forgotten about and take a back seat to UNC and Duke during most of the season. I really wouldn't have minded a UCLA - Kansas finals because it would have pitted two very good basketball teams with rich traditions against each other. And plus, I probably would have won my bracket (which didn't dictated who I was rooting for). However, the game that fate provided us was more than adequate.
I loved this Memphis team. Ever since they narrowly missed the tournament a few years ago due to an excruciating loss in the Conference USA finals to Louisville, they've been my darling. That loss occurred after Darius Washington was fouled on a 3 point attempt at the buzzer. He collapsed at the line onto the floor after failing to tie the game in what was probably the greatest moment of pure sports agony I've witnessed on a nationally televised event. I can't do the moment justice with words, so just watch it. Appropriately, Memphis' national title dreams were dashed by their inability to hit free throws in clutch situations. This has plagued them this past season and ever other season. I don't understand why Calipari doesn't make this a focus of his practices. Or Boeheim for that matter.
However, through my strange allegiances in college basketball, I've always had a crush on Kansas. My traditional teams have been Arizona, Kansas, Texas, and Michigan. Obviously Syracuse had made its way into the rotation because of my affiliation with the school. But I always love to see Arizona, Kansas, and Texas do well. And I probably used to give them a little more credit than they deserved in past brackets.
This Kansas team was too talented not to have won a title in their tenure. They had to put up with Roy Williams basically deserting them for UNC. Brandon Rush and a few of the underclassmen could have left after that, but they stuck with Bill Self and righted the ship. And they exacted their revenge clinically on Williams' UNC team in the semifinal game. Congrats to the Jayhawks and Tigers for giving us a thrilling championship game. Either way, I would've been happy with the outcome. That being said: Rock Chalk, Jayhawk!
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