A few thoughts on the NCAA men’s basketball tournament

About 19 days ago, 68 teams started what is a late winter, early spring tradition in this country. Today, only 2 teams remain for a shot at winning the national men’s collegiate division 1 basketball championship. The finalists for tomorrow night’s championship game should come as no surprise to anyone. Both North Carolina and Gonzaga are extremely talented teams who are number one seeds in their regions. It should be a very entertaining and fascinating match up. As is my tradition, I have a few thoughts on what I have seen for the past 3 weeks.

1) The bracket buster team of the tournament.  So how many of you geniuses had South Carolina going to the final four? If you did, you are extremely lucky. South Carolina is the classic team that gets hot at just the right time. Their upset of Duke really busted a number of brackets including yours truly.

2) Biggest upset of the tournament. Wisconsin beating Villanova probably was the biggest one in my opinion. The South Carolina upset of Duke ranks a close second and let’s not forget Oregon’s upset of Kansas in one of the region finals. Kansas was a very hot team and it was extremely surprising to see Oregon pull that one off.

3) Best game of the tournament. There were 2 games that really stood out in my mind. The East semi-final game between Wisconsin and Florida was a classic had a couple of memorable shots at the end of regulation and overtime. The game between Kentucky and North Carolina won by Carolina at the buzzer ranks up there too. Both games will be talked about for years to come and were very delightful to watch.

4) Best performance of the tournament.  De’Aaron Fox’s performance against UCLA is the winner. If I were a pro scout, I would keep a close eye on this kid. He is going to be a good one.

5) Most memorable scenes of the tournament. Nearly every tournament has some scene or happening that defines that year’s tournament. For example, Jimmy V running around looking to hug someone after NC State dramatically won the title in 1983. Or the aftermath of Christian Laetnner’s miracle catch and shot in 1992 against Kentucky. For me, it was seeing shots of many players openingly crying after losing and getting eliminated from the tournament. I was extremely touched when I saw the video of Fox hugging his teammate and crying after they got dramatically ousted by Kentucky. These kids put their hearts and souls into the game for several months, then suddenly, their seasons and sometimes college careers are over in a second.

6) Predictions for the championship game. Both Gonzaga and North Carolina match up very well against each other and it is very difficult to say who has the advantage, but I just think North Carolina has a certain hunger to win after what happened last year. I think they will win in another close championship game.