March Madness has concluded, and returning champ (1) UConn, once again, could not be stopped. They destroyed practically every team in their path, and beat (1) Purdue 75-60 in the championship game. Despite some expected outcomes, this tournament was full of insane upsets and close games.
The first round had a total of 11 upsets varying in notability. There were the usual 9 over 8 seed upsets that happen almost every year with (9) Michigan State, (9) Northwestern, and (9) Texas A&M all beating their 8 seeded opponents.
However, there were many other upsets that no one saw coming. For example, (14) Oakland won 80-76 over (3) Kentucky. Oakland guard Jack Gohlke had a crazy 32 point game with 30 of his points coming from the 10 3-pointers he made.
There was also (13) Yale’s 78-76 chaotic victory over (4) Auburn. After making one out of two free throws, Yale was up 78-74 with 14.4 seconds left in the game. Auburn rebounded the ball and guard K.D. Johnson drove to the hoop, made the layup, and drew the foul, which brought the score to 78-76. He missed the foul shot, and the two teams began fighting for the rebound. Luckily for Auburn, a jump ball was called and they got the ball back.
The Tigers regained hope, and they inbounded the ball with 7.1 seconds left. They gave it to Tre Donaldson under the rim who was fouled by Bez Mbeng on his way up to shoot. With two foul shots and 6.1 seconds left, Donaldson had a chance to tie the game.
He missed both and then Auburn scrambled to get the rebound. Time was running out as Auburn Forward Johni Broome threw up a last second 3-pointer. It was no good, and Yale came out victorious.
There were a handful of 12 over 5 seed upsets as well, with (12) James Madison and (12) Grand Canyon both winning. (12) UAB almost beat (5) San Diego State, but San Diego State pulled away in the final few minutes and won 69-65.
(11) Duquesne, (11) Oregon, and (11) NC State also managed to defeat their 6 seeds. This is the fourth tournament in a row where two or more 11 seeds have advanced to the second round.
(10) Colorado’s game against (7) Florida had a wild ending as well. Colorado had made a jumpshot which gave them the lead and left Florida with 1.7 seconds left. Florida missed a halfcourt shot and Colorado beat them 102-100.
The chaos died down in the second round, with almost all games going as expected. The only upsets were (5) Gonzaga’s 89-68 win over (4) Kansas and (6) Clemson’s 72-64 win over (3) Baylor. Oakland put up a tough fight in their game against NC State, but eventually lost 79-73 in overtime.
The Sweet Sixteen brought back the mayhem though, with five upsets out of eight games. (3) Illinois and (6) Clemson both managed to defeat their 2 seeded opponents. (4) Duke and (4) Alabama also each won in close games against their 1 seeds.
Although it was a low scoring game, the (4) Duke vs (1) Houston game was still a nail-biter. During the last minute, Houston guard Emanuel Sharp was fouled on a made layup which brought the score to 54-50 with 49 seconds left in the game. He made his free throw, which cut Duke’s lead to 3.
Duke center Kyle Filipowski missed a jump shot on the other end and Houston got the rebound. They called a timeout with 15.9 seconds left to collect themselves and draw up a play. After the timeout, Houston guard LJ Cryer drove to the hoop and missed his jump shot. Both teams battled for the rebound, and Duke ended up knocking it out of bounds.
With 8.9 seconds left, Houston inbounded the ball to Sharp, who dribbled the ball for some time. Then, he threw up a stepback 3-pointer, which was – unfortunately for Houston – no good. The ball went out of bounds this time off the hands of Duke. There were 0.8 seconds on the clock, so Duke inbounded it and the game was quickly over. Duke had won 54-51 and would advance to the Elite Eight.
In contrast to that game, (4) Alabama and (1) North Carolina had quite the number of points scored in their matchup. Alabama led 89-85 after two free throws made by forward Grant Nelson. North Carolina inbounded the ball with 7.9 seconds left to guard RJ Davis. He raced up the court and passed it in the paint to forward Armando Bacot. He made a layup which brought Alabama’s lead down to 2. North Carolina didn’t get a chance for another possession, and they lost 89-87.
In the Elite Eight, (11) NC State became the sixth 11 seed to make it to the final four with their 76-64 win over (4) Duke. Every other game went as expected, and the Final Four was set. (1) UConn would face (4) Alabama, and (11) NC State would face (1) Purdue.
It was a close first half in the UConn versus Alabama game, with both teams going toe-to-toe with 3-pointers. In the second half however, UConn locked down on defense and pulled away. Despite Alabama’s fight, they lost 86-72.
While UConn vs Alabama was a battle of 3-point shooters, NC State vs Purdue was a fight between two sizable men: NC State forward DJ Burns Jr. who is listed at 6”9’ and 275 lbs and Purdue center Zach Edey who is listed at an astonishing 7”4’ and 300 lbs.
NC State knew it would be tough guarding Edey going into it, and they tried their best, but Edey still scored a total of 20 points in the end. Compared to Burns’s 8 total points, it was clear who won the battle of the big guys. In general, both teams struggled to score, but Purdue came out on top, winning 65-50.
UConn won the championship game 75-60. This would be the sixth time in total that UConn would take home the trophy. Who will be the next champion? Will UConn come back again for a third year?
