So last week, the college basketball season ended and I wrote about the National Championship game. Because of my last post, this one won't very long. I just want to briefly talk about something that I didn't talk about before. So this is really a sequel blog. Don't read this before you read my last one. What I didn't write about was a question that I heard many people asking: Was this the greatest tournament ever?
I didn't think it was. I thought it was a good tournament. A good tournament is like any good Survivor season; unpredictable. It's no fun when all the 1 seeds go all the way to the Final Four (which doesn't happen a lot). We want to see shake-ups and shifts in power. People love the underdogs and they love to see teams go the distance. They love to see the little guy stick it to the bully. I think a tournament that is unpredictable and close makes for the best television. While this was a good tournament, it didn't feature as many back and forth close games as I would have liked to see. I think my favorite tournament was the 2006 one. Maybe you can call me biased because my LSU Tigers made it to the Final Four that year, but that was really the first mad tournament I had ever witnessed. 11 seeded George Mason crashed the Final Four. That was something that was truly unbelievable. While Wichita State's run was impressive, the team they beat was Gonzaga, a team a lot of us speculated to be weaker than their seed. I'm not ignoring what Wichita State did, they got the Final Four, but I thought George Mason's run was more impressive. During George Mason's run, they beat a Tom Izzo-coached Michigan State team, followed by the defending National Champion North Carolina Tar Heels. Those first two games they beat two of the best college basketball programs in the nation. In the Final Four they beat 1 seed Connecticut in one of the best tournament games ever. I thought that was the best run by a cinderella team we've ever seen.
That isn't to say anything negative about this tournament. This tournament had a lot of story lines. I think it was a great story how Louisville rallied together after Kevin Ware's disgusting injury (which I still don't want to go in to details about). I think what would have elevated this tournament to the next level is if Florida Gulf Coast had continued their miraculous run. They were the most fun team to watch with all their dunks and alley-oops. The team was so athletic. If FGCU had made it past the Sweet Sixteen and in to the Elite Eight and maybe the Final Four, I think this tournament would have been a lot more compelling. I think the tournament lost some of its momentum after their loss.
Still, the tournament provided some upsets, with Indiana and Kansas losing in the Sweet Sixteen. By far the best game of the tournament was the Sweet Sixteen Kansas-Michigan game, where they came back within the last couple minutes and Trey Burke put the team on his back, took the game to overtime, and continued to do work. That was a great game and I wish we had seen more of those games down the stretch at the end of the tournament.
This was an unpredictable tournament as well. None of my Final Four teams made it to the Elite Eight. When people are crumpling up and throwing out their brackets, that is a good thing. So overall, this was a good and unpredictable tournament. However, it wasn't as dramatic as I would have liked it to be. I'm happy with the tournament we had and looking forward to what these college studs can do in the NBA.
I know this blog was a week late, and my memory isn't as fresh as it was, but I hope you still enjoyed this blog. What did you think of the tournament? Let me hear your thoughts on Twitter @vellvita7 or on my Facebook fan page. I am hoping to post another blog today if I have time. Thanks again to all of you for reading and I hope you are having a great day!
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