Just Talk - March Madness [II]

 Just Talk - II

THE ROAD ENDS HERE.

    March Madness this year has been fairly predictable and kind of boring. There have been tons of blowouts despite the heart of the tournament coming from buzzer beaters and massive upsets. Most of the favorites have won the, with only one 2 seed falling through the first two weeks, and all number one seeds making the final four. I wish my congratulations to the Florida Gators on beating the Houston Cougars in the national championship, winning their first title since Al Horford was on their team. 

    Now, to start the tournament, I had put everything on Gonzaga. While unwise, Gonzaga had a top ten KenPom rating and it was unwise to doubt Mark Few in March. However, the draw they had in the second round, against the runner up Houston Cougars, was a pretty bad one. It was a close game for sure, with the final score being tight, but Houston never let up throughout the entire game and had a lead for the majority of the game. 

    Once Gonzaga went down, the team I wanted to win the most was Arkansas. Simply put, they were the only significant upset of the tournament; they beat St. Johns in the second round to catapult themselves into the Sweet 16. However, low and behold, they choked a 16 point second half lead and fell to Texas Tech in overtime. These results in general weren't too unpredictable, though, as even though there was a lack of upsets, the top teams were generally considered levels above the rest. This was the first time since Memphis had Derrick Rose that all one seeds advanced to the final four. So, even though there was little madness in March this year, we did get the best Final Four in a long time.

    Auburn and Florida were the first to go at it. The game was close the entire time, but Florida being Florida, they came back from a first half deficit to win 77-71. The real madness came in the second game of the tournament, when Houston went on an 11-1 run against Cooper Flagg and the Duke Blue Devils in order to pull off the shocker of the tournament. At this point, Duke was considered the favorite to win it all. They had a lottery pick on their roster in Cooper Flagg, who was putting up stellar performance after stellar performance for the Blue Devils. Yet, it all came crashing down due to terrible closing play. Kelvin Sampson, a veteran of the game with over 800 wins, coached a masterclass and won the game due to his effective traps that led to numerous Duke turnovers in critical moments. And in the National Championship, Houston would be the choker instead of the one causing the choke, where Florida only lead for a minute and three seconds, yet won the National Championship anyways. Thus concludes March Madness, 2025.