March Madness

Last year, with the start of the pandemic, the NCAA Men’s and Women’s Basketball Tournaments were cancelled.  This year, I am glad they are playing the Tourney and it has been both entertaining and exciting to watch.  As usual there have been blow-outs as forecasted and upsets that are, obviously, never predicted but always happen. 

Gonzaga has a chance to be the first undefeated NCAA Champion since the 1976 Indiana Hoosiers if they win two more games.  They trounced USC tonight, 85-66, to advance to the Final Four.  I thought USC, which has looked awesome and unbeatable in the Tourney until tonight, might give them a game and maybe even beat them.  I could not have been more wrong which is probably why I can only be a sportswriter on my own blog.  Gonzaga came out on fire, scored the first points, and led the entire game.  They were up by ten within the first few minutes.  They are a very good team and join Baylor and Houston in The Final Four.

I am sitting in my easy chair awaiting the Elite Eight game between the University of Michigan Wolverines and the University of California Los Angeles Bruins.  Michigan should win and the pundits on TV think they will, but anything can happen.  UCLA has been playing awesome defense and hitting threes to get them this far.  I am confident in the ability of Juwan Howard to come up with a good game plan.  I believe pundits have underestimated two things:  the quality of Howard’s game plan and the Michigan defense.

We shall see.  Nothing is guaranteed.

A feature of this tournament is there is only one undefeated team after it is all said and done.  Each of the other 63+ teams will have a loss in the one and done event.  Everyone wants to win.  Everyone wants to make the Sweet Sixteen and the Elite Eight.  Everyone wants to get to the Final Four.  With each round, the numbers of teams are halved. Because of this, the level of play is simply more intense and competitive.

The Big Ten had two number one seeds:  Michigan and Illinois.  We had the most teams in the Tourney with nine.  All through the regular season, we were touted as the most competitive and best conference in the country.  We underachieved whereas the Pac-12 with only five teams has overachieved.  By the Sweet Sixteen, Michigan was the only Big Ten team remaining while the PAC-12 had four teams.  Was the Big Ten overrated?  Did they wear each other out during the regular season and Big Ten Tournament?  Probably yes, on both counts.

So far in this game, Michigan is playing sloppy and a bit out of sorts with eight turnovers.  UCLA just took a three-point lead.  Howard will have to do some calming of the troops and draw up some good adjustments at halftime.

Of course, I want to win.  Win or lose, this has been a great season.  Given where their ranking when the season started, they have overachieved by a large measure.  Given the recruiting class that Howard has assemble, the future is very bright.  The Michigan faithful are beginning to consider ourselves a basketball school instead of a football school.

Why can’t we be both?