Sunday, April 2, 2023

Sportz' NCAA Tournament Recap - Final 4




Just a quick recap of what I saw in my Sportz Room -- filled with TVs that I can watch all games going on at the same time.

GAME OF THE DAY: San Diego State vs Florida Atlantic. FAU owned a sizable lead for most of the game, but the Aztecs chipped away and won the battle on a buzzer beating jumper. Florida Atlantic looked like their offense couldn't be stopped, but San Diego State did a fantastic job crashing the offensive boards and giving them second chances.

UPSET OF THE DAY: San Diego State vs Florida Atlantic.  Neither game was an upset, but this one qualifies just because it looked like FAU was cruising towards an unlikely spot in the national championship game. But San Diego State took their first lead since early in the game on that final shot to win the game.

CONFERENCE OF THE DAY: Mountain West. The first Mountain West team to ever reach the Final Four has stuck around and will play for a national championship on Monday Night.

CONFERENCE WITH A BAD DAY: Conference USA. Conference USA was a second away from being able to say that they would be playing for a championship, but Butler's shot went in. Now they can't even really bask in FAU's achievement as the Owls will be in the American Athletic Conference next season. Still, what FAU did this year ... financially ... stays in the C-USA.

DUD OF THE DAY: UConn vs Miami. UConn jumped out to a 13-point halftime lead and quickly mounted a 20-point lead in the second half. A big run by Miami got it down to eight at one point, but the Huskies made plays to keep out of harm's way.

DOMINANT PERFORMANCE OF THE DAY: UConn vs Miami. UConn showed us one of the more dominating postseason runs ever. They recorded yet another double digit victory and enter the national championship game heavy favorites.

UNDERLYING STORYLINE OF THE DAY: UConn (almost) officially becoming a blue blood. The term "blue bloods" has been floated around all tournament long. North Carolina didn't reach the postseason. Duke, Kansas, Indiana and Kentucky didn't reach the second weekend of the tournament. UCLA was ousted by Gonzaga. UConn's place as a blue blood has been in question leading up to this moment and a win over San Diego State may stamp their application for membership. A win would give UConn their fifth national championship, which would tie Duke and Indiana for fourth most of all time. Only UCLA, Kentucky and North Carolina would have more titles .... and the Huskies would have won all five of their titles over the last 24 seasons. That's blue blood status if there ever was one.

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