On Saturday, April 6th, Auburn and Virginia and Michigan State and Texas Tech battled it out to see who would be playing in the championship game. Texas Tech v. Michigan State was a very tame game, not many controversies, and not very interesting to watch. Texas Tech ended up beating Michigan State by ten points; 61-51.
However, the Auburn v. Virginia Final Four game was one for the books. Not only was the game close the entire time, the last few minutes consisted of the most intense plays of the tournament. In the final five minutes, the Cavaliers were up by ten. Auburn gave their final push and regained a two point lead. In the last seven seconds, UVA regained possession of the ball and took it down the court to attempt a 3-pointer. In the last second, an Auburn player fouled the shooter, bringing him to the foul shot line with 3 attempts. The shooter sunk the first two shots, already tying the game. Auburn’s coach then called a timeout to regroup his players and make a plan to regain possession and score with what little time they had left. After the timeout, the shooter returned to the line and sunk the last shot. With less than a second left, Auburn attempted a basket from the other end of the court and, predictably, missed. Virginia moved onto the championship.
On April 8th, Virginia and Texas Tech battled it out in the last game of the tournament, the championship. Virginia came out on top, 85-77, in their first national title. It was intense game, finishing in overtime. The last five minutes of regular time was a shooting battle between teams. With about 20 seconds remaining, Texas Tech was up three points. Virginia then came back with a 3-pointer to tie the game, 12 seconds remaining. OT was also a scoring battle but Virginia was able to com eout on top as the national champions.
What a tournament! Many are happy that the tournament is finally over after seeing their bracket rankings diminish over time. Some are nostalgic as the madness ends. And some are ecstatic as their winnings are making up for their stress. Until next year, March Madness.
Hi Kerry! Loved your post this week. I’m so shocked March Madness is already over. I feel like it went by so quickly. It was nice to be able to get a recap of how everything went down. I remember when Villanova won last year; a lot of people from my town were happy about that. I’m sure you’re parents were too! I bet a bunch of high school students will apply to Virginia next year!