SectionsColumn: March Madness tops busted bracket
Jeff Faust
Issue date: 3/31/09 Section: Sports
This was by far one of the wildest tournaments in NCAA history. With no overly dominant team in the field, almost every game was up for grabs - and oh, did some of the teams grab.
There were upsets that dominated the early days, tough fought 4-5 and 2-3 matchups, and then big time college programs winning out in the end, leading to a possible Final Four like last year, where all four No. 1 seeds made the Final Four (for the first time in history).
But when we thought that was going to be the case, Villanova came out from under the shadows and took care of the second-overall-seeded Pittsburgh Panthers in one of the best games I have ever seen live (Yes, it killed my bracket, but 12th-year senior Scottie Reynolds made one heck of a shot in traffic).
So, here are some of my favorite moments/teams in this year's NCAA tournament:
Arizona - Arguably the last team into the tournament (some said they may not be qualified enough for the tourney) went out and beat a soft Utah team and then another Cinderella team in Cleveland State to make it to the Sweet 16, where they ended up getting blown out by Louisville. Although they did lose to the Cardinals, they proved to all the haters that they belonged and I love that.
The Midwest Bracket - In the Midwest, not only was there one, or even two upsets in the first round, there were five. Siena (No. 9), Southern California (No. 10), Dayton (No. 11), Arizona (No. 12) and Cleveland State (No. 13) all upset on Thursday and Friday. The best was Cleveland St., which took care of Wake Forrest, which was ranked as the No. 1 overall team in the nation earlier in the season.
The Year of the Big Man - ESPN was right earlier in the year when they said the big man was going to be the most vital part of March. UConn's Haseem Thabeet (the 7'3" Tanzanian), Oklahoma's Blake Griffin (the 6'10" Player of the Year front runner), UNC's Tyler Hansbrough (the 6'9", All-American) and Pittsburgh's DeJuan Blair (the 6'7" freak of nature) all led their teams to the Elite Eight or better.
There were upsets that dominated the early days, tough fought 4-5 and 2-3 matchups, and then big time college programs winning out in the end, leading to a possible Final Four like last year, where all four No. 1 seeds made the Final Four (for the first time in history).
But when we thought that was going to be the case, Villanova came out from under the shadows and took care of the second-overall-seeded Pittsburgh Panthers in one of the best games I have ever seen live (Yes, it killed my bracket, but 12th-year senior Scottie Reynolds made one heck of a shot in traffic).
So, here are some of my favorite moments/teams in this year's NCAA tournament:
Arizona - Arguably the last team into the tournament (some said they may not be qualified enough for the tourney) went out and beat a soft Utah team and then another Cinderella team in Cleveland State to make it to the Sweet 16, where they ended up getting blown out by Louisville. Although they did lose to the Cardinals, they proved to all the haters that they belonged and I love that.
The Midwest Bracket - In the Midwest, not only was there one, or even two upsets in the first round, there were five. Siena (No. 9), Southern California (No. 10), Dayton (No. 11), Arizona (No. 12) and Cleveland State (No. 13) all upset on Thursday and Friday. The best was Cleveland St., which took care of Wake Forrest, which was ranked as the No. 1 overall team in the nation earlier in the season.
The Year of the Big Man - ESPN was right earlier in the year when they said the big man was going to be the most vital part of March. UConn's Haseem Thabeet (the 7'3" Tanzanian), Oklahoma's Blake Griffin (the 6'10" Player of the Year front runner), UNC's Tyler Hansbrough (the 6'9", All-American) and Pittsburgh's DeJuan Blair (the 6'7" freak of nature) all led their teams to the Elite Eight or better.
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