Well I can safely say that no one expected this! Over nine million people participated in the tournament challenge and none of them have a perfect bracket. Including me! In my best bracket, I’m ranked in the top two million in the country and I have Arizona beating Florida in the national championship and winning the whole thing. From the looks of things, I could be right! Arizona only has to defeat San Diego State and either Baylor or Wisconsin in the Elite Eight. Let’s review on some of the crazy things that has happened in the past week.
Duke just can’t get it done in the tournament. They did fairly well last year, losing to the eventual national champion Louisville in the Elite Eight, but in 2012, Duke lost to Lehigh in the first round as a 2-seed! Ever since they won the national championship in 2010, Duke has fallen short of expectations. For a Tar Heel fan like me, that was awesome when Mercer defeated them in the first round 78-71! Don’t worry Blue Devils, you’re going to have a great team next year with the addition of Jahlil Okafor, the best overall player in high school recruiting. With this dominating center joining Mike Krzyzewski’s team next season, Duke will remain as a deadly force in the national tournament.
Kentucky making headlines. The Wildcats were not expected to go far in the national tournament this year after falling out of the top 25 in the last week of the regular season. However, they were the only team to beat Wichita State this year after the 78-76 victory on Sunday. The Shockers were shocked this time as Julius Randle put up 13 points, 10 rebounds and 6 assists with the Harrison twins combining for 39 points in the win. If Kentucky can beat Louisville on Friday, they will look like a team that’s ready to make a case for another championship.
Goodbye Doug McDermott. After Baylor crushed Creighton 85-55, senior Doug McDermott played his last college game. He finished as the 5th all-time leading scorer in college basketball history and will probably land with a good team in the NBA as a mid to late first round pick in the upcoming draft. The Creighton Bluejays put up a good run, but now they will have to watch from afar as Baylor plays Wisconsin on Thursday.
There were a lot of other story lines involved in this tournament, but now that the Sweet Sixteen has been decided, I’m sure that even more stories will unfold with these teams. Hopefully the rest of the tournament will provide just as much fun and excitement as the last games have produced.
The Basket Foot 