March Madness Recap: Celebrating Greatness
And a look to offseason content
Enough print lauding UConn’s dominant back-to-back run has already been written, but here are my two cents as we close the books on March Madness.
Greatness supplanted madness
The topsy-turvy regular season did not portend tourney madness. The first round did have a near-record number of double digits wins, but NC State’s Final Four run was the closest thing to sustained madness.
On the greatness side of things, we had UConn’s all-time dominant run (jog? leisurely walk?) through it’s “bracket of death” and Zach Edey becoming the first back-to-back Player of the Year since 1983.
In the women’s tournament, South Carolina completed an undefeated season and Caitlin Clark finished the most decorated career in college basketball history.
Undefeated champions. Back-to-back champions. All-time leading scorer. Back-to-back POY. It’s rare to get any of those things in a season, and we were treated to all of them. This March might have lacked some of the quintessential buzzer beaters and upsets, but pausing to appreciate the rarity of greatness can fill the gap.
Player of the Tournament: Zach Edey
He doesn’t play the most aesthetically pleasing brand of basketball, but he’s damn effective. The deserving back-to-back National Player of the Year helped Purdue overcome the string of double-digit seed embarrassments. Edey’s 177 tournament points — including games of 40 and 37 — were tied for the second-most in history.
While he came up short (pardon the pun) in the natty, he shouldered the pressure of delivering Purdue’s first Final Four since the field expanded to 64+ teams. Purdue’s entire roster construction built around Edey. He held up his end of the bargain, while the Purdue guards did not.
Game of the Tournament: Purdue vs Tennessee
UConn ensured there were too many snoozers in the biggest games. The Purdue-Tennessee Elite 8 matchup lacked a singular memorable moment, but it didn’t lack for much else. It had individual greatness (Edey’s 40 pts, Dalton Knecht’s 37), drama (1 point game at the under-4 timeout), clutch shot making, and high stakes (Tennessee’s first Final Four on the line, Purdue’s first since 1980).
The Colorado-Florida game had the wildest ending, the Oakland-Kentucky game had the most memorable outcome, and the Creighton-Oregon game had the most drama, but none can match the stakes and individual battle of the Elite 8 tilt.
Conference of the Tournament: the ACC (?)
This isn’t a real accolade, but as an ACC blog, I have to remind everyone that the reports of the ACC’s death have been greatly exaggerated (at least from a basketball perspective). The ACC had the most wins (12) of any conference in the tournament despite having the sixth highest bid total. The ACC had the second-best record (12-5), trailing only the Big East (10-2). The ACC has now had a Final Four participant in seven of the last 10 years (the next closest conference has had three).
As I note below, I’m brewing up a post examining why people have just decided the ACC is bad when the numbers don’t really support it.
A look toward offseason content
While it’s nice to return to a regular bedtime, staring down months devoid of college sports is daunting. But fear not, as I plan for an offseason of notes and analysis before turning the sports calendar to college football. Here’s what’s on tap:
Blue blood scorecard
Duke hatred
ACC coaching carousel
Transfer portal departures and additions, as well as transfer production analysis
Assessing ACC basketball vibes