NCAA Tournament Full Review

By now we all know that UConn beat Butler in one of the ugliest games in tournament history. Despite the awful ending, the tournament was good and these are the things and games I care to remember.

Best Game – Butler 71, Pittsburgh 70 (Round 3)

Throw out the ridiculous ending that everyone remembers because of the mind-numbing stupidity of some the plays and remember that this game had great defense and even better shot-making being displayed all game long by both Butler and Pitt. This game was good enough that I switched to it and left the San Diego St.-Temple double overtime game on my computer with no sound. Considering this blog generally covers the Mountain West, that is quite a feat.

Honorable Mentions – Duke 73, Michigan 71 (Round 3); North Carolina 86, Washington 83 (Round 3); Connecticut 65, Arizona 63 (Elite 8); Florida 83, BYU 74 (2OT) (Sweet 16); Morehead St. 61, Louisville 61 (Round 2)

Worst Game (Non-Championship Game Edition) – Kansas 77, Richmond 57 (Sweet 16) and North Carolina 81, Marquette 63 (Sweet 16)

I'm taking twin games here as they were on at the same time and were both savage beatings from the moment they started. Both Richmond and Marquette looked like totally overmatched teams that had taken advantage of good draws to get to that point and had no real chance, which they were. Marquette had pulled a round one upset and saw conference rival Syracuse in round two taking some of the usual 3 vs 11 advantage away while Richmond had beaten annual upset victim Vanderbilt and then lucked out to see a 13 seed awaiting in the next round.

Dis-honorable Mentions – BYU 89, Gonzaga 67 (Round 3); Florida St. 71, Notre Dame 57 (Round 3); Michigan 75, Tennessee 45 (Round 2); Clemson 70, UAB 52 (First Four); Cincinnati 78, Missouri 63 (Round 2)

Biggest Surprise (Non-VCU/Butler Edition) – Arizona to the Elite 8

The Wildcats were a revelation in this tournament behind their star player, Derrick Williams. They struggled with Memphis in round one winning by two before upsetting Texas, a team many thought should have been seeded higher. Then they steamrolled Duke in the Sweet 16, a totally shocking development considering the quality (or lack thereof) in the Pac-10 this season before nearly beating UConn too. Had they made the shot to beat UConn, we would likely be looking at Arizona as the national champs right now since I don't think Kentucky would have beaten them and the champ was almost certainly coming from the non-mid-major side of the bracket.

Honorable Mention – Kentucky (Final Four as a 4-seed), Florida St. (Sweet 16 and should have been Elite 8 as a 10-seed), BYU (Sweet 16 without Davies and overtime against Florida, just like last year though with a different result)

Biggest Disappointment – Kansas

When are we going to learn? Of course the last time people like me wrote something like that with this team, they won the next year (2008). The Jayhawks had the draw open for them all the way to the title game. All they had to do was beat a 16, 9, 12, 11 and 8 and they would have played for the title. Of course they failed because Kansas, when they do fail, generally does no in spectacular fashion against a team that really has no business on the court with them (see Northern Iowa last year, Bucknell a few years ago, Bradley a few years ago, Rhode Island in the late 90s, UTEP in the early 90s) and this year's loss to VCU is no exception and another to put in the pantheon of Kansas failures against overmatched non-power conference squads. Note that only the 2008 championship has avoided that pratfall recently and it wasn't for a lack of trying against Steph Curry and Davidson that year.

Dis-honorable Mentions – Louisville (upset by Morehead St.), Ohio St. (upset by Kentucky in Sweet 16), UAB (ugh), Duke (just got crushed like no top seed that early in recent memory), Pitt (yes it was excruciating, but there is no excuse after all these years of flops)

All-Tournament Team

G – Kemba Walker, UConn, Player of the Tournament

G – Jeremy Lamb, UConn

G – Shelvin Mack, Butler

F – Derrick Williams, Arizona

F – Matt Howard, Butler

Walker and Lamb go without saying. Walker was the leader in every sense for UConn. Lamb was huge throughout the tournament and its no coincidence that the awful offensive first half in the championship game came with him on the bench in foul trouble. Mack and Howard were the stars for Butler's run and their performances in the game before the final more than earn them a spot on this team. Williams was the most dominant player while he was around in the tournament. He single-handedly kept Arizona in the game against Duke until his teammates woke up and then finished the Blue Devils off with a couple of huge second half dunks. He also was the man on a team that exceeded expectations by going to the Elite 8 and made the block that beat Memphis at the end of the game back on the second day of the tournament.