SPORTS CORNER: WEEK OF 4/6 – 4/12
Over the past few days, March Madness finally concluded, a tournament sealed with a nail biting national championship game that came down to the wire. Florida, led by Walter Clayton Jr., were strong throughout the tournament, and executed a comeback from 12 points behind in the National Championship, eventually rallying back to win the game. The tournament may not have had many of the usual upsets that come from the tournament, but it brought great games, great stories, and the same love for the players who manage to make the tournament exciting every year.
FLORIDA’S RUN TO THE CHIP
Florida began as one of the tournament’s favorites, only losing 4 games and winning the SEC Championship, a prelude to what was to come. They earned a #1 seed for the tournament, and dominated first round opponents Norfolk State, with Walter Clayton and Alijah Martin combining for 40 points as the Gators won 95-69. They next faced #8 UConn, the back to back defending national champions, who despite being a shell of themselves from previous years, knew how to win. They proved this by taking the Gators on a back and forth game that went down to the wire. The Gators only first felt solace when Clayton rose up for the moment, scoring a fadeaway three from the right wing to put them up by 6. Already, he had become a favorite to win Most Outstanding Player, having 20+ points in both games.
Maryland, coming off a buzzer beater win from freshman Derik Queen, relied on Queen heavily again, but that’s all they had. Queen finished the day with 27, but the Gators had a great team performance, with 6 different players getting into double digits for points. They finished the day up 16, winning 87-71. With 8 teams left, Texas Tech, headlined by big scorer JT Toppin, came out strong, and led the bulk of the game. Yet Florida, despite being down five with 2:30, scored 16 points in the time remaining and won 84-79, with another pair of aggressive fadeaway threes from Clayton changing the game again. Florida had continued to prove that they were a team made for late games, and that they truly thrived in the final 10 minutes.
The Gators were in the Final Four, facing another #1 seed, and an SEC rival in Auburn. Led by forward Johni Broome, they were a dominant force for much of the year, but Florida’s aggressive, risk taking offense had another game where they were simply unstoppable. Walter Clayton finished with one of the best scoring games from the tournament with 34 points, and Alijah Martin was again his partner in crime with 17 points. Florida finished the job against Auburn, and were in the national championship, facing a Houston team that looked somehow even stronger.
A team with incredible defensive ability, they did their job early and shut Walter Clayton out of the game entirely, getting no points in the first half. The Cougars led Florida by as many as 12 points at one instance, and it looked like the game was going to start to get away from them after a flurry of turnovers, but they rallied back and Clayton began getting into a groove. Back to back and-one’s from the star guard lifted the mood, and despite the Gators leading less than two minutes of the game, they finally stole back the lead with 46 seconds to play.
Houston got the ball back, yet gave away possession before getting a shot. Houston were forced to foul, and Denzel Aberdeen made only one of his free throws, giving them another chance down by only two. Florida played unreal defense on the final play however, and a strong contest from Clayton forced Emanuel Sharp into abandoning his shot attempt, and Houston were unable to recover. Florida were national champions, one of the most deserving of recent years.
NOT MUCH MADNESS?
This year’s March Madness lacked the upsets that we’ve grown to love, with only seven upsets from the 32 first round games. Rarely was a big name knocked out early, and only four more upsets thereafter, resulting in a Final Four with all the #1 seed for only the second time in the history of the tournament.
Of the upsets, the biggest came from two different #12 seeded teams, Mcneese State and Colorado State, beating their respective #5 seeds, Clemson and Memphis. These two upsets, in my opinion, weren’t even largely upsets either. Mcneese had a star factor to them; they were one of those teams that everybody knew would make noise on the big stage, having gone viral on social media before the tournament. The Louisiana based university was riding a high coming in, and ended their first half against Clemson up by almost 20 points.
Memphis versus Colorado State was a very different story that concluded with the same ending. I had Memphis going far in some of my brackets, but only on the ability to pass this first hurdle. That was due to them missing two of their guards, star guard Tyrese Hunter and backup Dante Harris. The injuries meant coach Penny Hardaway, former NBA star, was forced to play a broken rotation that only seriously involved seven players, with Memphis falling to fatigue late into the game.
Overall though, the upset culture that makes this tournament so exciting was evidently absent from the tournament this year.
