March Madness came to a thrilling end on Monday when the UConn Huskies became the eighth team ever to win consecutive NCAA tournaments.
UConn was able to make it out of the proclaimed “region of death” with ease, winning every game by at least 15 points.
The Huskies were met by the Alabama “Crimson Tide” in the Final Four. Alabama was able to keep it close in the first half, but UConn managed to pull away in the second half and Alabama couldn’t recover.
UConn faced off against the Purdue Boiler Makers in the championship and it was the same story as with Alabama. Purdue stayed competitive in the first half, but after a strong 11-4 run by UConn, Purdue couldn’t come back and the game ended 75-60.
Do I think that UConn can be the second ever three-peat team? I’ll give them a slight chance, but they will really need to work for it.
Two of UConn’s key players in this tournament, Donovan Clingan and Stephon Castle, will be leaving for the draft as a sophomore and freshman respectively. However, at the end of last year UConn lost a lot of good players and were still able to win handily this year.
As for my predictions before the tournament started, the team I predicted to win the entire tournament was Purdue, and they fell to UConn in the championship match, but the team had a pretty good tournament overall.
Purdue made it out of their region with only one close game against the Tennessee Volunteers.
Purdue was able to beat the North Carolina State Wolfpack 63-50 in the Final Four in order to make it to the championship game.
In this upcoming year, Purdue may have another chance at the tournament, but it will be hard and I highly doubt they will be able to win.
The main problem for Purdue will be that two-time National Player of the Year Zach Edey will not be taking his extra year, instead opting for the NBA draft.
All hope is not lost for Purdue fans though, as they will still most likely have Braden Smith, one of the best point guards in college basketball at this time. They may also have a replacement for Edey with incoming freshman Daniel Jacobsen, although it will take time for the team to adjust.
The North Carolina State Wolfpack had by far the best upset run this tournament, with it being arguably better then the Florida Atlantic Owls’ run last year.
After winning an insane five games in five days just to make it into the tournament, NC State was able to win against top teams in the region, like the Marquette Golden Eagles and Duke Blue Devils.
Sadly, NC State’s run came to an end in the Final Four when they faced off against the tournament titan that is Purdue.
Overall, I don’t think that NC State will be able to make a run of this magnitude next year, as their two best guards DJ Burns Jr. and DJ Horne have played their last games in a NC State jersey.
