NCAA Tournament: In Review

Believe it or not, 5 years ago, during UNC's last final four run, I watched two games. Actually, just parts of two games. The combination of time, the development of an undying love for this university, and the influence of a few friends (first the superhardcores and later all my sports guru buddies) have all contributed to my love of sports, and particularly this NCAA tournament. Thanks to digital cable and our dual TV set-up, I can safely say that I was able to catch at least 10 minutes of each of the 61 games so far in the 2005 NCAA tournament.

If you didn't get to see as much as I did, here's a brief rundown:

The first round was full of scares, as nearly all the top teams (save 1 North Carolina) played close games. 3 Kansas fell victim to the biggest upset of the first round, ending the possibility of Roy Williams having to live out the worst moment of his life. 4 Meanwhile, Syracuse, the team all UNC fans were counting on to eliminate dook, loses to 13 Vermont.

10 NCSU and 12 UW-Mil were the only real surprises in the sweet sixteen (come on, did anyone besides Andy Katz think 2 Wake would make a tournament run without playing defense?). 1 UNC breezed by 9 Iowa State (even though 9 Iowa State "has seen better teams"). Again 1 dook struggled, yet holds off 9 Mississippi State.

1 UNC survives, with the help of a suspect traveling call against 5 Villinova. Allen Ray describes the controversial play: "I thought that the ref called the foul, but he called the walk, but, I feel we should have never put ourselves in that position anyway. I can’t say that’s the reason that we lost because of that one play." Rashad McCants knew: "I knew I didn’t foul him. I felt like when he drove he wasn’t expecting anybody to be there. So I just wanted to make a defensive rotation, without a foul, and just make him be as surprised as possible. And he didn’t know what to do. So he traveled. I knew if it was going to be a foul call that it was probably going to be one of the worst calls of the game. I did think that it was a travel at that point. I didn’t wait for him to tell me."

10 NCSU and 1 dook were not so fortunate each giving up early leads and leaving the tournament. 1 dook was the second 1 seed to fall, after 1 Washington fell to 4 Louisville the previous day. 3 Arizona needs some last second heroics from Salim Stoudamire to pull past 2 Oklahoma State.

The elite eight was as dramatic as it has ever been. On Saturday, 4 Louisville rallied from 20 down to top 7 West Virginia in OT. Pitino becomes the first coach to take three different teams to the final four. 1 Illinois, "destiny's team", overcame a 15 point deficit in the last 4 minutes to stun 3 Arizona in OT. 1 UNC held off a hot 6 Wisconsin team to clinch their first final four since 2000. But the game of the round was 2 Kentucky vs 5 Michigan State. Patrick Sparks puts the game into overtime, and even that cannot decide this one. In double OT, the Spartans prevail.

So where do we go from here? St. Louis of course. I, for one, will not be making the trip. I don't have the money. And maybe there's some good karma for my being in NC. And while there is some part of me that is looking forward to this tournament being over and hense my watching much less TV (My back is sore; my eyes are tired; my body gets lazy), I still can't hide my enthusiasm. I love this time of year. I love this tournament.

So here's to the end of the coach K AMEX adds! Here's to the 3 games in the final four living up to the 4 games this past Saturday and Sunday. And most of all, here's to the Heels bringing home the championship this weekend.