March Madness Final Four

The 2019 NCAA Division I men’s basketball championship tournament is reaching its climax. After a long season, 64 spots (plus another four “play-in” spots) are earned in the tournament, for a chance to compete for the trophy.

There are then five rounds to get to the championship game, which comes on Monday night. 

There have been a lot of ups and downs during this March Madness season. If you filled out a betting bracket before this tournament started, it’s most likely busted by now – unless you have No. 1 seed Virginia, No. 5 Auburn, No. 3 Texas Tech or No. 2 Michigan State winning it all. There’s only one No. 1 seed left to make it to the Final Four. Teams that were predicted to win it all, such as Duke, Gonzaga or North Carolina, have already had their season ended.

During the opening round there were 12 “upsets” out of 32 games (if one trusts the seeding). Most of the upsets weren’t even close games, however. The first round just shows that no matter what seed you are in going into the tournament, as long as you play your best with what you have, you can win and advance.

Heading toward the Sweet 16, there were only two upsets, which were No. 12 Oregon beating No. 13 UC Irvine, which had upset No. 4 Kansas State in the first round. This game had its ups and downs for both teams. Oregon was dominating this game in the first half, but going into the second half UC Irvine played great defense, leaving Oregon scoreless for the first five minutes. The Anteaters erased a 12-point deficit, but the Ducks remained calm and worked more on their own defense, until their offense started flowing. Oregon started scoring and UC Irvine ran out of gas from the comeback run they had, and had trouble scoring the rest of the way, and Oregon won, 73-54.

The second upset came when No. 5 Auburn outplayed No. 4 Kansas, and had a 26-point lead in the first half. Kansas tried to fight back, but Auburn just kept answering, taking advantage of turnovers and hitting open shots and winning, 89-75.

Also in the round of 16, No. 1 seed Duke was barely able to survive No. 4 Virginia Tech. The entire game it seemed that Virginia Tech had a chance for the upset, but their 7-foot, 6-inch center, Tacko Fall, fouled out before the end of the regulation. Duke was able to gut it out and defended until a last-second tip-in try and held on, 75-73.

To make it into the Final Four, No. 1 seed Virginia had to get past No. 3 Purdue last weekend. Purdue opened with plenty of offense, but Virginia locked down on defense, cutting the lead to one point at the half. Virginia started the second half where it left off, hitting open shots and taking advantage of turnovers, but the game was close throughout. Each team was locking down on both ends of the floor.

With less than 5 seconds on the clock and Purdue holding a two-point lead, Virginia missed a free throw that bounced far from the rim. But Virginia was able to secure the offensive rebound and make a buzzer-beating shot and tie the game at 70.

In overtime, both teams were scoring and answering, back and forth, until free throws by Kyle Guy put Virginia ahead by three points with 5.6 seconds left. With a chance to tie, Purdue inbounded the ball, but their star Carsen Edwards was not able to corral the ball and the turnover with just 1.8 seconds left sealed the 80-75 victory for Virginia.

In the final, exciting Elite Eight matchup, Duke and No. 2 Michigan State slugged it out until the final seconds. Early on, it looked like Michigan State had the game under control until Duke started hitting shots and was able to cut the lead to four points heading to the second half. Michigan State started the second half with a dunk and seemed to be in control, again, but Duke was able to regain the lead with 13 minutes left in the game.

It stayed close until the end. With five seconds left, Michigan State was ahead with two points. Duke had a chance to tie the game, with R.J. Barrett shooting two free throws, but he missed the first one. Barrett intended to miss the second free throw (just like Virginia had), but it dropped in after a high bounce, instead. Michigan State was then able to inbound the ball and secure the dramatic win, 68-67. 

The Final Four semi-finals are set to be televised this Saturday, April 6, on CBS TV at 3 p.m. Pacific time. It’s Auburn vs. Virginia, followed by Texas Tech vs. Michigan State.

The two winners will meet for the championship at 6 p.m. Pacific time on Monday, April 8, also on CBS.