Commentary: Dean Tester is a third-year journalism student and avid sports fan. He thinks that this year’s National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) March Madness basketball tournament that culminated with the University of North Carolina blowing out Michigan State University in the national championship was a let down in comparison to the intense competition of other years
March Madness is usually the highlight of any basketball fan’s year.
The 64-team tournament pits the United States’ best college basketball teams against each other. No other North American sporting event rivals the intensity and drama of this tournament, where buzzer beaters and upsets are the norm.
And it all leads up to the Final Four and the national championship game, where the best college basketball players get their chance to shine and make a name for themselves before entering the NBA draft.
Except it didn’t happen this year. After the first round, there were no major upsets. Only one game ended with a buzzer beater. And the Final Four provided the least entertaining basketball of the tournament.
Worst of all, there was no drama in Monday night’s finale. In fact, other ‘D’ words come to mind.
Domination: The UNC Tar Heels defeated the MSU Spartans 89-72 on April 6 to win their fifth national title. The Tar Heels dominated from start to finish, setting a new record for points scored in a half (55) and largest lead at halftime (21). They jumped out to a 34-11 lead early on, and never let Michigan State get any closer than a 13-point deficit. With all due respect to Spartans coach Tom Izzo and his team, at times it looked like the Tar Heels were shooting around with the practice squad.
Dud: Last year’s title game was an overtime thriller that featured one of the best buzzer beaters in tournament history. Less than a month ago north of the border, the Carleton Ravens won perhaps the most exciting Canadian Interuniversity Sport basketball game of all time when Stu Turnbull nailed a buzzer beater of his own against the University of Western Ontario. The NCAA game lacked any sort of epic finale – it was over in the first five minutes. There were no defining moments, no monster dunks and certainly no comebacks.
Disappointing: This game lacked any sort of star power. The Tar Heels trio of Wayne Ellington, Ty Lawson and Tyler Hansbrough was dominant all season, but none of them are even projected to make the top 15 in an incredibly weak 2009 NBA draft. Hansbrough probably has the best claim to fame for the Tar Heels – and he might not even be drafted in the first round. And not a single player from Michigan State is likely to be drafted at all.
These names simply don’t match up with the likes of Derrick Rose and Mario Chalmers from last year’s game.
But maybe that’s what this tournament will be best remembered for. Both the Tar Heels and Michigan State played solid team basketball, something with which too many professional athletes have serious problems. And when Ellington, Lawson and Hansbrough decided to come back this year instead of declaring for the draft last year, they put winning a championship ahead of getting a paycheque in the NBA. Maybe that’s why 73,000 people showed up to watch the Tar Heels dominate Michigan State. Maybe that’s a lesson the NBA needs to learn.
And maybe that’s why March Madness is usually the highlight of any basketball fan’s year.