By Matthew Barnes, Sports Commentary
When the month of March rolls around, college basketball fans across the nation rejoice in the madness that ensues. Some teams disappoint; some teams surprise; then there are the “Cinderellas” who come out of nowhere and steal our hearts. However, there are usually some familiar faces that take care of business and play in the Final Four. The so-called “blue bloods” (Kentucky, Duke, North Carolina, etc.) make their mark nearly every tournament, but this year has been an exception.
The Final Four went down on April 6, and it was made up of four teams who weren’t regular attendees. The first of these was the Auburn Tigers. Since Auburn is known largely as a football school, this basketball team has been pretty irrelevant in the past twenty years. The team’s only notable basketball memory was rostering the great Charles Barkley. Auburn had a bumpy season with 10 losses, which included losing to Kentucky on Feb. 23 by 27 points.
However, the Tigers went on a hot streak after that loss, winning 12 straight games. They mowed through the blue bloods, taking down Kansas in the round of 32 and North Carolina in the Sweet 16 and then avenging themselves against Kentucky in the Elite 8. After facing a gauntlet of opponents that is arguably the toughest road of all time, Auburn reached its first Final Four in school history.
In the West, another newcomer joined the party. The Texas Tech Red Raiders put on a defensive clinic in the NCAA Tournament, absolutely exhausting their competition to win games. This six-loss team had a good season but flew under the radar. They definitely turned heads this postseason by taking down the top two seeds in their region to obtain their first Final Four in school history as well.
The South region contained the only No. 1 seed to make it out but probably the one with the craziest story to tell. The Virginia Cavaliers completed their redemption arc this month after being utterly humiliated the year prior. The Cavaliers were the first No. 1 seed to lose in the first round to a No. 16 seed in 2018, and they have been the laughing stock of college basketball since. However, this year’s squad, with a nearly identical roster, survived and advanced several nail-biters to cut down the South region’s nets. This was their first Final Four since 1984.
The only somewhat recognizable face to make it was Michigan State in the East. The Spartans have won it all on two occasions and been to nine Final Fours before this one. But they haven’t made much noise since 2015, so it still seemed relatively fresh. They also gained a lot of support from the country when they upset Duke in the Elite 8.
In the Final Four, the Red Raiders defeated Michigan State by holding the Spartans to 51 points in a low-scoring slugfest to keep their championship dream alive. In the other matchup, Virginia continued its postseason magic when guard Kyle Guy hit three free throws with 0.6 seconds left to secure the win against Auburn.
Then fans were treated to a fantastic finale, where Virginia and Texas Tech played to a stalemate in regulation. The Cavaliers hit some big shots in overtime to pull away and win their first national championship by a score of 85-77.
It’s sort of hard to say this was the “tourney of the underdog.” All four of these teams were top-5 seeds, and there were no major Cinderella runs. However, this tournament created room for some newcomers to the party, and was certainly a breath of fresh air.