The Louisville Cardinals defeated the Michigan Wolverines in the finals for the NCAA Basketball Championship 82-76, in Atlanta, on Monday night. Michigan led by as many as 12 points in the first half, but Louisville cut the deficit to one at halftime. Trey Burke, the Wolverines’ Player of the Year, was in early foul trouble, and only played 26 minutes of the game, but did end up with 24 points. However, while he was sitting on the bench, reserve guard Spike Albrecht, who averages 1.8 point per game, scored 17 in the first half.
Louisville made a run at the end of the first half, and early in the second half. The game remained close throughout, but Luke Hancock, the MVP of the tournament, and Peyton Siva, finished off the championship run for the Cardinals. Hancock finished with 22 points, and Siva had 18 points. Chane Behanan also added 15 points and 12 rebounds. Michigan actually shot over 52% from the field, while Louisville shot 46%.
This is the 3rd national championship for Louisville. The others came in 1980 and 1986 under head coach Denny Crum. Louisville is now 3-0 in championship games, while Michigan dropped to 1-5 in title games. Rick Pitino, the head coach of Louisville, became the first person to win championships at two different schools. He won a title with Kentucky in 1996. With Kentucky winning the title last year, and Lousiville winning this year, and Kentucky seemingly always having the best recruiting class since John Calipari has been the head coach there, the battle for supremacy in the state of Kentucky will heat up even more in the years to come.
Michigan should return a strong team next year also. At one point in the first half, they had five freshmen on the floor at the same time. But of course, at this point, you don’t know which of those players you will have back next year. It made sense that a team from the Big 10 (Michigan), and a team from the Big East (Louisville), would play for the championship. These were the two strongest conferences all year. It’s also the last year for the Big East as we know it. Many of the Big East powers are moving to the Atlantic Coast Conference, so the Big East will change dramatically starting next year.
March Madness was great, highlighted by Florida Gulf Coast University becoming the first 15th seed to ever make it to the Sweet 16. They beat 2nd seeded Georgetown in the first round 78-68. Some so-called experts picked Georgetown to win the tournament. Louisville even had to come from behind to beat 9th seeded Wichita State, to get to the championship game. The underdogs enjoyed a lot of success this year. I think that makes the tournament more interesting. Although some people may not have liked it too much. Those who had their brackets destroyed in the early rounds, because they picked the higher seeded teams to have a lot of success, weren’t too happy. You couldn’t have asked for too much more from the NCAA Basketball Championship Tournament this year.
If you would like future commentaries sent to you, just go to my website and enter your email address – www.frankcthomas.com
