What a national championship game we had. Duke and Hall of Fame coach Mike Krzyzewski against Connecticut and Hall of Fame coach Jim Calhoun.
The two masterminds going at it, and Calhoun came out on top at the end, 79-78.
Then UConn had to go on and play Georgia Tech for some reason. I guess they beat Oklahoma State or something.
The actual national championship game between Georgia Tech and UConn was flat out boring. It was no contest and was one of the worst title games in memory.
The two national semifinal games were great basketball, but it was like a great novel ending on page 127, instead of page 211.
The national title game should have the ability to have the best two teams in the Final Four face each other. Duke and Connecticut were the best two teams left when the four teams arrived in San Antonio, but could not play each other, because they were on the same side of the bracket.
The committee needs to change the tournament to allow for reseeding once the Final Four teams are set.
I know they have made strides recently, including seeding the overall No. 1 and No. 2 seeds on opposite sides of the bracket so they could face each other in the finals.
However, with the madness that March brings, the committee's top two teams often don't reach the Final Four due to the parity in men's basketball. It's simple once the teams are decided re-seed them based on their original seedings.
So this year, Duke, the lone No. 1 seed, would have been the No. 1 seed and Connecticut and Oklahoma State would have been the No. 2 and No. 3, as both were No. 2 seeds. That would leave Georgia Tech as the No. 4 seed, because it was a No. 3.
It sets up a great ACC matchup between Duke and Georgia Tech and another great matchup between the high-powered offense of Connecticut, and the best defensive team in the tournament Oklahoma State. I know that neither of these two games could be as great as the ones we saw on Saturday and that Connecticut or Duke could have lost, but the best two teams shouldn't have to face each other before the Finals.
Blown Calls
In what was one of the best college basketball games of the season and on college basketball's biggest stage -- the Final Four -- the referees took away the spotlight from some of the sport's biggest stars.It started with the assault by the referees on Emeka Okafor, he played just 22 minutes, and ended with the referees fouling out every Duke player defending Okafor. Shelden Williams, Shavlik Randolph and Nick Horvath played a combined 41 minutes and amassed 15 fouls. Randolph was playing the best game of his career scoring 13 points, on 6-for-6 shooting from the field. Williams, along with the referees, was the only person capable of keeping Okafor away from the basket. The referees stole the flow of the game and forced us to watch Horvath duel with Hilton Armstrong, instead of Okafor jostle with Williams in a battle of two of the nation's best big men.
For all the fouls they called in the game, it was one they didn't call that seemed to infuriate Krzyzewski the most.J.J. Redick looked to be fouled twice on his drive to the basket late in the game when the Blue Devils trailed by one, 76-75. After that sequence, it was the first time I had ever seen Krzyzewski reach the boiling point where his pasted down hair was flopping around. Krzyzewski lost his cool and so did his team as they collapsed in a very un-Duke-like manner.Olandis Poole, Ted Hillary and David Hall lost their cool, turning the game into a five o'clock traffic jam.
Upset of the Week
I picked Duke last week, and its cataclysmic defeat cost me a .500 record. Mr. Duhon's "meaningless" three-pointer did make a few folks happy as Duke covered the two-point spread.
My record against the number in Vegas was much better than my record straight up, which is actually much more important, because picking losers straight-up is embarrassing, but picking losers against the spread can cost you your legs.
There is no college basketball left for me to predict so I'm going to throw in a Masters prediction -- Retief Goosen.
