Another season wraps up

If you read this column as religiously as I write them you would know that my prediction for the women’s NCAA basketball championship was wrong.

I admit it, but I also admit that I don’t like to make predictions. I like to watch the games and hope for good ones.

The women’s Final Four could not have been more exciting as both semifinal matchups went into overtime with Mississippi State outlasting Louisville and Notre Dame taking out highly favored and undefeated UConn on a buzzer beater by Arike Ogunbowale.

The Fighting Irish needed to rally from a halftime deficit to earn this one.

Two days later, on Easter Sunday, Notre Dame again needed to rally to beat last year’s runner up Mississippi State (MSU).

It wasn’t easy especially when you factor in how many injuries the Irish had. Notre Dame only suited up seven scholarship players, so depth was definitely something they would be worrying about.

With less than 10 seconds to play, the Irish had the ball out on the side at their end. MSU defended the low post to perfection so the Irish went to the second option, getting the ball back into Ogunbowale’s hands.

The guard took two dribbles toward the baseline and let go of a high arcing jumper that fell through the bucket to once again win a very tight ball game at the buzzer and send the Bulldogs to the locker room in tears.

Was it the luck of the Irish on Easter Sunday or just a bunch of young ladies that refused to give up and did their best to leave it all out on the court in Columbus, Ohio?

If you didn’t watch these teams play you missed out on some exciting basketball.

On the men’s side on Saturday, Michigan forced Loyola of Chicago to be an average team instead of the upset specialists they were for four games.

The Ramblers had a great run but when they started to turn the ball over in the second half Michigan fed off those miscues and knocked Loyola out of the tournament.

The Ramblers definitely believed they could play with anyone and led at the half but Michigan had too much athleticism for the Ramblers to match.

In the second game between the only two remaining No. 1 seeds, Villanova used the three-ball to take out Kansas 95-79.

The Wildcats drained a Final Four record 18 3-pointers for the night. The Jayhawks had no answer for Villanova and were at times merely spectators during this game.

On Monday, Villanova fell behind Michigan in the first half, but would rally with a 23-7 run late in the first half behind the scoring of Wildcat sixth man Donte DiVencenzo. He would score 18 in the first half and finish with 31.

Everyone gets excited about the Villanova offense, but this game was won on the defensive side of the court. The Wildcats made life tough for Michigan and they challenged every shot the Wolverines would try after UM took a 21-14 lead.

The switching man-to-man defense was exciting to watch as the quickness of Villanova forced the Wolverines to be out of sync when trying to run any type of offense.

Player of the Year Jalen Brunson had nine points and sat out much of the second half with foul trouble. No problem, the rest of his Villanova teammates took care of business and they would win their second NCAA championship in three years.

Villanova was by far the cream of the crop at the tournament this year and they proved it on the court defeating Michigan by a score of 79-62.

Looking back to an early December meeting between Gonzaga and Villanova, a game played in New York City’s Madison Square Garden, the Wildcats defeated the Bulldogs 88-72. Villanova was loaded and the Zags were getting used to their lineup after losing Cory Kispert to an ankle injury.

Many so-called basketball experts used this game as a measuring stick as to just how good Gonzaga was. After seeing what Villanova did to Kansas and Michigan, I think the Zags should have been given a little more credit after that cross country matchup.

Well, the NCAA basketball season has wrapped up and the only thing to watch now is how many of the young men that played important roles for their teams this year will opt to try their luck in the NBA draft.

I know of a few that I hope will stay at least another year.