March Madness Comes to an End

I really wasn't looking forward to the men's college basketball tournament this year.  I hadn't followed very many teams this season, IU didn't even make the tournament, and the Big Ten overall wasn't that great this year.  After the first weekend, only Purdue and Illinois were left with a chance at the Final Four and I didn't care for either team.  Illinois had a player that was in serious legal trouble, but still got to compete this season, and I was tired of Purdue fans chanting "IU sucks" at the beginning of every game.  I also had picked the worst bracket ever, so I didn't think that I would have much to look forward to this year.

All of that changed, however, when NC State went on this unbelievable run.  First, they had to win five games in a row to be crowned the ACC championship just to make it into the men's bracket this year.  Then they had to beat teams with better records than them to make it to the elite eight.  It looked like their tournament run would end there as they had to once again beat Duke to get into the Final Four.  It was so much fun to watch and very reminiscent of their 1983 tournament championship team.  

When I saw that not only the men were in the Final Four, but the women as well, I decided to buy an NC State shirt for the weekend.  My Uncle Larry had played for the Wolfpack in the 1960s and his time on the team was one of the highlights of his life.  LaMarr lived within two miles of their campus and we enjoyed visiting him and taking a tour with him many years ago.  I knew his family was very excited about this year's team from the texts that we had shared last week.  

I wore my shirt both Friday and Saturday night hoping that the support would at least help one of the teams make it to the championship game.  Unfortunately, they both lost to favored teams ending wonderful seasons for both.  On Sunday, we watched the South Carolina women beat Iowa and last night UConn's men defeat Purdue in games whose second halves were more lopsided than exciting.  Even so, it had been a fun March Madness and had something for everyone to be excited about this year.  I didn't even hear anyone complain when they found out that Doug had won the family pool this year.