This year’s Men’s NCAA Tournament had very few upsets and Cinderellas, but was still a tourney to remember for several teams. Probably the top story line of the tourney was UConn winning back to back NCAA Tournament championships. En route to winning back to back titles, the Huskies also broke a historic record in an uncommon statistical category. UConn won each tourney game by a combined total of 140 points! The next closest was Duke, who was over 10 points off the Huskies' total. Another major story line was NC State, who had to win five games in five days to win the ACC Tournament and advance to the NCAA Tournament. After accomplishing this incredible feat in a tough ACC, the Wolfpack went on to the Final Four where they fell to Purdue. Speaking of Purdue, they shattered their performance in the tournament from the previous year! After losing to 16-seeded Fairleigh Dickinson, the Boilermakers were able to make a miracle run to the National Championship, where they fell to the unstoppable UConn Huskies.
A minor, yet significant story line in the tournament was Oakland winning their first ever NCAA Tournament game. This came as their head coach Greg Kampe was in his 40th year with the program. After beating the dreaded Kentucky Wildcats, in by far the biggest upset in the tournament, Oakland was on to the second round for the first time in the school’s history. The unfortunately for Oakland in the second round they played the eventual Regional Champion, NC State. If they didn’t draw this tough squad so early in the tournament they could have made the run that NC State was fortunate enough to experience. All in all, this was an excellent tourney to remember for many programs, whether for the better or for the worse.
