March Madness
By Henry & Fabius
March Madness was truly mad, mostly because this year there was not a team that could stay #1 so the national championship was up for grabs. It didn’t take long for the madness to start, because in the second round. Georgetown fell against a little known team FGCU (Florida Gulf Coast University). FGCU, the number 15th seed beat a team that had high hopes for the 2013 tournament, but they had problems closing games. FGCU did not come to lose. Other exciting upsets were12th seed Oregon, who beat 5th seed Oklahoma St. and 4th seed St. Louis got to the Sweet 16 only to lose to #1 seed Louisville. Gonzaga, 1st seed in the west section of the tournament, almost lost to 16th seed Southern, but Gonzaga won by 4. (16th seed is the lowest seed). It was the closest 1st seed vs. 16th seed game ever. FGCU was the first 15th seed in March Madness history to get to the sweet 16, a major accomplishment. But after what everybody was calling the Cinderella story of 2013, they lost their head coach Andy Enfield to USC (University of Southern California). 3rd seed Marquette beat 14th seed Davidson by one point on a sensational move by Madison native Vander Blue to win the game.
In the 3rd round, #1 seed Gonzaga, a team expected to get to the final four, lost to 9th seed Wichita St. 3rd seed Marquette also got a boost of confidence after beating 6th seed Butler by only 2 points.
As the teams narrowed down there were only 16 teams left; the sweet 16 as it’s known. Marquette beat 2nd seed Miami (FL), whom lots of people had predicted going into the final four and maybe even to win it all. A lot of the loss was because their big man Reggie Johnson was not able to play, and as physical of a team Marquette is, it was a hard game to play. FGCU lost but still, they should be proud for being the first 15th seed to make it to the last 16 teams. 1st seed of the Midwest, Louisville, kept cruising along after beating 12th seed Oregon. Louisville is a team with speed and great accuracy when shooting. They have phenomenal players like Russ Smith, Payton Siva, Kevin Ware and Luke Hancock. That’s why they were the #1 in the country towards the end of the season.
As we move on to the Elite eight, the teams only get better. Wichita St. beat 2nd seed Ohio St. to get to the final four for the first time since 1965. Louisville had a rough game against 2nd seed Duke; the team lost Kevin Ware to a broken leg. It was a compound fracture. A compound fracture is when you break your bone and it goes through your skin (ouch!). In Kevin Ware’s case it was 6 inches through. It happened when Kevin Ware jumped into the air and when he came down he hyper-extended his leg. Usually when doing this you are running but when he jumped he had so much power his leg gave out. What made matters worse, he had broken his leg before, but this time his bone happened to come out the skin. It is being called one of the worst injuries (not just in college basketball) in the history of all basketball. Despite the gruesome site, Ware told his teammates to focus on the game. 4th seed Syracuse crushed Vander Blue and 3rd seed Marquette in a low scoring game of runs (55-39). Pretty much the same thing happened to 4th seed Michigan and 3rd seed Florida of the east section as Michigan dominated. That game’s final score was 79-59, a convincing win by 20 points.
The only four teams that still remained were: Louisville, Michigan, Syracuse, and little known Wichita St. They headed to Atlanta for the Final Four. Louisville and Wichita St. had a close game, with Louisville wining by only 4 points. But it was not always in Louisville’s favor. For most of the game, Wichita St. had the lead, starting out with 8 unanswered points, and at one point in the game they were winning by 11. But at the end, Louisville came back and won it 72-68. One of the reasons they were able to come out on top is because of Luke Hancock, who engineered the amazing comeback. He went on a 3 point terror and Louisville managed to win the game. The Michigan and Syracuse game was a nail biter, being won by a bunch of free throws. It was a 56-58 game at one point after Trey Burke made 2 big free throws, then with little time left, Syracuse took a one minute time out. After the time out, Trevor Cooney missed a big shot from 7 feet out, and Michigan went on to beat Syracuse 61-56 to face Louisville in the national championship.
In the national championship, the two best teams meet. With Louisville playing Michigan, it was bound to be a high scoring game. And it was. In the beginning, Trey Burke was on fire hitting his first 4 shots to make the game 7-3 Michigan. But then he had to sit with 3 fouls and when he came out, the back-up had to step in. He stood in the shadow of what might be the best point guard in the country. But when he came in, he came to play. His name is Spike Albrech, and what a show he put on his first moments on the court. He came off the bench and hit 4 three pointers in a row. It was crazy! At one point in the first half Michigan was winning 31-21, but Louisville fought back thanks to Luke Hancock, who again was scoring from down town (behind the three point line). He sunk 4 in a row. With 2 points separating Louisville from the lead, Peyton Siva stole the ball, stumbled, then threw the ball up to Montezl Harrell. Just like that, with 21 seconds to go in the first half the score was 36-35 Louisville. After a few free throws, the score was 38-37 at the half, and Michigan held a slim lead that narrowed down from 12 points. In the second half, the game was going back and forth the whole time, but Louisville choked off the scoring drives of Michigan. With 4 minutes 10 seconds left to go, they took the lead and never looked back. The final score was 76-82. It was a hard loss for Michigan, as it would be for any team. They fought hard to get to the national championship, only to lose. For Louisville, however, the result was different. They didn’t have an easy path, overcame a few deficits and lost a player on the road to the national title, but in the end they stuck it out. Their story shows how hard work and courage can pay off!
By Henry & Fabius
March Madness was truly mad, mostly because this year there was not a team that could stay #1 so the national championship was up for grabs. It didn’t take long for the madness to start, because in the second round. Georgetown fell against a little known team FGCU (Florida Gulf Coast University). FGCU, the number 15th seed beat a team that had high hopes for the 2013 tournament, but they had problems closing games. FGCU did not come to lose. Other exciting upsets were12th seed Oregon, who beat 5th seed Oklahoma St. and 4th seed St. Louis got to the Sweet 16 only to lose to #1 seed Louisville. Gonzaga, 1st seed in the west section of the tournament, almost lost to 16th seed Southern, but Gonzaga won by 4. (16th seed is the lowest seed). It was the closest 1st seed vs. 16th seed game ever. FGCU was the first 15th seed in March Madness history to get to the sweet 16, a major accomplishment. But after what everybody was calling the Cinderella story of 2013, they lost their head coach Andy Enfield to USC (University of Southern California). 3rd seed Marquette beat 14th seed Davidson by one point on a sensational move by Madison native Vander Blue to win the game.
In the 3rd round, #1 seed Gonzaga, a team expected to get to the final four, lost to 9th seed Wichita St. 3rd seed Marquette also got a boost of confidence after beating 6th seed Butler by only 2 points.
As the teams narrowed down there were only 16 teams left; the sweet 16 as it’s known. Marquette beat 2nd seed Miami (FL), whom lots of people had predicted going into the final four and maybe even to win it all. A lot of the loss was because their big man Reggie Johnson was not able to play, and as physical of a team Marquette is, it was a hard game to play. FGCU lost but still, they should be proud for being the first 15th seed to make it to the last 16 teams. 1st seed of the Midwest, Louisville, kept cruising along after beating 12th seed Oregon. Louisville is a team with speed and great accuracy when shooting. They have phenomenal players like Russ Smith, Payton Siva, Kevin Ware and Luke Hancock. That’s why they were the #1 in the country towards the end of the season.
As we move on to the Elite eight, the teams only get better. Wichita St. beat 2nd seed Ohio St. to get to the final four for the first time since 1965. Louisville had a rough game against 2nd seed Duke; the team lost Kevin Ware to a broken leg. It was a compound fracture. A compound fracture is when you break your bone and it goes through your skin (ouch!). In Kevin Ware’s case it was 6 inches through. It happened when Kevin Ware jumped into the air and when he came down he hyper-extended his leg. Usually when doing this you are running but when he jumped he had so much power his leg gave out. What made matters worse, he had broken his leg before, but this time his bone happened to come out the skin. It is being called one of the worst injuries (not just in college basketball) in the history of all basketball. Despite the gruesome site, Ware told his teammates to focus on the game. 4th seed Syracuse crushed Vander Blue and 3rd seed Marquette in a low scoring game of runs (55-39). Pretty much the same thing happened to 4th seed Michigan and 3rd seed Florida of the east section as Michigan dominated. That game’s final score was 79-59, a convincing win by 20 points.
The only four teams that still remained were: Louisville, Michigan, Syracuse, and little known Wichita St. They headed to Atlanta for the Final Four. Louisville and Wichita St. had a close game, with Louisville wining by only 4 points. But it was not always in Louisville’s favor. For most of the game, Wichita St. had the lead, starting out with 8 unanswered points, and at one point in the game they were winning by 11. But at the end, Louisville came back and won it 72-68. One of the reasons they were able to come out on top is because of Luke Hancock, who engineered the amazing comeback. He went on a 3 point terror and Louisville managed to win the game. The Michigan and Syracuse game was a nail biter, being won by a bunch of free throws. It was a 56-58 game at one point after Trey Burke made 2 big free throws, then with little time left, Syracuse took a one minute time out. After the time out, Trevor Cooney missed a big shot from 7 feet out, and Michigan went on to beat Syracuse 61-56 to face Louisville in the national championship.
In the national championship, the two best teams meet. With Louisville playing Michigan, it was bound to be a high scoring game. And it was. In the beginning, Trey Burke was on fire hitting his first 4 shots to make the game 7-3 Michigan. But then he had to sit with 3 fouls and when he came out, the back-up had to step in. He stood in the shadow of what might be the best point guard in the country. But when he came in, he came to play. His name is Spike Albrech, and what a show he put on his first moments on the court. He came off the bench and hit 4 three pointers in a row. It was crazy! At one point in the first half Michigan was winning 31-21, but Louisville fought back thanks to Luke Hancock, who again was scoring from down town (behind the three point line). He sunk 4 in a row. With 2 points separating Louisville from the lead, Peyton Siva stole the ball, stumbled, then threw the ball up to Montezl Harrell. Just like that, with 21 seconds to go in the first half the score was 36-35 Louisville. After a few free throws, the score was 38-37 at the half, and Michigan held a slim lead that narrowed down from 12 points. In the second half, the game was going back and forth the whole time, but Louisville choked off the scoring drives of Michigan. With 4 minutes 10 seconds left to go, they took the lead and never looked back. The final score was 76-82. It was a hard loss for Michigan, as it would be for any team. They fought hard to get to the national championship, only to lose. For Louisville, however, the result was different. They didn’t have an easy path, overcame a few deficits and lost a player on the road to the national title, but in the end they stuck it out. Their story shows how hard work and courage can pay off!