*** Official San Diego State vs UConn March Madness Championship Game Thread ***

[wazu]

In case anybody else is watching. AZTECS LETS GO!!!!!!!!!!!

[Chief Pagan]

Originally Posted by Jewish Rabbi

That’s why it’s weird that so many in this thread have their panties in a bunch about it

TV announcers and fans (outside of the teams playing) love upsets when they happen.

A bunch of one and done games on nominally neutral courts with all the vagaries of three point shooting and whatever some ref decides to call on any given drive to the basket.

But was this Final Four really what very many BB fans wanted?

A 20 point blow out final?

But we can all be thrilled that Purdue was upset in the first round and Kansas in the second. Yip.

Uh huh?

Personally, I see a lot of crapshoot and try not to get too high or low about a single tournament.

Conference wins year after year after year after year after year after year after year...

That's a little less of a crapshoot. Although even those have often come down to single games.

[Rams Fan]

Originally Posted by KC_Connection

They didn't. They faced one team in the top 10 in KenPom (Gonzaga). It was a weak road and it made for a boring ending with 2 mediocre teams for them (Miami and SDSU) in the FF.

Kansas also faced one team in the final top 10 in KenPom in 2022 in the tournament (Villanova). Baylor faced two in 2021 (Houston and Gonzaga). Virginia only faced one in 2019 (Texas Tech).

I'm really not sure I understand your point. They can only control what they can control. They dominated teams at an almost unprecedented level in a bracket that had all of the 1 seeds gone at the end of the Sweet 16 and the 2 seeds eliminated after the Elite 8.

Just because they've been feast or famine for the better part of 30 years and there was a volume of upsets that was unprecedented in the bracket this year doesn't make their accomplishment(s) any less impressive.

[KC_Connection]

Originally Posted by Rams Fan

Kansas also faced one team in the final top 10 in KenPom in 2022 in the tournament (Villanova). Baylor faced two in 2021 (Houston and Gonzaga). Virginia only faced one in 2019 (Texas Tech).

I’m aware of that. KU’s road last year was a complete joke, one that had been a long time coming for them considering some of their draws over the past decade.

I'm really not sure I understand your point. They can only control what they can control. They dominated teams at an almost unprecedented level in a bracket that had all of the 1 seeds gone at the end of the Sweet 16 and the 2 seeds eliminated after the Elite 8.

Just because they've been feast or famine for the better part of 30 years and there was a volume of upsets that was unprecedented in the bracket this year doesn't make their accomplishment(s) any less impressive.

My point is that they ended up playing nobody because all of the other good teams dropped around them and it led to a terrible FF viewing experience. Not sure what isn’t clear about that.

[Rams Fan]

Originally Posted by KC_Connection

I’m aware of that. KU’s road last year was a complete joke, one that had been a long time coming for them considering some of their draws over the past decade.


My point is that they ended up playing nobody because all of the other good teams dropped around them and it led to a terrible FF viewing experience. Not sure what isn’t clear about that.

We can agree to disagree.

FF had the first buzzer beater in the tournament since 2021. Natty was unwatchable because of how horrendous SDSU shot in the first half and no comeback (I guess SDSU cut the deficit to 5 late) or drama in the second half.

Georgia destroying TCU made an unwatchable title in football. 2018 Villanova destroying Michigan made a boring game.

I don’t think the caliber of team makes a game boring. I just think the ultimate result does. FDU had no business beating Purdue or Princeton beating Arizona or St. Peter’s beating Kentucky and Purdue, but they did. If parity early in the tournament leads to a higher likelihood of blowouts later on, I’m fine with that.

[KC_Connection]

Originally Posted by Rams Fan

We can agree to disagree.

I'm not sure what we're disagreeing on. You think UConn destroying some mediocre teams this past weekend was good to watch?

I'd rather see the best on best (or at least the closest approximation to that). Most people do in any sport at any time. We didn't get that in the NCAA tournament this year thanks to teams like Alabama, Texas, KU, Houston, and UCLA all losing early.

[Jewish Rabbi]

Originally Posted by KC_Connection

I'm not sure what we're disagreeing on. You think UConn destroying some mediocre teams this past weekend was good to watch?

I'd rather see the best on best (or at least the closest approximation to that). Most people do in any sport at any time. We didn't get that in the NCAA tournament this year thanks to teams like Alabama, Texas, KU, Houston, and UCLA all losing early.

Maybe the "good" teams shouldn't lose early then.

[Rams Fan]

Originally Posted by KC_Connection

I'm not sure what we're disagreeing on. You think UConn destroying some mediocre teams this past weekend was good to watch?

I'd rather see the best on best (or at least the closest approximation to that). Most people do in any sport at any time. We didn't get that in the NCAA tournament this year thanks to teams like Alabama, Texas, KU, Houston, and UCLA all losing early.

You won’t see the best on best more times than not given the nature of the tournament and being single elimination.

It’s not UConn’s fault that “good” teams lost early.