2018 March Madness

Wow, UConn was hard to put away. ND should of wrapped that up in regulation. But a quick 3P, then a ND TO on a side line out of bounds following a time out leading to a breakaway layup tied the game. ND turned it over again, and UConn had time to win, but missed at the buzzer.

In OT, ND had another 5 point lead under a minute, but after being perfect in regulation, started missing free throws, allowing the late tie. They were lucky to make their shot at the buzzer for the win.

Just want to add that a Bulldog victory would be their first national championship in any sport. It would leave (I believe) Virginia Tech as the only P5 school without a single national championship.

And we have two!

A general observation from the tournament is that teams with a bad offense can go a long way with tough defense. Seeing it again today.

Holy cow! Congrats to Notre Dame!

https://twitter.com/espn/status/980599818052685824

This leaves Mississippi State in the club with Kansas State and Virginia Tech as P5 schools to have never won a championship in any sport. Ole Miss and Pitt have never won an NCAA championship and claim some of the "dubious" football and basketball championships.

There is absolutely no way the Men's Final Four games have had, or will have, the excitement of this year's Women's Final Four.

After two exceptional semi-final overtime games won by Mississippi State and Notre Dame on Good Friday, today's final was decided by a 3-pointer from the corner at the buzzer and the National Championship went to the Irish, 61-58. (Well the buzzer sounded, but the refs decided there should still be .1 second on the clock).

Notre Dame scored only 17 points the entire first half, and they were down by 15 in the 3rd quarter, but a 16-1 run tied the game at the end of the quarter.  Down again, 58-53 in the final 90 seconds, Notre Dame scored the final 8 points to win the game, with the final shot coming after Mississippi State's dominate 6-7 post fouled out with 3 seconds remaining to set up the winning shot.

It was pretty apparent that Notre Dame, with only 7 scholarship players available due to injuries, was tired toward the end, but somehow they resurrected themselves on Easter Sunday and gave Muffet McGraw and the Irish their second national title.  After the game Muffet said, "It's Easter Sunday, and all the Catholics were praying for us."

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/ncaabk/notre-dame-beats-mississippi-state-on-last-second-shot/ar-AAvmgX2?ocid=spartandhp

Congrats to ND. Turned away at half, and turned back late in the 3rd Q. I was surprised to see they'd come back so strongly. They looked like they had no answers in the 2nd Q.

I heard the coach's comment about Catholics praying for them on Easter; she could of just skipped that one. Easter is a little bigger deal than ND WBB.

DoubleDipper wrote:There is absolutely no way the Men's Final Four games have had, or will have, the excitement of this year's Women's Final Four.

Well, not much excitement tonight in the championship game. Villanova dominated 79-62.

I think playing the Final Four games in a dome venue does a disservice to the teams. The 3P shooting was atrocious for everyone, except Villanova. Kansas shot 33%, 7-21. Loyola shot 10%, 1-10. Michigan was 25% in the semi game, 7-28, and 13% in the final, 3-23. Only Villanova was good, shooting a fabulous 18-40 for 45% in walloping Michigan, and shooting 37% tonight on 10 of 27. Their ability to deal with the dome shooting conditions was a big advantage in their favor.

SouthCarolinaPilot wrote:Holy cow! Congrats to Notre Dame!

Some wonderful and exciting basketball played by the Women this year, but apparently no networks stepped-up to give it a shining moment.

This is from Westminster College women's assistant coach, Matt Moore: