Not since the perimeter shooters of North Carolina State upset the Phi Slama Jamas of Houston in 1983 has the NCAA Men’s Division 1 Basketball Tournament seen the kind of upset that played out last night.
The Badgers stunned the Wildcats (and everyone else) by defeating them 71-64 in their Final Four matchup. Thus ending the Wildcats’ quest to become the first NCAA men’s team to have a perfect season since the Indiana Hoosiers did it in 1976.
Most analysts are parroting the David vs. Goliath analogy. But I think it’s off base. Not least because, despite all the talk about the gigantic size of the putatively invisible Wildcats, the Badgers of Wisconsin not only matched them in size but were the No. 1 seed in their region (i.e., hardly a Cinderella team).
Even though a different sport, the better analogy is the New York Giants ruining the New England Patriots’ quest for a perfect season by upsetting them in Super Bowl XLII in 2007.
Anyway, there can be no denying that last night’s game came pretty close to being worthy of the overhyped moniker of “March Madness.”
The Wisconsin Badgers (as more underdog than Cinderella) will now play for the national championship tomorrow night against perennial favorites, the Duke Blue Devils, who trounced the Michigan State Spartans 81-61 in their Final Four matchup yesterday.
Go Badgers!
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