By Jennifer Eisenbart
Sports editor
It’s hard not to find good stories out of this year’s NCAA Men’s Basketball Final Four.
There was plenty to like – a first title for a coach, an exciting comeback in the semifinals, just the fourth freshman being named Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four.
About the only thing missing was a true close finish in the championship game. Kansas rallied several times in the closing minutes, but never truly threatened. The Wildcats were calm and composed down the stretch, hit several key shots and free throws and escaped with a 67-59 victory.
But the lack of drama in the championship game aside, Kentucky and Kansas provided a weekend to remember. Just how much so? Well, see below.
• Yes, youth has been served. For just the fourth time in the history, a freshman – Kentucky’s Anthony Davis – was named the Final Four Most Outstanding Player.
Davis has grown from a guard into a 6-10 freshman phenom. It says something about Davis’s performance – and the “team first” aspect of the Wildcats – that the freshman had just six points in the championship game, but still had a huge impact. Davis finished with 16 rebounds, and he also had six blocked shots, five assists and three steals.
Davis has the potential to make a name for himself as the best collegiate player in history – if he stays all four years. It would certainly be nice to see, especially from an athlete who apparently is as smart as he is talented. On the honor roll since his freshman year of high school, Davis has the chance to be what the NCAA takes every chance to tell us about during the tournament – a true student-athlete with a life away from the game.
• And while youth was served, how nice was it for Kentucky’s John Calipari to finally win a national title? Over and over this past week, Calipari stated to just about whomever would listen that the Final Four wasn’t about him and winning a title – it was about his team.
That team, which was the best team in the country at the start of the season and the best when it ended, gave Calipari the one major accolade missing from his resume Monday night, and did so with class. The Wildcats were composed in the final minutes, holding off a concerted Kansas challenge that easily could’ve turned into round three of the miraculous comebacks Kansas scripted during the tournament.
And Kentucky entered the tournament off a loss to Vanderbilt in the SEC championship game. Many wondered how the Wildcats would respond. The answer? With as memorable a run to a championship as the school has ever had – and a first for a coach who has been around for a long time.
• And speaking of the Kansas comebacks, the Jayhawks first had to rally to take down Purdue just to reach the Sweet 16, then downed N.C. State and North Carolina in back-to-back wins.
Finally, Kansas rallied from a huge deficit to bounce the last remaining Big Ten team from the tournament – Ohio State – in the semifinals, 64-62. As proud as Calipari should be of his team, Bill Self should be equally proud of his team’s performance under pressure throughout the tournament.
And one final note on the women’s side: it’s taken many, many years, but Baylor’s Brittney Griner has shown that yes, a woman CAN dunk – and pretty effectively, too.
Griner and Baylor defeated Notre Dame 80-61 Tuesday night to finish the season 40-0 and win its second national title – another memorable season that goes stride-in-stride with Kentucky’s.
-
-
-
-
-