UNITED STATES—The 2019 NCAA Tournament has been a whirlwind for basketball teams. Several #1 seeds fell to the waistline, surprises were delivered and when the dust settled it was all down to #3 seeded Texas Tech doing battle against #1 Virginia. Yes, I will admit after my Spartans lost to Texas Tech, I was not that happy to see how things would end. The Spartans just didn’t punch it as much as Texas Tech did. I warned people that team was dangerous.
On top of that, did you see the game between Auburn and Virginia? That might have been one of the most exciting games I watched the entire tournament next to the Duke vs. MSU game. I mean Auburn, if you ask me should have won that game, but by a mere point, a mere point, Virginia advanced and Auburn’s dreams were dashed.
So the championship game was a battle between Virginia and Texas Tech; two teams who had NEVER earned an NCAA Championship, so there was plenty on the line for both teams. I will admit the game was not that exciting, at least for the first half. Virginia kept a steady pace and lead over Texas Tech. That later changed in the second half with the Red Raiders fighting tooth and nail to get back into the game and they made it happen. A game that looked like the Cavaliers would be crowned champions, soon turned to a “Could Texas Tech deliver an upset?
Texas Tech tied up the lead and we had a game that was 68 to 68 with less than 1 second left on the clock. Texas Tech had the ball, but they couldn’t make anything happen to put the dagger in the Cavaliers. However, the game went to overtime and I will admit it was exciting to see that transpire. It wasn’t a thriller though with Virginia coming out and taking care of business to seal the deal with a score of 85-77. Yeah, it was like the Red Raiders barely showed up in overtime only scoring 9 points compared to the Cavaliers’ 19 points.
So Virginia has redeemed itself after being bounced during the 2018 NCAA Tournament in the first round by a 16th seeded team. I will admit I was kind of rooting for Virginia after the Spartans were trounced. For reasons I cannot explain, it always seems like in sports, you want the team who defeated your fav to lose. I’m not sure if it’s a direct result of having your ego bruised or what, but it happens all the time.
With that being said the 2019 NCAA Tournament is in the record books. It was fun while it lasted and congrats to the Cavaliers, you earned the biggest prize in college basketball.
