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There’s no doubt what every college basketball fan’s favorite month is: March. 68 men’s teams and 68 women’s teams play 134 games in the span of 20 days. By the time it’s over, only 2 of the 136 teams playing in the tournaments go home happy, with a national championship trophy and a new banner to hang in their rafters. This year was like no other. After the second round, only half the number 1 seeds remained for both tournaments. Neither championship game featured any number 1 seeds. And while hoisting the National Championship trophy, both the LSU women and UConn men are proof that in March, anything can happen.
Women’s Tournament Recap:
The first year of the First Four created an earlier-than-usual start to the tournament, but that just game more exciting games to watch. This year’s tournament received a record number of fans and tv viewers. 9.9 million people watched the championship game, which also hosted a sold-out crowd of nearly 20,000. According to ESPN, the Sweet Sixteen had an average of 1.2 million tv viewers per game, the Elite Eight averaged 2.2 million tv viewers per game, and the Final Four had an average of 6.5 million viewers per game. Fans from at least 46 states and 5 countries were present at the games. This is a surefire example of just how much the women’s basketball fan base is growing.
Mississippi State won their First Four play-in game, and then continued their run in the first round, upsetting #6 Creighton in a big 15-point victory. Two 12-seed teams, Toledo and Florida Gulf Coast, upset two 5-seeds, Iowa State and Washington State, respectively. In the second round, #1 Stanford was the first 1-seed to fall to #8 Ole Miss. #1 Indiana fell just a day later to #9 Miami.
#3 Ohio State and #9 Miami were the storylines of this year’s Sweet Sixteen. Ohio St. took down #2 UConn thanks to a dominant full-court press. Miami shocked #4 Villanova with several clutch plays by Destiny Harden and Jasmyne Roberts. The Elite Eight brought no real surprises but did set the Final Four: #1 Virginia Tech, #1 South Carolina, #2 Iowa, and #3 LSU.
In the first Final Four game, Virginia Tech had the lead at halftime, but LSU’s defense came alive in the 4th quarter. Taking their first lead since the first quarter roughly halfway through the fourth quarter, LSU never looked back. Star forward Angel Reese finished with 24 points and 12 rebounds and point guard Alexis Morris had 27 points. For Virginia Tech, point guard Georgia Amoore broke the record (momentarily since Caitlyn Clark broke her record in the final) for the most three-pointers made in the NCAA tournament.
In the second Final Four game, Iowa faced off against the reigning National Champion South Carolina Gamecocks. The storyline going into the game was Iowa would have to play a nearly perfect game of offense, defense, and everything in between to have a chance to beat South Carolina, and they did just that. South Carolina’s star forward, Aliyah Boston, got in early foul trouble, and although guard Zia Cooke managed to put up 24 points and 8 rebounds, the Gamecocks couldn’t break Iowa’s hold on the game, losing their chance at returning to the National Championship game.
The National Championship was pitched as Angel Reese of LSU versus Caitlyn Clark of Iowa, two all-stars of the women’s game. Reese had her 33rd double-double of the year in the Final Four, while Clark put up back-to-back 40-point games in the Elite Eight and Final Four, so there was no doubt it would be a high-scoring game. Both schools were seeking their first basketball national championship, men or women.
Fouls dominated much of the game, putting LSU’s stars on the bench for almost the entire second quarter, and Iowa’s stars quickly followed, sitting much of the second and third quarter, as well. It came down to what the bench players, many of whom had not played more than 10 minutes per game the entire tournament, could produce. Ultimately, it was LSU’s Jasmine Carson who stepped up and controlled the game. Carson was 5 of 6 from the three-point line, including a halftime buzzer-beater. She finished the game with 22 points. LSU’s bench produced 30 points, while Iowa’s bench contributed just 8 points. When the final buzzer sounded, the score was 102 to 85. LSU was named the 2023 National Champions.
Men’s Tournament Recap:
Last year’s edition of March Madness saw a Final Four that was a who’s who of the true blue-bloods of Men’s College Basketball: Duke, North Carolina, Villanova, and Kansas. This year’s edition was anything but that. Three of the four teams in this year’s Final Four were making their first-ever Final Four appearance: #9 Florida Atlantic University, #5 San Diego State, and #5 Miami. Rounding out the Final Four, and the eventual national champions, were the #4 UConn Huskies. This marked the fifth men’s title in UConn history, all within the last twenty-five years.
Underscoring the madness of this year’s tournament was the fact that this was the first tournament in which no one-seeds made it to the Elite Eight. This is the first time this has happened in a men’s or a women’s tournament since seeding was introduced. #1 Purdue’s shocking exit in the first round was only the second time a one-seed has been upset by a sixteen-seed in the men’s tournament. UConn’s triumph, however, did keep a fascinating streak going; since the mid-2000s, they are the only team to win a men’s national championship that wasn’t a one or a two-seed – and they’ve done that three times now.
The first few days of the men’s tournament were, as always, ripe with upsets and unpredictability. One of the first games played in the tournament saw #4 Virginia lose on a dramatic buzzer-beater three-pointer to #13 Furman. This was the second game in the entire tournament, and after its dramatic conclusion, ESPN reported that less than 15% of brackets on their website were still perfect. By the end of day one, that number was below 1%. #2 Arizona was dramatically upset by #15 Princeton, who then continued on to upset #7 Missouri in the second round before their Cinderella run was snuffed out in the Sweet Sixteen by #6 Creighton. These were just a few of many shocking upsets.
The surprising group of teams in the Final Four yielded one incredible game and two shows of Huskie dominance. Florida Atlantic and San Diego State came down to the wire, with SDSU snatching victory from the jaws of defeat on a buzzer-beater step-back jump shot at the horn to propel them to a one-point victory and their first championship game appearance in school history. In the other semi-final, UConn comfortably rolled over Miami, winning by double digits.
The National Championship game was largely uneventful, with UConn opening up a twelve-point lead at the end of a remarkably low-scoring first half. San Diego State briefly threatened, cutting the lead down to five once with six minutes remaining in the game, but the Huskies were continually able to keep the Aztecs at arm’s length, eventually winning by double digits. UConn won every single one of their tournament games by double digits. Dan Hurley successfully continues the Hurley Family’s legacy with this dominant performance.
At the end of the day, most of us aren’t going to win a national championship, so events like March Madness give us the time to compete and live vicariously through other teams. The College Voice staff had the opportunity to try to “beat the sports editors” this year by playing in our March Madness tournament challenge. And although they failed this year, it was fun to try to guess what crazy outcome would come of this year’s March Madness. Can’t wait for next year’s tournament!
