There will probably never be a greater basketball day for Rick Pitino, than Monday. In the morning, it was announced that he would be part of the 2013 Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall Of Fame. Then all he did in the evening was lead his team to their first championship since 1986.
Louisville came out victorious over Michigan 82-76, in an extremely physical and nail-biting game. Michigan lead 38-37 after the first half, but Louisville came out firing in the second half. Though they only outscored Michigan 45-38 in the second half, they looked like a much different team.
Pitino now is the only coach to win a national championship at two different schools. His other championship came with in-state rival Kentucky in 1996. Though Pitino will definitely be the highlight of this tournament in years to come, he wasn’t the highlight of the 2013 tournament. Before this tournament, no one knew who Kevin Ware was. After Louisville’s Elite Eight game against Duke, everyone in America knew who he was.
Ware went up to try to block a shot, and as he came down, his leg simply snapped. Players on the Louisville sidelines were shown crying on TV, and it was reported later that some of them were vomiting. The injury was so bad, that Ware’s bone was coming out of his leg. The Louisville players found a way to rally around this injury, and seemed to almost win for Ware. The support following this injury was ridiculous. Almost every episode of Sportscenter mentioned Ware at least once, and NBA players such as LeBron James and Kobe Bryant tweeted at him. Even Michelle Obama extended her regards and wished him a quick recovery.
On the losing end, Michigan came up empty handed in what they hoped would be their first championship since 1989. Michigan basketball hasn’t had this much hype since the famously dubbed “fab five” took the court back in the early 90’s. In fact the 20th anniversary of the fab five was just days before Michigan lost the big game again. Not only did Michigan finish as the national runner-ups, Guard Trey Burke took home the Naismith trophy for college basketball player of the year. Burke, an All-American, put up a stat line of 18.5 PPG, 3.2 RPG and 6.8 APG. Burke is the first ever Michigan Wolverine to win the Naismith Player of the Year Award.
So what next for Michigan? There have been reports that Burke and Junior Guard Tim Hardaway Jr. are going to declare for the NBA draft. These reports have been disputed by both parties’ parents, saying that the players are unsure of their decisions yet. If the Wolverines can somehow get both of these players to return for another year, they would undoubtedly be the preseason favorites to win it all.
Though everyone’s brackets were ruined, this was one of the better tournaments that we’ve seen in recent years. Part of the reason being that three of the number one seeds were eliminated before they could make it to the Elite Eight. Florida Gulf Coast and the dunk city hype surrounding them were easily the most fun team to watch. It seemed that even the analysts and broadcasters were pulling for them to win. Unfortunately after a strong start, the Eagles were simply overwhelmed by the University of Florida.
The game of the tournament wasn’t the championship game, but the Final Four matchup of Wichita State and Louisville. With 13:35 left in the second half, Wichita State was leading Louisville by 12. This No. 9 seed no one in the country heard about, was so close to making it to the national championship. Louisville, being the better team, was able to rally back and make their way to their eventual championship.
So now that Louisville has been victorious, there is another 11 months until the tournament starts. That means 11 months of recruiting, practicing, playing and heartbreak. That means 11 months until your perfect bracket is completely destroyed. But most importantly, that means 11 months until madness.