In the month of March, the NCAA tournament gave people from all over the country a case of March Madness. Fans fill out their brackets and hope to achieve bragging rights or money from their respective peers. Some fans were crazy enough to think that they could actually win $1 billion after entering Warren Buffett’s bracket challenge. Well, the Midwest region put all of those dreams to rest.
The Midwest region was at the epicenter of all of the craziness. It all started when Wichita State was crowned the number one seed on Selection Sunday. College basketball fans questioned if the Shockers deserved to be the top seed even though they had an undefeated season. Fans made the case for Louisville and Michigan due to the fact they played in tougher conferences.
Wichita State defeated number 16 seed Cal Poly convincingly in the second round, but the road was about to get a lot tougher for the Shockers. In the third round, Wichita State had to go up against Kentucky, who was coming off a close win against Kansas State. Kentucky was a team who was on a mission after a letdown season last year when losing to Robert Morris in the first round of the NIT. Kentucky is led by freshman forward Julius Randle, who averages 15.0 points per game and 10.5 rebounds, which qualifies him as one of the top prospects for next year’s NBA draft. The matchup between Kentucky and Wichita State turned into a classic that went into the final seconds. The Shockers had the ball and were trailing 78-76 with 1.8 seconds left in the game. Point guard Fred VanVleet caught the inbounds pass and put up a three-pointer at the buzzer, but it didn’t go in. The Wildcats survived and ended the Shockers quest to go 40-0.
The Wildcats moved on to face in-state rival Louisville in the Sweet 16. Louisville was considered a favorite to repeat as national champions, despite being a number four seed entering the NCAA tournament. Coach John Calipari and the number eight seed Wildcats sent Rick Pitino and the Cardinals packing after defeating them 74-69. Senior shooting guard Russ Smith missed a shot with less than three seconds left, allowing Kentucky to close out the victory. Kentucky also outscored Louisville 15-3 in the final 4:10 minutes of the game.
Kentucky moved on to the Elite Eight and faced off against the Michigan Wolverines. Forward Nik Stauskas and shooting guard Glenn Robinson III are the main components to the Wolverines’ offense. Stauskas put up a game-high 24 points for the Wolverines, but Kentucky point guard Andrew Harrison nailed a three-pointer with 2.6 seconds to go to seal the victory and the Wildcats’ ticket to the Final Four.
The Midwest region was the region of death. It contained Michigan, Louisville, Wichita State and Kentucky. Another team that was considered dangerous at the start of the tournament was number three seed Duke. According to bracketologists, Duke had an easy first round matchup against Mercer. Mercer came out of the Atlantic 10 conference that held last year’s Cinderella team Florida Gulf Coast. Mercer came out on top and upset Jabari Parker and the heavily favored Blue Devils 78-71. Mercer’s win over Duke was the first ever NCAA tournament victory in school history.
In the end, the Midwest region destroyed many people’s brackets and was the most watchable out of all the regions in the tournament. The Kentucky Wildcats will represent the Midwest Region in the final four as they face off against Wisconsin on April 5 in Cowboys Stadium.
Phil Novotny can be reached at philip.novotny@spartans.ut.edu.