No one saw this coming. 2.56% of brackets on ESPN’s tournament challenge had Villanova winning the title game. There had never been a harder tournament to predict; there were no clear favorites. Sophomore Alivia Ankrum said, “After the first round no one in my bracket pool had more than 20% of the games right; the amount of upsets were ridiculous.”  In the regular season, top 10 teams suffered a combined 74 losses, the most since 1948. The talent spread in the NCAA this year was so small that a 10 seed made it to the Final 4, which has never happened before. The evenness of the game summed up the entire season, even to the end with Kris Jenkins’ incredibly clutch buzzer beater. What Villanova did was special; without a clear NBA prospect or a college superstar, they beat the team with the most depth in Kansas and controlled almost every game. After dismantling a Buddy Hield led Oklahoma team in the semifinals, Villanova showed they could be dominant, winning by 44 points, .

 Even after those accomplishments, the team was still an underdog against UNC. The combination of senior point guard Marcus Paige and athletic forward Brice Johnson seemed like too much star power for Villanova. At halftime it appeared as though UNC was taking control, but Villanova began to control the pace of the game as soon as the second half started. Doing a better job of keeping the ball out of the paint, Marcus Paige had to drive to get easy shots. Even then, it seemed like there were two more Villanova defenders than UNC players in the paint at any given time. Though the Tarheels outrebounded Villanova by 13 boards, they shot 16% worse from the field. UNC kept getting second chance baskets but did not cash in enough to overcome the Wildcats. After Marcus Paige hit the double clutch three pointer to tie, UNC got too comfortable. They let Ryan Acridiacono take the ball up the court with 4.7 seconds left and did not account for the shooter in Kris Jenkins who had been hot all tournament. Jenkins took his shot and put his name in the history books.

 In women’s basketball, the talent this year was not so even. UConn captured their fourth consecutive national title, sixth perfect season, and the program’s eleventh overall national title. UConn was beating teams by an average of 39.9 points per game. The Golden State Warriors are supposedly the best basketball team ever this season and are only beating teams by an average of 10 points. This Uconn team is dominant and has been so for years. Such sustained greatness in college basketball has not been seen since John Wooden’s UCLA teams in the 60’s and 70’s. Junior Kylie Harris said, “Whenever I hear about women’s basketball, I think about Uconn. They manhandle teams with how  much they win by.”

 Whatever you like in basketball, the NCAA delivered this season. If you wanted to see the most unpredictable NCAA tournament ever, this was the year to watch the men. If you wanted to see a team continue to destroy anyone in their path, UConn delivered. Any basketball fan could find something to love this year, and if you watched the games, you did not want to stop. The NCAA gave the most breathtaking tournament ever before. all that is important now is reminiscing on the most exciting championship game ever.