Tag Archive for: NCAA Tournament

Winners and Losers of the 2023 NCAA Basketball Tournament

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Sports titles are highly important and prove a team’s excellence. And it’s no different at the collegiate level. Every year, March Madness, or the NCAA tournament, is a source of suspense and interest for most collegiate basketball fans and the participating teams. The tournament is also a test of who is the best of the best and those who flopped.

 

Last April 3, the NCAA playoffs for 2023 came to an end, and we have winners and losers. But who were the biggest wins and losses during the NCAA Tournament? Who stood out the most during the March Madness tournament? And who was falling behind throughout the tournament?

 

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Rising to the Top

UConn Huskies

On April 4, the University of Connecticut Huskies were hailed the 2023 NCAA champions and sealed the status of collegiate basketball royalty. The team won against the San Diego State Aztecs, where the latter overcame a 14-point deficit in the semifinals.

 

But unfortunately, they were never able to overcome the Huskies. After the victory, UConn joined 1997 Arizona as the No. 4 seed to be champion of the NCAA Division I men’s basketball tournament.

LSU Tigers

The LSU Tigers won the 2023 NCAA Division I women’s basketball tournament championship, its first-ever national title, by defeating Iowa 102-85. A 17-point halftime advantage and clutch outside shooting by the Tigers allowed them to stave off the Hawkeyes’ gallant comeback attempt.

 

LSU scored over 50% of their total score in the first half, including 75% from three-point shots. Jasmine Carson, who came off the bench for LSU, scored 21 points in the first half, including a perfect five of five three-pointers.

Angel Reese and Adama Sanogo

The Most Outstanding Player of the Women’s Basketball Championship was LSU Tigers forward Angel Reese. During the finals, Reese recorded a double-double in the championship game. Reese had 15 points, ten rebounds, five assists, and three steals.

 

On the other hand, Adama Sanogo was the Men’s Basketball Championship Most Outstanding Player. He recorded his fourth double-double of the competition with 17 points and ten rebounds during the finals. Over six tournament games the UConn Huskies had, he averaged 19.6 points and 9.8 rebounds, helping UConn win its sixth national championship.

Biggest Flops

College Blue-bloods

The second round of the NCAA Tournament eliminated the college blue-bloods, specifically Duke, Kansas, and Kentucky. Just UCLA remains in the Sweet 16 among the Top 10 winningest college basketball schools in history.

 

When Kansas, Duke, and Kentucky were eliminated, North Carolina failed to earn a spot in the tournament. Just twice in this century has the historic quartet not been represented in the Sweet 16.

A No-Go For No. 1 and No. 2 Seeds

No. 1 seed Purdue and No. 2 seed Arizona were the first well-known teams to lose and fail to move past the first round. But that was only the beginning of the favorites falling like dominoes. Before the dust had settled on the first weekend, more than a few brackets had already been destroyed. The No. 1 seed Kansas and No. 2 seed Marquette were among the brackets eliminated in the second round.

San Diego State Approach to Winning

The approach by SDSU to overpowering the Huskies was a half-hearted pursuit on their end. SDSU thought the strength of their offensive half-court approach could force opponents out of their comfort zones. They also thought they could win by decelerating the game’s pace.

 

With the Huskies’ lanky players like Sanogo, Clingan, and Karaban towering over them, it was obvious that this strategy wouldn’t succeed. Nonetheless, congratulations to the Aztecs on becoming the first Mountain West team in the NCAA’s Final Four.

Heading Onto the Next Season

NCAA’S 2023 basketball tournament was complete mayhem for three weeks, but there are finally national champions. The overall playoffs were a great representation of grit, sportsmanship, and excellence from both the winners and the losers. We can’t wait for the next season to see who’ll rise to the top and who will flop.

Early favorites for this year’s NCAA Tournament

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The 2022 March Madness NCAA Tournament is right around the corner, with the incredibly enjoyable and rather hectic college basketball competition set to commence with Selection Sunday on March 13, before the First Four matches begin between March 15-16.

 

With that in mind, now might seem like an opportune time to take a look at who the early favorites are to win this year’s competition, especially as there are a number of exceptional sportsbook promo codes listed on gamble-usa.com already available to take advantage of.

 

What is March Madness?

 

To begin, it might be worth pointing out what March Madness is and what viewers should anticipate and expect if they are yet to witness what the iconic college basketball competition is all about.

 

March Madness is the annual NCAA Division I men’s college basketball championship tournament. The tournament began in 1939 and is now a 68-team event that takes place over three weekends in March and April. The Final Four, the semifinals and finals of the tournament, are played at a single site, usually a stadium or arena in a major city.

 

The tournament is one of the most popular sporting events in the United States. It generates over $1 billion in revenue each year, making it one of the most profitable sporting events in the world. In addition to the money generated by ticket sales and television rights, businesses, and schools across the country benefit from March Madness-related advertising and merchandise sales.

 

March Madness has also been a boon to college basketball players. The tournament has provided many players with the opportunity to showcase their skills on a national stage and has helped them earn lucrative contracts in the NBA. Some of the most famous alumni of the NCAA Tournament include Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, and LeBron James.

 

What is the schedule for March Madness 2022?

 

This is what the current schedule of the upcoming competition looks like:

 

  • Selection Sunday: 6 p.m. ET March 13.
  • First Four: March 15-16.
  • First round: March 17-18.
  • Second round: March 19-20.
  • Sweet 16: March 24-25.
  • Elite Eight: March 26-27.
  • Final Four: April 2.
  • NCAA championship game: April 4.

Who are the early favorites to win?

 

So, for those who are perhaps trying to identify and pick out a winner of the upcoming 2022 March Madness competition, this section is perhaps the most important of the article.

 

Indeed, we all want to be able to pick the winner of the competition, although we know that the bracket system that is used can make proceedings rather unpredictable at times, with shocks and upsets rather commonplace in this tournament.

 

Nonetheless, the early favorite to win the NCAA Division I tournament this season would have to be Gonzaga Bulldogs.

 

Gonzaga Bulldogs favorites

 

The Gonzaga Bulldogs almost managed to win the competition last season, however they fell short in the NCAA Championship Game to Baylor. However, that loss perhaps fuelled the fire and hunger for the team to win the championship even further as they have largely picked up from where they left off.

 

This season, the college basketball program lost just three regular-season games ahead of the West Coast Conference Tournament. The final game of their WCC regular-season game ended in a surprising 57-67 defeat to the No. 19 Saint Mary’s Gaels team, but that could have been a timely reminder ahead of the WCC and March Madness.

 

Who else is in the running?

 

The Kentucky Wildcats are perhaps the other team to really take note of at the moment as we head into March Madness, as they had also enjoyed a rather decent campaign on the court.

 

The team did suffer more defeats than the Bulldogs throughout the campaign, having lost six games ahead of their match on March 5 with the Florida Gators, but there are many that would not be surprised to see them in the Final Four at the very least.