The Final Fours: Not What You Expected

Image via WikipediaThe college basketball season ended with two surprise champions, proving either that parity reigns or that the quality isn't what it used to be.

Men's Championship:  Conneticut 53, Butler 41

This was not a game for the ages.  The Huskies won their third NCAA men's title at Houston by shutting down a Butler team that was done in by its own lousy shooting.  Both teams set scoring records in the wrong direction that date back to the 1940s.

Conneticut coach Jim Calhoun at 68 became the oldest man to win a title.  Which is quite a feat since the basketball program also happens to face sanctions from the NCAA for alleged violations.

For Butler, this was their second consecutive appearance in the finals, both times as the long shot.  If this keeps up, maybe we should start mentioning the Indianapolis school in the same sentence as the Minnesota Vikings and Buffalo Bills.  Both of those football teams lost four Super Bowls each.

Women's Championship:  Texas A&M 76, Notre Dame 70

Everybody thought Stanford and Conneticut would play for the national championship in Indianapolis.  Instead, they were beaten in the semifinals by Texas A&M and Notre Dame, in that order.  This resulted in an entertainingly close matchup between the Aggies and Fighting Irish that was better than anyone expected.

Still, this season will be remembered for the dominance of the Conneticut Huskies, who have won two consecutive NCAA titles.  The loss to Notre Dame may have deprived coach Geno Auriemma and his best player Maya Moore of another title, but it also means that there is some semblance of parity in women's college basketball.

Nonetheless, hardware is coming home to the University of Conneticut.  Just not the ones Huskies fans expected.