The University of Virginia Cavaliers men's basketball team rewrote the narrative of a top-seeded team who, only last season, lost to a 16th seed named Maryland-Baltimore County and was ridiculed everywhere they went. They just won the NCAA Men's Basketball Championship for the first time in Minneapolis, defeating Texas Tech in overtime 85-77.
De'Andre Hunter scored 27 points and Kyle Guy scored 24 to lead the Cavaliers to victory, not to mention being nearly perfect against the Red Raiders in OT to seal it.
This time around, Virginia was an under-the-radar team that somehow skipped over the top seeds in the tournament to get where they are. They got past Gardner-Webb, Oklahoma, Oregon, Purdue and Auburn on the way to Minneapolis. It also helped that fellow ACC conference teams Duke (with all-world freshman Zion Williams) and North Carolina were both defeated.
Granted, the final four of Virginia, Texas Tech, Auburn and Michigan State did not set CBS' TV ratings on fire. But the teams did compensate with good basketball and exciting finishes, and that's all you can really ask. Oh, and a controversial finish that ended up benefiting the Cavaliers while deflating Auburn and famous alum Charles Barkley.
So yes, Virginia. The school that was founded by Thomas Jefferson is a national basketball champion.
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In Tampa, Florida Sunday, Baylor won its third women's basketball title, defeating defending champion Notre Dame 82-81.
The Bears' first title since 2012 came with Chloe Jackson scoring 26 points and the winning score with 3.6 seconds remaining. They had to overcome not only Lauren Cox' third quarter knee injury that took her out of the game, but also a late charge by the Irish that culminated in Arike Ogunbowale closing out her college career by missing free throws that would have tied the game.
Pat Mulkey, Baylor's coach, is now only the third person in NCAA history to win at least three women's championships.
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