After what could be called a one-year break, the NCAA crowned its champions in men's and women's basketball in spite of a pandemic and themselves. Both tournaments were held in the vicinity of where the Final Fours were played (Indianapolis for the men, San Antonio for the women). Both featured empty arenas with limited numbers of spectators, lack of bands and cheerleaders, and NCAA-mandated generic basketball courts. But only one team on the men's side had to go home for violating COVID-19 protocols, defying predictions of massive forfeits on the way to that One Shining Moment.
Also defying predictions were the teams who won the tournaments. Baylor blew out top-ranked Gonzaga 86-70 to win their first men's title. Stanford edged out Arizona 54-53 to claim their third women's title under longtime coach Tara Vanderveer, their first since 1992.
Connecticut, which most of us have heard of because they seem to win championship after championship under coach Geno Auriemma, has actually not won a national title since 2016. They claim the most-honored player in the land in Paige Bueckers, a freshman. Yet they lost to a more determined Arizona squad in the Women's Final Four.
Gonzaga has its own freshman phenom in Jalen Suggs, who will forever be remembered for that Buzzer Beater for the Ages against UCLA in the Men's Final Four. But they stumbled early against Baylor in the championship game and never recovered. Yes, playing in a weak conference like the West Coast Conference doesn't prepare you much for the rigors of getting past opponents from bigger conferences such as Baylor.
Bueckers and Suggs played their high school ball in Minnesota and became big successes by bypassing the University of Minnesota to play out of state, following the example of other local heroes in recent years. It's part of the reason why Ben Johnson is the Gophers' men's basketball coach instead of Richard Pitino after eight seasons, though he has landed on his feet at the University of New Mexico.
In addition to all the Covid shenanigans in Indianapolis, the NCAA got called out for short-changing the women at their tournament, from the lack of training facilities to cheap accommodations to courts that read "NCAA Women's Basketball" instead of "March Madness". The NCAA's current TV contract with ESPN lumps the women's tournament in with non-revenue sports like ice hockey, lacrosse and gymnastics. Yet the women's championship game got a better TV rating than the men's final on CBS this year. It also helps if the game was a lot closer.
In spite of everything, the NCAA made it through a season pockmarked by games postponed or canceled due to players and coaches coming down with coronavirus, whether it was necessary or not. Maybe next season there will be a vaccine, but not for arrogance and stupidity.
