For once, the two best teams are playing in the NCAA Tournament title game
HOUSTON — For all the drama that the NCAA Tournament brings, here's the sad, simple truth about the event that we love so much: It's an awful way to determine a champion.
Sure the upsets are fun, and the crying piccolo players are memorable, but at the end of the day, it's pretty rare that the "champion" also happens to be "the best team in the tournament." Heck, sometimes — like Kentucky last year — the best team doesn't even make it to Monday night, leaving us all shaking our heads and hate-watching the final, while wondering how different things might have been if another team were playing instead.
But this year, there will be no hate-watching and no head-shaking, because instead we have a rarity in the title game. For the first time in a long time, we are getting the two unquestioned best teams in the country playing for the championship on Monday night. Granted, they weren't the teams we perceived to be the "best" when the tournament began. But as things have played out, and North Carolina and Villanova have spent the whole month of March one-upping each other, each has earned their trip to the championship game on Monday.
For Carolina, the Heels haven't just navigated the road to title game, they have bulldozed straight to it, with one of the most dominant tournament runs in recent history. The Tar Heels have beaten their opponents by an average of 16 points, with all five wins coming by at least 14 points. And to the Tar Heels' credit, they've only gotten better as the tournament has progressed. Want a fun stat that will impress everyone at the water cooler on Monday? How about this: North Carolina beat Syracuse by more points on Saturday night (17) than they did Florida Gulf Coast in the first round (16). Mark my words, Floyd from accounting is going to be blown away when you tell him that.
Then there is Villanova, the little-juggernaut-that-could, who all of a sudden looks like some variation of the Harlem Globetrotters, UConn women and Golden State Warriors all rolled into one. Yes, we all rightfully had doubts that they could get here after early tournament losses the past two years, but like Carolina, they have forged their path to the title game by dominating their opposition.
Sure, we all saw their wild, historic win over Oklahoma, but the crazy thing about it is that they've basically done the same thing the entire tournament. Jay Wright's club won its first three tourney games by an average of 27 points, which included a 23-point win over a really good Miami squad in the Sweet 16.
Heck, the only time that Villanova played something resembling a close game was a five-point win over Kansas ... which just so happened to be the No. 1 overall seed in the tournament. After the game most assumed it was another case of "Bill Self not being able to win the big one," but after watching Villanova on Saturday, the simple truth is that the Wildcats were just the better team. Keep in mind that Kansas needed three overtimes to beat Oklahoma earlier this year. As for Villanova, well, here's another crazy stat to show you just how dominant the Wildcats were against Oklahoma: If they hadn't scored a single point in the first half, they still would have won by two points.
Add it all up, and it means that in a tournament which is generally defined by luck, neither team took a "lucky path" to get to Monday night. There were no botched officiating calls, no coaching malpractice, no fluky injury to an opponent's best player.
Nope, these are the two best teams in college basketball.
Even if none of us totally realized it a few weeks ago.
Aaron Torres is a contributor for FOXSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @Aaron_Torres or Facebook. E-mail him at ATorres00@gmail.com.
