College Basketball

This NCAA Tournament wasn't a classic, but it sure was a roller coaster of fun

Updated Apr. 4, 2023 11:42 a.m. ET

Not going to say it was a great, or even particularly good, national championship game, because except for a few interesting minutes near the end, it wasn’t. Also not going to try to take anything away from UConn — or from San Diego State for that matter — because what they did before Monday was sensational.

But just because the final contest of March Madness was largely one-sided and mainly uneventful and gave the Huskies yet another double-digit triumph, 76-59, it doesn’t mean that the lingering memory of this tournament should be one of anticlimax.

It was quite a few weeks, wasn’t it, this burst of spring where the only thing that could be relied upon was that chaos would happen and most of what we thought would get rapidly shown to be wrong?

It wasn’t a classic tournament, but my goodness, it was a fun one, a roller coaster with any number of unexpected riders, which showcased the depth there is in college hoops, while also displaying that there was one team, the eventual champion, that was capable of playing at a level far, far above everyone else.

It wasn’t one of those tournaments that’ll have its story retold and retold, for a few reasons. Going in, there wasn’t a standout dominator that everyone was clamoring to see and the closest thing to one, Alabama’s Brandon Miller, departed early at the hands of San Diego State’s formidable veterans.

There wasn’t a late-round matchup with historical animosity, because the blue bloods mostly faltered, so you could forget about much in the way of brand name recognition, especially by the time it got to the final weekend.

Except, of course, for UConn, which is now stationed on five national titles and with a history of its own to match its predecessors, allowing Dan Hurley to stand alongside Jim Calhoun and Kevin Ollie, for Andre Jackson Jr. and Adama Sanogo to smile proudly next to Emeka Okafor and Kemba Walker.

The best part of college sports is that we don’t always know what is going to happen, because the athletes are elite and exemplary yet still young and fallible. There is a freshness about it, even after all these years, and it never felt fresher than when upset after upset poured into the bracket, starting on the opening lunchtime and stretching all the way through.

Stretching so far in fact, that all the No. 1s were done before the Elite Eight, and so far that a No. 9 of irresistible pluck — Florida Atlantic — came within a single stop of making it to the title game. So far that a 16 (Fairleigh Dickinson) beat a 1 (Purdue) for probably the greatest upset of all time, and a 15 (Princeton) tasted the Sweet Sixteen.

Tournament time is its own thing and there is a fearlessness to these games, because that's how you can roll when you’re in your late teens or early twenties and life’s bruises are fewer, and because the event’s appeal is in its immediacy, the reality that elimination will befall every team but one, and is only ever 40 minutes away.

Not every tournament has to be one for the ages, it can sometimes just be one for right now. This one did exactly what March basketball promises, to delight and entertain.

Monday had its moments, and they were mostly in favor of the heavily-favored Huskies. For a long while we did know what was going to happen, for UConn was so composed that a complete blowout beckoned.

Yet 2023 was magnetized to drama, and it came, eventually, as the Aztecs drew eventually to within five late in the second half. A couple of bounces here and there, at that stage, and perhaps another nail-biter would have ensued.

Instead, the best team in the country took over one final time, spurred by a clutch 3 from Jordan Hawkins, the player on their roster with arguably the brightest NBA future. A 16-4 run closed it out, and we will have to wait another seven months to see college hoops again.

This one was decided by a masterclass from a masterful team, led by a coach who knows exactly how to get the best out of his players. Against an opponent for whom, truthfully, this was one step too far, but who deserved every plaudit that was sent their way since the tournament began.

And it was a reminder that sports is there to be enjoyed, not necessarily to make us feel like experts but to make us feel like fans. Where it is better to be left open-mouthed and dumbfounded than to be proven right.

That’s the magic and the madness of March. Fleeting moments indeed, but undeniably special. Same old, same old? Never. Guaranteed to entertain, you already know the answer to that. It’s the sporting pulse of this time of year, without fail.

Martin Rogers is a columnist for FOX Sports and the author of the FOX Sports Insider newsletter. Follow him on Twitter @MRogersFOX and subscribe to the daily newsletter.

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