Virginia players celebrates after defeating Texas Tech 85-77 in the overtime in the championship of the Final Four NCAA college basketball tournament, Monday, April 8, 2019, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)
BY: MALAYA BATTON
This year’s March Madness tournament started March 21, 2019. There were some projected stars for the tournament like Duke’s Zion Williamson, Gonzaga’s Rul Hachlmura, and Virginia’s Kyle Guy and lastly North Carolina’s Coby White. Also, there were some underdogs like Murray State, Wofford, Texas Tech, and Auburn. There also were some great moments. Featuring Murray State’s Ja Murant who had the first triple-double since 2012. In the first few rounds, there were non-important upsets like (12) Oregon beating (5) Wisconsin and (13) UC Irvine won over (4) Kansas St.
There were a handful of amazing moments in the Sweet 16 like when (3) Purdue beat (2) Tennessee 99-94 in overtime. Or when (3) Texas Tech beat (2) Michigan in a blow-out that shocked people. Then the biggest upset was when (1) North Carolina lost to (5) Auburn 97-80.
In the Elite Eight (3) Texas Tech upsets (1) Gonzaga 75-69 to go to their first Final Four in school history. (1) Virginia and guard Kyle Guy won against (3) Purdue and Carsen Edwards in an awesome Second Half three-point battle.
The Cinderella team everyone was talking about, Auburn still beat (2) Kentucky in overtime 77-71 without one of their star players, Chuma Okeke, who got hurt in their last game against North Carolina.
Then the biggest upset of them all when Michigan State and Cassius Winston defeated the first overall seed, Duke Blue Devils, in a hair-raising 68-67 win.
When the Final Four finally arrived in Minneapolis Minnesota, (1) Virginia beat (5) Auburn in a close win in the final seconds. Auburn fouls Kyle Guy, he then sinks 3 free-throws to defeat the Cinderella Auburn team, 63-62. After that, it was (3) Texas Tech defeating (2) Michigan State 61-51, to play in the National Championship against (1) Virginia.
The National Championship game showcased (3) Texas Tech vs (1) Virginia. It was a fantastic and close game. Texas Tech was leading by 3 in the final seconds in the back half of the game when a Virginia player hit a 3-pointer to send the game to overtime. In overtime, a close call with Virginia’s De‘Andre Hunter tips the ball out of Texas Tech’s Davide Moretti hand out-of-bounds. The referees took a look at the replay to figure out who actually tipped the ball out. It turns out that Moretti’s pinkie tipped the ball giving Virginia the ball. Virginia capitalized on their shots in overtime and Texas Tech seemed out of sync which led (1) Virginia to win the National Championship 85-77 in overtime.
This was a great comeback from being bounced out in the first round last year. Virginia came back with determination in this year’s March Madness tournament as a number one seed. Running to the top with tough wins was not an easy feat for Virginia to finally clinch their first National Championship in program history.
