Congratulations to the Kansas Jayhawks and the Tennessee Lady Vols, your NCAA hoops champs for 2008.
As you'll notice, on my men's bracket I not only picked the championship game, but picked Kansas to win.
If Memphis had hit their free throws down the stretch it would have been an incorrect pick and their fans would still be partying on Beale Street. But I'd watched them earn their bricklayer's union cards all through the season and I felt that one day their lack of shooting prowess at the line would cost them.
They laid enough bricks down the stretch to let Kansas back in the game. Once Chalmers hit the three to tie it that will never be forgotten by Jayhawk Nation, it was over. You don't give Kansas (or at least this particular Kansas team) five extra minutes to beat you.
For the women's bracket I picked three of the Final Four teams, but had UConn winning it all. But I didn't foresee Candice Wiggins dropping 40 points in two tournament games, making a serious run at Sheryl Swoopes 15 year old record for total points in a tournament (177), and powering Stanford to the championship game. As for the Candice vs. Candace II battle, I had a feeling that this game wasn't going to be as close as the December 22 one in which Stanford upset the Lady Vols in Cali.
My intuition proved correct as Tennessee beat down the Cardinal 64-48 to become the first school to win back to back NCAA women's titles since Uconn threepeated in 2002-2003-2004
Well, this college season's entered into the history books. Only seven more months until the 2008-09 season tips off.
