While others will likely talk about a "run" here, a crucial time-out to stop momentum there, and dissect any number of what-ifs, actually the game for all the marbles turned out to be pretty simple in the end.
The best team won. Louisville 82, Michigan 76.
While Big 10 supporters argued all year their conference was the toughest in the land, the Big East fans could certainly counter with an equally compelling argument. The Big 10 put seven teams in the tournament. The Big East put eight.
Despite the topsy-turvy regular season when in-conference play was so brutal, and even all the upsets that happened in the NCAA tournament, perhaps the final game played out just like it was supposed to.
For whatever it matters, consider: Louisville not only won the Big East conference, but their tournament as well. They finished the regular season ranked #2 in the country, and entered the NCAA tournament as the overall #1 seed. They steam-rolled Duke along the way and were the team to beat.
Conversely, Michigan didn't win the Big 10, nor its conference tournament, finished the season ranked #10 in the country, and went into the Big Dance as merely a #4 seed. They pulled an improbable overtime upset over Kansas in the Sweet Sixteen round and weren't supposed to get this far.
So forget all the stats and what-ifs in the title game. When the final buzzer sounded, everything seemed to have finally found its equilibrium.
Yep, the best team won. Not only that, but by almost exactly the margin they were supposed to.
The wise guys in Vegas had Louisville as a 4 point favorite.
Watching the game, one thing struck me as rather odd, though. Despite Michigan's sizeable, super-loyal, and ready, willing and able to travel fan base, the crowd at the Georgia Dome sounded overwhelmingly in favor of Louisville.
I wonder why that was?
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