You would have to be living under a rock to not notice the absolute basketball
pandemonium that occurred last month; March Madness. The annual Women’s Men’s
NCAA Basketball Championship Tournament surpassed all expectations while leaving some
in tears of sadness and others tears of joy. The South Carolina Gamecocks were the
awarded the women’s trophy after beating Mississippi State Bulldogs and the North
Carolina were crowned the men’s champions after beating the Gonzaga Bulldogs; we all
know who were crowned the Queens and Kings of College Basketball but lets recap on how
they got there.

In the Men’s tournament, The Tar Heels who were seeded number one in the
Southern Region, zipping through the first three games winning easily against Texas
Southern (103-64), Arkansas (72-65), and Butler (92-80); North faced their first challenge in
the Elite Eight versus the University of Kentucky. The game was fought tooth and nail and
the suspense did not stop until the final whistle only winning by two points the final score
being 75-73; UK’s Edrice Adebayo and De’Aaron Fox had 13 points a piece but it was not
enough to stifle Justin Jackson (who had a game high 19 points) and the UNC troupe. The
score being tied up at 73 points UNC’s Luke Maye made the biggest shot of his life with .3
seconds left on the clock to seal the win for North Carolina sending them to the final four.
In the semifinals North Carolina battled with the Oregon Ducks and barely evaded a defeat
winning by 1 point 77-76, with the seconds on the clock dwindling and the most dominant
player of the game Kennedy Meeks who had a massive double-double of 25 points and 14
rebounds and missed both foul shots and (an injured) then Joel Berry got another offensive
rebound and also missed both foul shots luckily the time ran out when the ball landed in
the Oregon player’s hand. In the final game most of the referee’s calls were highly
questionable and made the game hard to watch, in the second half alone 27 fouls were
called and instead of being a high paced game it turned into a free throw contest with the
Tar Heels coming out triumphant beating the Bulldogs 71-65, Joel Berry was the leading
scorer with 22 points.

On the women’s side, South Carolina’s tournament was looking grim the beginning when
their 6’4 senior center Alaina Coates (who averaged a double double of 13 points and 10
2
rebounds) was sidelined for the entire tournament with an ankle injury; but that only
fueled the Gamecocks and made them more determined to win it all. South Carolina was
also a number one seed so they were fortunate enough to have their first two games at
home, they defeated by 50 points UNC Asheville with a dominant score of 90-40. In the
second round South Carolina was tested by number eight seed Arizona State, the
Gamecocks were down by double digits in the fourth quarter but Kaela Davis (who had 20
points) led the fourth quarter comeback and A’ja Wilson’s late game putback and free
throws cemented the win. South Carolina blew out the Cinderella team, the 12th seeded
Quinnipiac University 100-58; the Gamecocks went on a 16-0 run in the beginning of the
game and never gave up their lead, Kaela Davis was highest scorer of the game with 28
points but her teammate A’ja was close behind with 24 points respectfully. In the Elite Eight
the Cocks versed the Seminoles in a battle of the fittest, the Cocks came out on top winning
by a tiny margin, the final score being 71-64 once again led by Kaela Davis’ 23 points. The
big win against FSU propelled them into their first Final Four since 2015, the Cocks were so
close to their goal they were not going home without the trophy, and that is exactly what
they did against Stanford University besting them 62-53. The stage was set in Dallas, Texas
and the National Championship matchup was the South Carolina Gamecocks facing up
against the red hot Mississippi Bulldogs (who just beat the UCONN Huskies who had
previously won the last 4 National Championships and won 111 consecutive games); the
game had a slow start but the Gamecocks held the lead most of the way and were
champions at the end of buzzer capturing their first National Championship ever.

By : Alexandria Pendergrass ’17