Four things we thought about as the Final Four wrapped up

How did Virginia ever lose to a No. 16 seed last year? How did they react in Lubbock? Those were among the things we tried to answer as the Final Four ended its run in Minneapolis.

April 9, 2019 at 7:12AM
(The Minnesota Star Tribune)

College basketball is done for the season, with a worthy and exciting finish to an NCAA men's basketball tournament that took an assortment of twists and turns, right down to having two teams that were first-timers in the title game for the first time since Magic vs. Bird 40 years ago when Michigan State defeated Indiana State.

Here are four very different things that we thought about as the final buzzer sounded and Virginia came out with the title after beating Texas Tech in overtime.

1. How did Virginia ever lose to Maryland-Baltimore County in the "16 seed beats 1 seed shocker" of 2018. Let's go to the highlights and see.

2. Should you have gone to the game Monday night? The title game ticket wasn't a hard one to find, with fans of the losing teams and many coaches (among others) leaving after Saturday's semifinals. Well, if you did go to the game, there's a pretty good chance you ended up with a view something like this, which was from midway up in Section 334 at U.S. Bank Stadium.

(The Minnesota Star Tribune)

So you were probably better off in the basement or the bar. (There were 10 more rows of seats behind this one.) The person who received this photo, who recovered quickly from being jealous, thought it might be helpful to offer score updates to the sender.

(The Minnesota Star Tribune)

3. We're all suckers for One Shining Moment, even if we tell people it's become something of a cliche, right? We want to see if "our team" made it, and if our favorite moments were among the shining ones. Here's this year's version, in case you didn't stick around (or want to see it a few more times.)

One Shining Moment has been the tournament sign-off since 1987, when indiana defeated Syracuse. Here's the original, featuring a lot of young Bob Knight:

4. What was the scene in Lubbock after Texas Tech lost? After the reports of sofas burning and other mayhem when the Red Raiders defeated Michigan State on Saturday, things were a bit more subdued, as these Associated Press photos show.

(The Minnesota Star Tribune)
(The Minnesota Star Tribune)
(The Minnesota Star Tribune)
about the writer

about the writer

Howard Sinker

Digital Sports Editor

Howard Sinker is digital sports editor at startribune.com and curates the website's Sports Upload blog. He is also a senior instructor in Media and Cultural Studies at Macalester College in St. Paul.

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