Pitarresi: Final Four Weekend a bore

I’m still kind of reeling in the wake of the NCAA Final Four dud of a weekend.

 

The NCAA Division I basketball tournament is one of the very best sporting events of the year, nearly always, but it would be difficult to pick three worse final three games of the season than we had last weekend.

 

Blowouts happen, but three in a row when the top four teams in the nation are playing? Michigan State-Connecticut was at least close, but I never got the feeling that the Huskies had the stuff to win that game. At no point did they look capable of it.

 

Villanova against North Carolina? The Wildcats never had a chance. You won’t if you’re playing a very good team and you can’t make a layup, which they couldn’t. Villanova made a good try to get back into it, got within five points midway through the second half, then skidded to a halt.

 

MSU against Carolina in the championship? How about another turnover? Again, you’re playing a very good team, and you’re giving them extra possession after extra possession. Fourteen of them in the first half. What, are you kidding?

 

This is not to say North Carolina didn’t earn its title, but both Villanova and Michigan State made it a heck of a lot easier for the Tar Heels.

 

And the games the entire weekend had almost no drama. If you are just a basketball fan, there wasn’t a lot to keep you interested, and if you are not a Carolina fan, it was no fun at all.