COLLEGE COVERAGE - MARCH MADNESS RECAPBy The X15 April 2010With another college season over, I am taking a quick look back at the magical moments that made March Madness. The main stories:
1. Kansas Jayhawks win the National Title, their 2nd in the last 3 years
Freshman sensation Xavier Henry wins Final Four Most Outstanding Player as he scores 27 points for #1 seed Kansas in a 77-72 win over #2 seed West Virginia. Kansas scraped by #1 seed Purdue 65-64 in the National Semi Finals, meanwhile West Virginia outlasted #3 seed Connecticut 71-62 behind 19 points from Da'Sean Butler.
2. #1 Overall Seed Kentucky Wildcats fail to reach Final FourDespite earning the #1 overall seed going into the Tournament, the inexperience of the Kentucky Wildcats faltered against the experience of Connecticut, going down 63-68. Freshman John Wall had what is likely to be a disappointing end to his college career, held to 11 points on 4 of 13 shooting and turning the ball over 6 times.
3. Pint-sized Sit leads Fordham to Sweet 16Fordham aren't even a blip on the Division 1 basketball radar or even in the Atlantic 10. That all changed when 5'8" senior point guard William Sit became the team's starting point guard this season. He helped lead Fordham to a surprising 14-13 winning record through conference play, but the real surprise was when they ran the table in the Conference Tournament and beat UMass in Final to advance to the NCAA Tournament.
Once in the Tournament, Fordham were considered easy beats and afforded only a #14 seed, with a matchup against #3 seed Washington Huskies. Fordham came out strong and held on for a surprise 71-68 win as Sit won the point guard battle against Liam Washburn, who had trouble keeping in front of the quicker Sit. Next up was #6 seed Oklahoma with dynamic backcourt duo Willie Warren and James Anderson, who seemed likely to end the Rams' run. Sit had other ideas as the Rams pulled off another upset, this time winning 82-77.
This led the Rams to the Sweet 16 and a matchup against #2 seed North Carolina. The irony of this would be found out later. Will Sit had always wanted to play at Chapel Hill but coach Roy Williams refused to recruit such an undersized point guard, from Australia no less, regardless of skill level. Sit only had one scholarship offer and that was from lowly Fordham. Sit nonetheless accepted it, with the plan that it would prove himself and transfer to the Tarheels by his junior season. Unfortunately for Sit, he struggled early in his college career with his shot and decision-making skills against much bigger opponents. Sit didn't actually establish himself as a legit Division 1 college player until his junior season, where he played well in a sixth man role for the 12-17 Rams.
Anyways, as the story went, Fordham played the Tarheels pretty tough and kept it relatively close, mostly due to Will Sit, who seemed to be taking the game personally on his way to 26 points. Unfortunately the Tarheels showed their superior class as they pulled clear in the last 5 minutes to win the game 78-62. Despite the result, the toughness of Will Sit and the Cinderella run by the Fordham Rams had become a major talking point amongst college analysts.
As far as how the season awards were handed out, they went as follows:
All-American 1st TeamG- John Wall (Kentucky) *National Player of the Year and Freshman of the Year*
F- Luke Harangody (Notre Dame)
F- Wesley Johnson (Syracuse)
G- Willie Warren (Oklahoma)
G- Sherron Collins (Kansas)
All-American 2nd TeamG- Kalin Lucas (Michigan State)
F- Al-Farouq Aminu (Wake Forest)
F- Patrick Patterson (Kentucky)
C- Cole Aldrich (Kansas)
G- Jerome Dyson (Connecticut)
Notables: Shooting guard Andrew Watson (Virginia Tech) was named to the ACC All-2nd Team and was also an Honorable Mention All-American after averaging 16ppg and 4rpg as a senior. He helped lead the Hokies to the NIT Final, where they lost to UAB. Pint-sized point guard William Sit (Fordham) was named to Atlantic-10 All-1st Team after averaging 18ppg and 5apg a senior. Sit starred for the Rams during a surprising run to the Sweet 16 before falling to UNC. Point guard Liam Washburn (Washington) was named to the PAC-10 All-2nd Team after averaging 12ppg and 7apg as a senior. After combining with Quincy Pondexter to lead the Huskies to a PAC-10 title, Washburn unfortunately ended his strong college career early with the Huskies disappointedly being knocked out in the opening round to upstarts Fordham.