Florida, Texas Tech and Madness
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Detroit Free Press on MSN3hOpinion
Mitch Albom: March Madness games have become timeouts interrupted by basketballAnyone who witnessed college basketball in the '70s and '80s knows the manic hysteria the sport can achieve. There was nothing like those sweaty gyms in the final minutes, with students screaming and coaches hollering and teams racing up and down the court, every made basket ripping a hole in your eardrums.
SPOKANE, Wash. — Paige Bueckers scored a career-high 40 points, rescuing UConn from its first-half doldrums and single-handedly turning a tight game against Oklahoma into an 82-59 rout on Saturday that sent the Huskies to the Elite Eight of the women’s NCAA Tournament.
UConn, TCU and UCLA Bruins rode big performances by their stars -- Paige Bueckers, Hailey Van Lith and Lauren Betts. South Carolina, Duke and Texas leaned into defense. USC somehow overcame the loss of star JuJu Watkins. And LSU got production from an unlikely source.
In 1939, Henry V. Porter, the assistant executive secretary of the Illinois High School Association, wrote about the tournament in The Illinois Interscholastic, where he dubbed it “March Madness.” That helped the term get more usage from the state’s sports writers.
Freshman Tahaad Pettiford and senior Denver Jones turned in dazzling performances when it mattered most, rallying top-seeded Auburn to a 78-65 victory over Michigan in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament.
There has been a lot of talk about this year’s men’s NCAA Tournament being chalky. Whether it is because of NIL and the transfer portal, as some have suggested, or it’s a random occurrence, there haven’t been as many upsets and Cinderella runs this year.
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