Chapter 61: The League Championship
The regular season of each league is coming to an end, and the championship game is about to begin.
The NCAA Conference is made up of conferences, big and small, and March Madness is aimed at schools that are only Division I conferences.
But even in Division I league schools, because they are located all over the United States, the NCAA officially allows each league to use different rules for the championship game.
Anyway, the last team to enter the tournament is the 32 league champions and the 36 wildcard teams selected by the organizing committee.
The rules allow for differences, but most leagues follow a similar format to the NBA's divisional top eight.
Like the Great East League, the top eight teams advance to the championship game and then fight each other in the order of first and eighth and second and seventh until the final champion is determined.
Because wild card teams are very variable, winning the final championship is the safest way for each school to advance to the tournament.
It is precisely because of this that the excitement of the championship of the single Tao competition system is not much weaker than that of the championship.
The standings of the Great Eastern Conference after the regular season.
1st place, University of Louisville Cardinals
Second place, Connecticut Huskies
Third place, West Virginia University Mountain People
Fourth place, Georgetown University Exclamation Team
5th place: St. John's University Red Storms
Sixth place: Marquette University Golden Eagles
7th place: Sisters of Providence College
8th place: Syracuse University Orange People
UConn will face the Friars of Providence College in the first round, who have a 1-1 record against UC in the regular season.
Kangda have home advantage, and with a strong performance in the closing game, the probability of winning the game is also quite high.
However, because it was a single Tao competition, the winner was decided, and the first championship match was full.
And as soon as the game began, the fans couldn't sit still, they all stood and watched the game, and the atmosphere was quite strong.
Kangda also lived up to the expectations of the fans, and has been pressing Providence College since the opening.
Marshon Brooks, who was still defending against Tang Tian, was very uncomfortable, and the latter scored only one goal in six consecutive attacks after the opening.
In the end, Brooks only made 5 of 25 shots from the field, and Kangda also bloodied the opponent 71-51 and easily advanced to the next round.
Walker had 25 points, 5 rebounds and 7 assists, Lamb had 16 points and 3 rebounds, Tang Tian had 15 points, 5 rebounds, 3 steals and 1 block, and Forsys had 8 points and 10 boards.
In addition to UConn, the University of Louisville and Georgetown University both qualified, but West Virginia University, which ranked third, unexpectedly lost to Marquette University, causing its first upset since the championship.
Jimmy Butler, the core of Marquette University, scored 33 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals on 10-of-12 shooting in the game.
After the first round, the second round is also decided, with the University of Louisville taking on Georgetown University and UConn taking on an upset Marquette University.
The previous game ended early, and the second round of the game also started early.
Butler performed bravely in the first round, but in the second round, he was marked by Tang Tian all over the court, and he had to mark Walker on the defensive end, and his physical strength was huge at both ends of the offensive and defensive ends.
In the end, Kang Da pressed the opponent and won the game 61-47.
Lamb had a game-high 22 points and 5 rebounds, Walker had 16 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists, Oriage had 11 points and 11 rebounds, Tang Tian had 6 points, 6 rebounds, 4 steals and 2 blocks, and Napier off the bench had 5 points and 6 assists.
Butler only scored 15 points and 3 rebounds on 5-of-22 shooting under Tang Tian's defense, and Marquette shot less than 40% from the field.
After the game, Butler stood on the sidelines for a long time with red eyes, watching the players celebrating UConn celebrate before leaving the court.
This is the NCAA, I don't know how many stars have fallen here, and for the average team, it's lucky enough to be able to make it to the tournament.
After that, Louis Wiesville and Georgetown University also played out.
Louis Westville topped the table this season, with more wins and fewer losses against other championship teams, and won the opponent by 20+ points in the first round, but after facing Georgetown, they played a tough game, and like Connecta, they didn't have much to do with Monroe.
The game was deadlocked until the last few minutes of the second half, when Monroe grabbed two offensive rebounds in a row and scored six points in a row to kill the game.
In the end, Monroe had a big double-double of 28 points and 13 rebounds and reached the final of the championship game.
Last year, he suffered an upset in the first round, and this season he reached the final, and even had a chance to enter the tournament, which can be regarded as the final redemption.
The championship finals will be played between UConn and Georgetown University at Renhila Field.
Renhiler Stadium is the Soccer stadium of the University of Hong Kong, which was temporarily built as a basketball court for the finals, and can accommodate up to 40,000 people at the same time.
By the time it comes to the finals, it's not even enough for UConn fans.
The game started on March 8, at 8 p.m. local time, and the scene was crowded.
The opening ceremony before the game was overwhelming, and there was a sea of cheers on the scene.
After the start of the game, the two teams played extremely anxiously.
Georgetown University was able to reach the final, and apart from Monroe, the rest of the team was also in excellent form.
The stalemate lasted until the last two minutes of the second half.
Monroe's back-to-back rebounds helped Georgetown build a four-point lead.
The nervous shouts of the fans at the scene were all with a trill sound.
At a critical time, Tang Tian's heart was big, and he hit an empty three-point whistle on the outside, and his supplementary defense caused Monroe to attack the foul, and Walker scored 2+1 in the front court to kill the game directly.
When Tang Tianbiao scored three points at the whistle, the scene was already a little out of control, and by the time Walker finally played 2+1, the fans of the entire Renhiler Stadium were already crazy, and the shouts went straight to the sky.
In the end, with more than 40,000 people chanting "Connecticut Huskies" in unison, UConda won 73-71 and won the final championship of the Great East Conference after seven years, and also locked a Crazy March tournament spot.
After the game, Walker knelt down and kissed the court, his eyes reddened.
From repeating a grade in his freshman year to his junior year, only he knows how much he has paid.
Although there is still a long way to go before the championship is finally won, Kangda has been strong enough this year, and winning this championship is the best proof of this.
"We're totally ready and we're not going to disappoint the UConn fans again this time." At the post-game press conference, Walker's excitement had not yet eased, and there was a hint of choked in his tone.
Cajon smiled and reached out to pat him on the shoulder, the two had been together for three years, and he was the one who knew Walker best.