Simple Feed

Not the most memorable Final Four, unless you remember how Villanova was simply much the best. Some people are bothered that the format on the NCAA Tournament doesn’t always allow the best team to win it all. That doesn’t bother me in the least, because it’s more than just having the most talent.

But there was something about this Villanova team that was special beyond simply being the best team, It’s because tcoach Jay Wright assembled a position-less team that could score from anywhere. You look at recruiting lists and you rarely see Villanova kids near the top.

And if you had Donte DiVincenzo as the Most Valuable Player before the game started, you need to get in a new line of work.

A few other notes:

** You can forget Duke, North Carolina, Kentucky or Kansas being the premier program in college basketball. Not only has Villanova won two of the last three, but the Wildcats have gone it by building a program that doesn’t have to re-invent itself every year. Argue all you want about the one-and-done issue, but this is how college basketball is meant to be played.

**I never understand why a player on the winning team throws the ball in the air when the final horn sounds. I’d hold on to that thing until they crowbared it out of my hands.

**I’m glad I don’t have to look at Michigan’s Zaxier Simpson shoot free throws for awhile.

**A Scientology commercial during the Final Four?

**Michigan’s uniforms really bothered me. Too much empty space under the numbers.

**A Big 10 team hasn’t won the title since 2000 (Michigan State).

**Not a bad Easter Weekend for two Catholic schools as Notre Dame (a Holy Cross school) won the women’s title and Villanova (Order of St. Augustine) won the men’s.

**Since Louisville’s title in 2015 was vacated, the winning team has worn some shade of blue every year since Maryland in 2002. You’re welcome.

I don’t like comparison of men’s and women’s basketball. Pat Summitt’s coaching wins shouldn’t be ranked alongside John Wooden’s. If there’s a list of all-time Final Four participants, there should be a women’s list and a men’s list. I think it’s unfair to call it a “basketball” list. If that’s the case, then include the NAIA or a foreign league as well.

But I do realize the game, at its core, can be compared. Free throws are free throws. The basket is still 10 feet high. And more importantly, a great game is a great game, no matter the gender.

With one more to go — the men’s national championship game Monday night — the Final Four has been a little lopsided in that category. The women had three amazing games. So far, the men are 0-for-2.

The two women’s semifinals both went to overtime and each was compelling drama. Especially the second semi, when UConn lost on a last-second shot by Notre Dame’s Arike Ogunbowale (don’t worry about trying to pronounce it) — the second straight year that mighty UConn has failed to make it past the semifinals.

Certainly nothing could out do that, right? Wrong. Notre Dame did it again Sunday and again it was Ogunbowale, who hit a a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give the Irish the win over Mississippi State. (Of course, the referees ruined the spontaneous celebration by putting a useless 0.1 seconds back on the clock and forcing some MSU players to come back out of the locker room.)

Here’s hoping that the Michigan-Villanova game can come close to living up to that drama in San Antonio. The only truly compelling thing about either semifinal was Villanova’s amazing 3-point shooting, which was spectacular. But the Wildcats look to be much the best, which is strange. We always here how the men’s game has such great parity and how the women’s game is UConn and everybody is playing for second.

Looks like the men’s Final Four is playing for second this year.