March Madness: Michigan and Villanova took different paths to title game
March Madness has been crazy. There may only be two teams left in the field but both took vastly different routes to reach this point.
After weeks of hard-fought basketball, there are only two teams left fighting for the NCAA Tournament title: Michigan and Villanova. Both squads have put an immense effort forth to get to this point but took remarkably different paths to reach this final game. With only 40 minutes separating either the Wolverines and the Wildcats from cutting down the nets, let’s look at how their journeys to this point varied.
How did Michigan get here?
Starting with Michigan, they have had one of the “easiest” paths to the national championship we have ever seen. Of course, nothing is “easy” in the NCAA Tournament but their route featured underdogs just about the entire way. A No. 3 seed, the Wolverines started out with the typical No. 14 seed in the first round. Although this was a bit of a defensive struggle, Michigan pulled away in the second half to take a 14-point victory.
In the second round, the team needed arguably the best shot of the tournament to move past Houston. This was an expected battle against the No. 6-seeded Cougars but the next few games showed the ease of their road according to seed. In the next battle, Michigan faced No. 7 seed Texas A&M instead of the expected matchup of No. 2 seed North Carolina.
After that, the team avoided the No. 1, 4, or 5 seeds from the top section of their region to face the No. 9 seed Florida State. Once taking care of the Seminoles, the Wolverines took down the Cinderella of the NCAA Tournament in the Loyola-Chicago Ramblers to reach the national championship.
There were moments of worry for Michigan fans in every game of the tournament as absolutely nothing has come easily. As I have already said, just because their opponent seeds were lower than normal does not mean they should not be rewarded. Michigan still had to win five games in a row to reach this point and they did just that. This is something to be proud of.
In short, their path went through the following seeds: 14, 6, 7, 9, and 11.
How did Villanova get here?
As for Villanova, their route was much more difficult according to seeds faced. In the first round, they faced (and destroyed) the No. 16 seed Radford. This was as expected but we did see UMBC take down Virginia in this tournament so nothing should have been taken for granted.
In the next round, the Wildcats faced Collin Sexton and the Alabama Crimson Tide. After struggling a bit in the first half, Jay Wright’s team eviscerated ‘Bama to come away with a 23-point win. In the Sweet 16 matchup against West Virginia (No. 5 seed), Villanova once again pulled away late for a double-digit victory. This was also their first game of the tournament hitting the 90-point mark.
Through the first three games, nobody played better than ‘Nova. In the Elite Eight, the Wildcats played their worst game of the tournament but still came away victorious over Texas Tech by 12 points. Of course, the team then followed up their poor game by absolutely tearing apart Kansas for 40 minutes in the Final Four, winning by 16 points and posting 95 total points.
Villanova has been incredibly impressive with every step of the way in this tournament. If their top-notch play follows them into April, it will be nearly impossible for Michigan to hang with ‘Nova. If the team ends up winning the title on Monday, then they might go down as the best team in recent memory.
In short, their path went through the following seeds: 16, 9, 5, 3, and 1.
Next: Live blog from Michigan-Loyola
This championship game is bound to be excellent. Although both teams took different routes to the finale, they also both won five games in a row to reach this point. The matchup is a great one between the Big East and the Big Ten with a huge reward on the line.