Busting Brackets
Fansided

March Madness: Top takeaways from 2019 NCAA Tournament

By Brian Rauf

MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA - APRIL 08: De'Andre Hunter #12 of the Virginia Cavaliers celebrates his three point basket basket late in the second half against the Texas Tech Red Raiders during the 2019 NCAA men's Final Four National Championship game at U.S. Bank Stadium on April 08, 2019 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images)
MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA - APRIL 08: De'Andre Hunter #12 of the Virginia Cavaliers celebrates his three point basket basket late in the second half against the Texas Tech Red Raiders during the 2019 NCAA men's Final Four National Championship game at U.S. Bank Stadium on April 08, 2019 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
8 of 9
Next
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – MARCH 16: Head coach Mike Hopkins of the Washington Huskies yells to his players during the championship game of the Pac-12 basketball tournament against the Oregon Ducks at T-Mobile Arena on March 16, 2019 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Ducks defeated the Huskies 68-48. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – MARCH 16: Head coach Mike Hopkins of the Washington Huskies yells to his players during the championship game of the Pac-12 basketball tournament against the Oregon Ducks at T-Mobile Arena on March 16, 2019 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Ducks defeated the Huskies 68-48. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images) /

7) The Pac-12 isn’t dead!

Speaking of conferences, the Pac-12 wasn’t as terrible was everyone was expecting or fearing them to be.

They got three teams in the tournament (I was only expecting them to get one) and all of them won a game! Oregon even advanced to the Sweet 16 and nearly upset Virginia, which is no small feat.

Arizona State beat St. John’s in the First Four before getting blown out by Buffalo, but that was a success for this group. Washington also beat a very good Utah State team in the first round and proved their worth as the conference’s best team during the regular season.

So the 2018-19 wasn’t a total disaster for the Pac-12 and the conference should be much better in 2019-20. Oregon should return many of their top pieces, as should Arizona State. Arizona and Washington both welcome in top recruiting classes and several teams, including Colorado, Stanford, and Utah, return a vast majority of their roster. Most everyone should be better.

Now if only UCLA could find a coach…

Home/March Madness