2021 NCAA Final Four (the after)

(2) Houston 59-78 (1) Baylor

Houston started slow, Baylor just kept hitting shots. Not a bad game, Baylor took control quickly and kinda squelched out Houston. Good run for Houston, good season, they dominated most everyone they played til the Final Four, that's not bad. 

Baylor is good, man, I'm really beginning to appreciate what good on-ball defenders they are and what good shooters they are. They're a surprisingly deep squad, too. 

(11) UCLA 90-93 (OT) (1) Gonzaga

Amazing game! Back and forth, buzzer beater finish, two good scoring squads just wailin' on each other for 45 mins. Everyone played well, everyone shot well, every possession was fascinating. A great game, a great watch. UCLA caps a long strange trip just missing a shot at the Championship. 

Gonzaga shows all the doubters that they can hang with anyone, that being pushed won't destroy them. 

(1) Baylor 86-70 (1) Gonzaga

Going in, I thought Baylor would be the toughest team Gonzaga has seen all season (perhaps in many seasons), a team that would not shrink from the undefeated #1 team, everyone's pick to win it all, and would score enough to hang no matter how well Gonzaga executed. I wouldn't have been shocked by Baylor stealing it late, but I figured Gonzaga would control throughout, even if the game felt tighter than anything they've had in a while. I still felt Gonzaga would handle Baylor and (most likely) outscore them. Gonzaga really is good; Baylor has a lot of good athletes; but I figured Gonzaga's ball movement would create more quick shots and Gonzaga would win on volume and free throws. 

Yeah, it took about two minutes to chuck the pre-game forecast out. Baylor came to play. That on-ball defense shook Gonzaga and the way Baylor was drilling 3's and getting offensive rebounds, it felt like Gonzaga was outmanned and in for a struggle. With about 8 mins to go in the 1st half, Baylor was up 38-19. 

From there, Gonzaga had a decent run before halftime, whittled the lead down to 10 and showed the path for a way back into the game: patient offense, quit turning the ball over, lure Baylor into fouls, hit your FT's, get every rebound, pray Baylor stops nailing these 3's. Baylor shot too well, played too hard in the 1st half, in the 2nd half they'd wither, fall into foul trouble and Gonzaga would make up the deficit to steal the W.

And for Baylor the game plan was also clear: keep hitting 3's (and get ready for the trophy presentation). 

Gonzaga had a chance to salvage the season, go out strong and smart and steal back the Championship they thought they'd already earned. But they couldn't keep their roll going after halftime: Gonzaga missed FT's, Baylor kept hitting 3's, that was ball game. 

Baylor came to play, then lapsed a little before halftime, then clamped down in the 2nd half.  Nice W for Baylor, really a smooth game from them from the jump, they were all great, everyone was hitting shots, everyone made plays on defense, they avoided foul trouble in the 2nd half, which just heightened the advantage they already possessed in bench depth. So outside of a lull before halftime, Baylor straight dominated this game in every way. All hail, they were really good all year long and flat took this tournament for themselves, a fun team to watch, and by the Final they were really humming.(*)  Good work.

(*) Reminded me of the 2019 NCAA football championship when Clemson dusted off Alabama. 

Bama had been #1 all year long, everyone assumed they would crush every other team, except possibly Clemson. You knew Clemson had talent but their schedule is just not as interesting as Alabama's, so you couldn't tell how good they actually were. They were the only team that even had a shot at hanging with the Tide, so...could they? Answer was 'yes', Clemson straight f'n flayed Alabama, while we all just gaped and went 'oh shit...'. Not necessarily a shock that Clemson won the game, but the ease with which they controlled every second of the game (while slicing and dicing the consensus favorite) was jarring and impressive.

Everyone knew Baylor was good and they were ballin' in the tourney, but until you actually saw them out there with Gonzaga, it was real easy to think Gonzaga was the better team. Actually, they were both really good teams, but head to head Baylor's defense just kept Gonzaga from getting anything going and the way Baylor drilled 3's....looking back on it, the fact that Baylor only won by 16 seems kinda weird and just highlights Baylor's dominance: Gonzaga actually shot the ball pretty well and were still never in the game.