Baylor guard Jared Butler shoots between Gonzaga forward Anton Watson (left) and guard Andrew Nembhard (right) during the second half of the men’s National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) championship game at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis on April 5, 2021.
Credit: © Darron Cummings, AP/Shutterstock

On Monday, April 5, the Baylor University Bears routed the previously undefeated Gonzaga University Bulldogs 86-70 in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) men’s basketball championship in Indianapolis, Indiana. It was Baylor’s first championship win, having last appeared in the championship game 73 years ago.

Gonzaga went into the game with a 31-0 record. The Indiana University Hoosiers were, in 1976, the last undefeated team to win a championship. But almost immediately, the Bulldogs’ bark was worse than their bite. Baylor swiftly took the lead. Nearly four minutes passed before Gonzaga got a single basket. And by that point, Baylor was approaching the double digits. With rebounds, shooting, and pure speed, Baylor quickly established a rhythm that Gonzaga was unable to break throughout the rest of the game.

Baylor’s guards were key to the win. Jared Butler scored 22 points with 7 assists. Davion Mitchell had 15 points and 5 assists. And MaCio Teague had 19 points. Baylor neared the end of the game with a 16-point cushion, but there was no way to cushion the blow for a Gonzaga team, which had not lost since before the start of the pandemic (global outbreak) of the coronavirus disease COVID-19. (Because of the ongoing pandemic, there was limited attendance throughout the tournament.)

Stanford guard Lexie Hull drives past Arizona forward Trinity Baptiste during the first half of the women’s NCAA championship game at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas, on April 4, 2021.
Credit: © Morry Gash, AP/Shutterstock

The men’s national championship game was not the first major basketball event of the week. On Sunday, April 4, the Stanford University Cardinal edged out the University of Arizona Wildcats 54-53 in the NCAA women’s basketball championship in San Antonio, Texas. Stanford was ahead for much of the game. But, the Wildcats’ guard Aari McDonald managed to close the lead to just a single point. In the final seconds of the game, McDonald tried for a jump shot. But, the ball bounced off the back of the rim as time—and the Wildcat’s incredible run—expired. Stanford’s championship title—the third in school history—was their first in 29 years.

The men’s and women’s NCAA basketball championships are a group of tournaments played at the end of the regular season in March and April to determine national college champions in men’s and women’s basketball in the United States. Played mostly during March, the tournament has been labeled March Madness and is one of the most-watched television sports events of the year in the United States.

In March 2020, the tournaments were canceled, because of the threat of COVID-19. A year later, the respiratory disease is still affecting nearly every part of life. Basketball is no exception. Cardboard cutouts of fans have filled stadiums for some games and players have congratulated one another with elbow bumps—well, except when they’ve embraced after last-second game-winning shots. Despite the restrictions, the 2021 NCAA basketball championships offered a bit of normalcy to an otherwise abnormal time.

April 10, 2019

On Sunday night, April 7, at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida, the Baylor University Lady Bears defeated Notre Dame 82-81 to win the NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Tournament. Baylor senior guard Chloe Jackson provided the winning margin with a go-ahead lay-up with just 3.9 seconds remaining in the game. Jackson led Baylor with 26 points and was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player (MOP). It was the third NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) women’s basketball title for Baylor. The Lady Bears previously won in 2005 and 2012. Notre Dame won NCAA titles in 2001 and 2018.

The Baylor Lady Bears–including Most Outstanding Player Chloe Jackson (24)–celebrate their NCAA title at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida, on April 7, 2019. Credit: © Justin Tafoya, Getty Images

Baylor dominated early, taking a 43-31 lead into halftime. But Notre Dame stormed back, making up the deficit and battling to a 74-74 tie with 5:18 left in the fourth quarter. The evenly-matched teams then battled down the stretch, with Baylor prevailing by a single point. Led by Jackson and senior center Kalani Brown (20 points), the Lady Bears overcame Notre Dame’s scoring tandem of Arike Ogunbowale (31 points) and Marina Mabrey (21 points). In the Final Four semifinals, Notre Dame took out perennial powerhouse Connecticut, and Baylor downed Oregon.

Virginia guard Kyle Guy (5) attempts a shot against Texas Tech defenders during the NCAA men’s title game at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on April 8, 2019. Credit: © Tom Pennington, Getty Images

On Monday night, April 8, at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the University of Virginia Cavaliers defeated the Texas Tech Red Raiders 85-77 in overtime to win the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament. Virginia, led by guards De’Andre Hunter (27 points) and Kyle Guy (24 points), carried a tight 3-point lead into halftime and held the advantage for most of the second half. Texas Tech rallied, however, to take a 3-point lead of their own into the game’s final minute. With just 12 seconds on the clock, a Hunter 3-pointer evened the score at 68-68 to send the game into overtime. The Cavaliers pulled away in the extra five minutes, outscoring the Red Raiders 17-9 for the title. Virginia’s Guy took home tournament MOP honors. 

It was the first NCAA championship game for both Virginia and Texas Tech, who knocked out Auburn and Michigan State, respectively, in the Final Four semifinals. Virginia entered the tournament as a number-1 seed, and Texas Tech was a 3 seed. Virginia’s first title was especially sweet following the team’s epic collapse in last year’s NCAA tournament. In 2018, Virginia became the first number-1 seed to lose to a 16 seed—the lowest—when the University of Maryland-Baltimore County (UMBC) Retrievers shocked the Cavaliers 74-54.

March 21, 2016

On March 18, dejected Michigan State guard Bryn Forbes watches as Middle Tennessee prepares to shoot a free throw in the final moments of a first-round match-up of the NCAA Tournament. Middle Tennessee upset the heavily-favored Spartans, 90-81. Credit: © Charlie Riedel, AP Photo

On Thursday, March 17, 2016, the annual NCAA Men’s Division I Basketball Tournament, known familiarly as March Madness, tipped off in several cities around the United States. The tournament quickly lived up to its nickname, as low-seeded teams began picking off the powerhouses at the tops of the brackets. Twelve-seeded Yale took down no. 5 Baylor for its first-ever tournament victory. Other first-round double-digit-seed upset winners included Arkansas Little Rock, Hawaii, Gonzaga, Stephen F. Austin, Syracuse, Virginia Commonwealth, and Wichita State. The single-elimination tournament’s initial 64 teams are divided into 4 brackets of 16.

The weekend’s biggest surprise came on Friday, as 15-seed Middle Tennessee State took out 2-seed and perennial power Michigan State. The jolting upset was just the eighth time in tournament history (since 1939) that a 15-seed pulled off a first-round win. That same day, 11-seed Northern Iowa took down no. 6 Texas on a half-court lob at the buzzer that banked through the hoop. Northern Iowa ate their humble pie two days later, though, as they blew a 12-point lead with just 35 seconds left before losing in double overtime to Texas A & M. It was the biggest last-minute comeback in college basketball history.

Upsets aside, all four no. 1 seeds—Kansas, North Carolina, Oregon, and Virginia—skated through the tournament’s first weekend with easy victories. And of all the low-seeded upset winners, only Gonzaga and Syracuse—who play each other next—won their second game of the weekend to advance to the Sweet 16.