The Last Word on March Madness

Anybody who knows about Karma saw the demise of Ohio St. coming in the NCAA Men’s Basketball National Championship game. The Buckeyes rode a wave of extraordinary circumstances all the way to the men’s college basketball title game against Florida. I can’t think of a team that played in more bizarre games over the course of a single tournament and the most mind boggling part about it is that the Buckeyes won every contest. That is until they ran into a Gator team looking to make a little history of their own.

A mad scientist couldn’t have concocted a more polarizing match-up: joyless Mr. Oden and his posse of future Freshman dropouts vs. a team compromised of four first round draft choices all of whom decided to return to school and defend their National Championship because of their love for college and the game of basketball. I wonder who the college basketball gods were rooting for?

While there would not have been a more poetic ending to Greg Oden’s enigmatic college career than his sore loser assault on Xavier’s Brandon Cole, fate had other plans. The Buckeyes somehow, someway made it to the final game. They were oh so close, but alas, it just wasn’t meant to be for the best team Thad Matta could buy.

Take care Greg Oden. Happy trails Mike Conley. Barely knew you Daequen Cook. You boys were successful at killing some time by attending History of Rock n Roll class and playing some college hoops while waiting for your NBA window to open. When it came to winning the big game, however, your team wasn't as successful.

I find it amazing how the majority of the coverage on the National Championship game centered on Greg Oden’s dominance. Yet not once while watching the game did I ever think to myself “this is an all-time great performance!” CBS were lead you to believe it was with all the ranting and raving by announcers Jim Nantz and Bill Packer. You would think that a player as “dominating” as Oden supposed was in the game would at least of had his team IN the game. The Buckeyes were never in the game. Florida took control early on and Ohio St. never mounted a legitimate threat the rest of the way. Others like Mr. Nantz and Mr. Packer may have thought differently, but anyone who knows a little something about Karma knew the Buckeyes never had a chance.