The best game of March Madness was in the women’s division
Overtime, a buzzer beater shot, and the end of a 111-game winning streak.
In my opinion, the biggest upset in basketball history came on Friday, March 31 when the Mississippi State Bulldogs beat the University of Connecticut Huskies (UConn) in the semi-final of the women’s NCAA basketball tournament.
The UConn women’s basketball team had not lost a game since 2014. Their 111-game winning streak is the longest in NCAA basketball history—men’s or women’s divisions.
The incredible win aside, this game was not shown on TSN. In fact, none of the women’s NCAA tournament was shown on TSN except for the final. ESPN did broadcast it in the States, but the majority of Canadian basketball fans were unable to watch the huge upset. If they wanted to watch the men’s tournament though, TSN has broadcasted all of those games from the round of 64.
It makes absolutely no sense to me that the women’s NCAA Final Four was not broadcasted in Canada when all of the men’s games were. I had to illegally stream it (I mean, it was worth it), but I shouldn’t have had to do that in the first place.
Broadcasting issues aside (I could write a whole article on its own about that), the game between the Bulldogs and the Huskies was historic to say the least.
The two teams had previously played each other in the Sweet 16 of last year’s tournament, where Mississippi suffered an embarrassing 60 point lost at the hands of UConn—a loss they clearly did not forget.
Seventeen turnovers from the Huskies, eight steals and 15 offensive rebounds from the Bulldogs, and a fiery five-foot-five guard scoring the buzzer beating final jump shot, took down the UConn Huskies for the first time in almost 900 days.
Junior Morgan Williams was the unlikely champion of the game as the short-statured guard has often been overlooked due to her size.But, she didn’t let that stop her as she pulled up for the final short of the game, taking Mississippi to the biggest win of their careers as they defeated UConn 66-64.
It took everything the Bulldogs had in them, but they overcame adversity as all the odds were stacked against them.
There has been much debate in basketball about whether a team as dominant as UConn has hindered the sport, or made it more competitive. I believe that this upset proves that it has become more competitive.
Despite the dominance and powerful recruiting abilities of the Huskies, they still couldn’t pull off the win in overtime. In fact, the winningest team in NCAA basketball history has not won a game in overtime since 2004, with their last major loss before the 111-game streak coming in overtime to Stanford in 2014.
To me, this says a lot about the mental ability of UConn. When faced with the thought that they might actually lose a game, they were unable to respond to the intensity that Mississippi brought to the table. The Mississippi Bulldogs took the court again two days later for the NCAA Championship game against the South Carolina Gamecocks. However, they truly did leave everything on the court against UConn as they could not find the energy to keep up with the Gamecocks. South Carolina won their first-ever title 67-55.
Photo courtesy of Danny Karwoski via Public Domain.