Death of March Madness

For the women's basketball NCAA tournament I was rooting for MTSU's Lady Raiders and Pat Summitt's Lady Vols, however, both teams were eliminated in the first round on Sunday.

No. 8 seed, MTSU took on No. 9 seed Michigan State on their home floor, and lost 60-59. During the majority of both halves, MTSU dominated. But towards the end, MTSU started to get lazy and depend on its star player Alysha Clark.

Clark had a hard enough time scoring against 6-foot-9-inch Allyssa DeHaan, who constantly denied Clark any entry into the basket. But when her teammates refused to step up and make big plays, Clark took it to the basket and fouled out with one minute to go in the game.

The last play rested on the shoulders of junior forward Brandi Brown, who lost control of the ball at the last second. It's sad to see the Lady Raiders eliminated before they were given a chance to showcase their talent.

Later that night another dream of mine was crushed. No. 5 seed Tennessee took on No. 12 Ball State and practically gave up their returning champion status with a 71-55 loss. For the past two years the Lady Vols have been the champions of the NCAA tournament, but from the beginning of this season fans knew it would be rough.

Fans didn't expect the freshman lineup to make a dent in Summitt's career by losing for the first time ever in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

Sure, Ball State played well by shooting several 3-pointers, but the Tennessee defense was nonexistence. Ball State players would drive the lane with no orange standing in their way. The whole game was ridiculous.

Last year Angie Bjorklund had the pleasure of experiencing the glory of a champion, but this season she appears to be lost. Bjorklund doesn't even try to step up on the court and make plays unless she knows a 3-pointer is needed. The bad news is that when she realizes this, she doesn't care if the ball goes in the basket or not. It seems like this whole team has lost all motivation, and their carelessness is beginning to drive Lady Vols fans over the edge.

Oh well, looks like I'll be rooting for Maryland now. Hopefully they can beat UConn. Take that Maya Moore!