Kirschman: UCONN, Butler, VCU latest examples of parity in NCAA Tournament

Every year, certain events in March Madness are almost inevitable. There will be upsets and… Every year, certain events in March Madness are almost inevitable. There will be upsets and buzzer beaters, overtime games and controversial calls. It’s what makes the NCAA Tournament exciting and, in my opinion, the greatest spectacle in sports.

It’s everything a sports fan could want. It’s one-and-done. You lose, you go home.

The playoff-style determination of a champion is exactly what many people — myself included — are practically begging for in college football.

But did the best team in college basketball win this year when the Connecticut Huskies celebrated their championship Monday night? No. The hottest team in college basketball won the title.

That’s what it often comes down to in the NCAA Tournament. Talent matters, sure, but it seems that luck, match-ups and hot streaks at the right times matter more.

There are few years when I can say I believe the title game came down to the best two teams in the country. North Carolina and Illinois in 2005 comes to mind. In a battle between the two No. 1 seeds, the four-loss Tar Heels defeated the one-loss Illini in a classic championship battle.

But overall, I still believe Illinois was the better team that season. And while National Champion Maryland was probably the country’s best team in 2002, it didn’t face off against the nation’s second best squad in fifth-seeded Indiana.

I still wholeheartedly believe that Pitt was the best team in the country in 2009, when the Panthers lost in the Elite Eight.

This year, I think that distinction belonged to Kansas or Ohio State.

But those teams lost and Connecticut won the title. The Huskies are the National Champions.

In the end, many will say winning the National Championship is all that matters. And maybe it is. But there’s something

to be said for a strong regular season, and there’s definitely something to be said for regular season conference titles.

Maybe Kansas’, Ohio State’s and Pitt’s seasons this year will be forgotten, but I think that’s a shame. All those upsets are a big reason why March Madness is such a phenomenal event, but they are also good reasons to remember that the trophy doesn’t necessarily end up in the hands of the nation’s best team.

Connecticut lost its last two games of the regular season, going down 65-56 to West Virginia and 70-67 to Notre Dame. Then the Huskies rolled into Madison Square Garden and guard Kemba Walker decided that they were done losing. That was that.

The Huskies won five games in five days, first over DePaul and then over four nationally ranked teams in Georgetown, Pitt, Syracuse and Louisville. Connecticut used that momentum to power its way through the NCAA Tournament, finishing the season by cutting down the nets on Monday night.

Some people say conference tournaments drain a team’s energy. Walker and the Huskies disagree.

But during the regular season, the Huskies finished ninth in the Big East. Ninth. They received no bye in the Big East tournament. Looking at the entire season and not just the NCAA Tournament, Connecticut wasn’t even the best team in its conference this year.

The Huskies weren’t even close.

Then there’s Butler, a name that pains Pitt fans in a way only Villanova can duplicate. The Bulldogs were a No. 8 seed from the Horizon League. They finished the season with 10 losses.

But they got hot at the right time. So did VCU, which ended up in the Final Four, but which no reasonable person would argue was legitimately one of the best four teams in the country this season after the Rams snuck into the NCAA Tournament with a No. 11 seed.

Butler managed 41 points in the Championship game while shooting 18 percent. While Connecticut’s defense deserves a lot of the credit, the Huskies shot 34 percent themselves — including 29 percent in the first half.

The first half of the game was nearly unbearable to watch. Many experts called this year’s National Championship the ugliest ever.

But in the end, the Huskies will be remembered as the 2011 National Champions — even if Connecticut wasn’t the nation’s best team.