March madness comes to an end

by Brian O'Connell staff writer

The 2000-2001 college basketball season has come to an end. But the national championship game between Duke and Maryland was a great way to end the season. That was just a phenomenal game. Congratulations to Duke on the title. And congratulations to Arizona too, as they fought their way through a season toot consisted of more than just losses. Their biggest loss was that of Bobbie Olsen, wife of head coach Lute Olsen, who died of cancer this past season. Arizona's goal was to win the championship and dedicate it to her. However, they fell ten points short losing 82- 72.

I would imagine most people would agree, that this season was truly a great one. Duke had Shane Battier, Jason Williams and a cast of others. Stanford had the Collins twins and Casey Jacobsen. Temple had Lynn Greer and Quincy Wadley. St. Joseph's had Jameer Nelson and Marvin O'Connor. Arizona had Gilbert Arenas and Loren

Arizona'sLuke

Woods.

The best thing about these players is that some of them will return for next season, which should add to the pre-season excitement of next year. The NCAA tournament was as exciting as ever with all of the upsets that took place. Teams like Temple had a great run. What was best about the Owls' run through the tournament is that they were not even expected to make the tournament. Instead, they stepped up their play and advanced to the Final Eight. And let's not forget about Georgetown. The Hoyas steam rolled to an undefeated record in the beginning of the season and had a great run into the tournament.

St. Joseph's had one of their best season's ever tying the school mark with the number of wins in one season and advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament before falling to Stanford. And the best news for this team is that the core of this year's team returns next year along with Sports Illustrated's freshman of the year Jameer Nelson.

Great games, upsets, bad losses, fans going crazy and so much more all add up to the excitement in college basketball every year. That is what makes it so special.

There were also a lot of coaching changes at the end of the season. Some include Jim Baron leaving St. Bonaventure to resurrect the depleted program at Rhode Island. Tommy Amaker left Seton Hall to take the Michigan job. Steve Lappas resigned at Villanova and took the Umass job. Speedy Morris is out of a job after being fired by LaSalle. And Steve Seymour from Drexel was also fired which was an absolute disgrace on Drexel's part. He was only in his second year of coaching. His first year of coaching, he had a losing record. His second year of coaching, the team finished third in the league and had a winning record. I may be wrong, but it appears their program was getting better. But coaches will tell you, it is a tough business. So best of luck to all these coaches.

College hoops fans cannot wait for the start of next season, which will be another great one.

New players, new coaches and great games are on the menu for next year. And of course, there is always the NCAA tournament, the time of year television lives for because it produces the highest ratings out of any sport in the post-season.

So we can all take a short break now and look back at this past