Fifth Avenue Forum

Just unreal.

Best game since Duke-Kentucky.

There are just no words for that game. Beyond amazing. Zags showed the heart of a champion. UCLA had an answer on every trip down the floor and never rolled over when they got down 7 early on in the 2nd half or down 5 in OT. Neither team deserved to lose that game.

And now we get the game that us college hoops fans have wanted all year. I'd like to think it's going to be every bit as good as this one was.

No doubt about it

It was end-to-end all night.

Bill Raftery all-night

That ref, lol

What an absolute toolbag decision to start the National Title game at 9:20pm on a school night.

West Coast audience, yo.

I'm still wired. What a basketball game

What an absolute toolbag decision to start the National Title game at 9:20pm on a school night.

Every year... just happy it’s spring break for me this year.

This is my first year actually watching March Madness. Maybe I shouldn’t watch next year. Quit while I’m ahead.

I didn't love the charge call

Eh. I think it may have technically been a charge. The right call was probably no call.. which would have been the same result. So no harm to me.

One of the best final four games I can remember

This is my first year actually watching March Madness

Bro

I don't understand why Moser would leave Loyola for Oklahoma.

Flagship university with significantly more resources and earning potential compared to a mid-major that has had a nice run, but cannot go much higher than where they are right now. Oklahoma may not be on top right now, but in the last two decades, it had two Final Fours, 4 Elite Eights, 15 NCAA tournaments. OU may not be Kansas or Duke or UNC, but it is in the next group of big time players. Kruger's last year's salary was $3.4M, and even after COVID reduction he still made $3M+. Moser was making $1M.

*audible sigh*

This is my first year actually watching March Madness

Bro

No dog in the fight, don’t gamble, not a basketball fan. It’s been fun though. I’m sure it’s even better when you’re knowledgable about the teams/players.

I couldn’t watch the game but my god what a shot. UCLA was a sneaky really good team for a play-in team and Gonzaga is legit. I think people had questions about if their undefeated season was legit because of COVID but I feel like it’s all been but validated by now

Iconic win

This is my first year actually watching March Madness

Bro

No dog in the fight, don’t gamble, not a basketball fan. It’s been fun though. I’m sure it’s even better when you’re knowledgable about the teams/players.

I’m not knowledgeable at all (don’t watch any regular season games) but March Madness is a special tournament just by the fact that it’s all single elimination

It’s drama on steroids. A lot of games are crap (like Baylor-Houston) but you also get a ton of drama

An hour later and.... just wow. That was special. UCLA had a hell of a night shooting. Zags now officially tested. They will need to bring a better game on Monday if they want to cut the nets down.

so I think if my research is correct, neither Baylor nor Gonzaga has an NCAA championship so we’ll get a first time winner. Both have a runner up but the Zags are much more recent (2017 vs 1948)

I have no idea to what degree the men’s basketball team was involved with the Baylor scandal from a few years ago but I feel like Gonzaga is gonna have a lot more people rooting for them. I will be

We were talking about this at the bar tonight. Gonzaga is 34-0 or whatever they are but to me they'll never really be a favorite to win it all. I know they're the undefeated#1 seed but I'm sti pulling for the WCC team with the arena that seats 4,000 people or whatever over Baylor. Long-term underdog was the name we came up with tonight

Like.. someone said that would have been one of the biggest upsets ever. Imo, UCLA beating Gonzaga will never be an upset in the grand scheme of things

Like.. someone said that would have been one of the biggest upsets ever. Imo, UCLA beating Gonzaga will never be an upset in the grand scheme of things

Do you think of it from a UCLA = power 5 conference team or UCLA = historically significant university (along with Indiana, UNC, Duke, Kentucky)?

I see it from the latter and agree. Even though UCLA hasnt been particularly relevant in the last 13 years

I think it could have easily been considered one of the biggest upsets ever as Gonzaga was one of the biggest favorites in a national semifinal. That was a +14 1/2 spread when the game tipped. Neither Mason nor VCU were that big of dogs when they made their respective Final Fours. Now if you want to go from a tradition standpoint, then yeah, UCLA over Gonzaga should be something that doesn't faze the casual fan who only goes by name brands. Truthfully, since Ben Howland got the Bruins to the Final Four in 2006, UCLA has been pretty average. While they've made the Tournament a bunch, they really haven't advanced far. At UCLA where Wooden established the baseline of winning championships, mediocrity isn't acceptable. Meanwhile, the Zags have made 21 consecutive tournaments, first as the plucky underdog making a ridiculous run to the Elite Eight and culminating that run by becoming their own brand name and making their 2nd championship appearance in 5 years.

As for Baylor, I think the most recent scandal involved the football team than it did the basketball team. The basketball program has a much more sordid past when in 2003, one former player murdered another and the coach at the time, Dave Bliss, tried to cover it up and implicate the dead player. That then exposed a whole boatload of ugliness within Bliss's program and after he was fired, the NCAA really threw the book at the program. When Scott Drew took over, he was not allowed to schedule a non-conference game. The roster he had was threadbare. They got their clocks cleaned on a regular basis. It's been a long building process and the Bears have been close before, but they've really put things together and deserve every bit of the adulation they should get for making it this far this year.

I think if it made geographic sense the Zags would have bolted for a better conference, probably the Big East where they would fit with other non football schools. I mean, they have extended to Omaha but Spokane, nah. Instead the competitors level in the WCC has built to often be a multi bid conference St. Mary’s frequently, BYU, Pacific have all also made it during this Zags run.

Some radio talking head was speculating that they have to be dirty to keep getting that caliber of player to come to Spokane and play in that conference regularly. Possible but I doubt it is more or less than anyone else. Mark Few has developed a stellar reputation as a coach and well- is it a worse place than Lawrence, KS? Waco, TX? Tucson? (I don’t know, never been any of those places). If you want to play big time hoop in a small school environment, that’s where you go. It really is impressive.