National Championship: Did Gonzaga-Baylor live up to the hype?

Gonzaga and Baylor, the top two teams in the AP Preseason Poll, finally played in the highly-anticipated National Championship game but did it live up to expectations?

In a memorable March Madness tournament that has wowed spectators across the globe with thrilling upsets and last-second buzzer-beaters, the national championship game was duked out by the two best teams throughout the entire season in Gonzaga and Baylor.

In a matchup that has been compared to the 2005 National Championship game between North Carolina and Illinois, both teams came into Monday night’s tournament finale boasting the two best offenses in the country, as Baylor led the nation in three-point shooting (41.2%) while Gonzaga connected on 64% of its attempts from inside the arc.

Baylor’s red-hot 1st half

Tonight it was Baylor’s three-point shooting that separated the teams in the first half, as Scott Drew’s squad connected on its first five triples and 7 of its 12 attempts in the first half.

MaCio Teague and Jared Butler led the Bears with 14 and 13 points respectively and fueled the team to shoot 19/38 (50%) from the floor.

Gonzaga struggled out of the gates and found themselves, failing to score in the first three minutes of the game. Baylor’s physical presence was apparent from the very start as Flo Thamba, Mark Vital, and Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchouwa manhandled the glass, securing 11 offensive rebounds as a unit.

Gonzaga showed some signs of life to end the 1st half, closing out the half on a 9-2 run to trim its deficit to 10, at 47-37.

One last-ditch effort by Gonzaga

Gonzaga found itself in an unlikely situation down 10 points at the break. Needing a sign of life, the Bulldogs were able to connect on its first two shots from the floor, while sidelining Thamba and Tchatchouwa with four fouls apiece.

Despite the early baskets from Gonzaga, Baylor hit nothing but net on its first two three-pointers to commence the 2nd half. Those two back-breaking triples led to Baylor taking a commanding 16 point lead with 15 minutes left to play.

Vital’s block on a Kispert layup attempt led to an Adam Flagler triple at the 12-minute mark. That was the early indication that Baylor’s lead was too insurmountable for Gonzaga to overcome.

Jared Butler, the junior guard, led Baylor with a tournament-high 22 points. MaCio Teague added 19 points of his own while Baylor had 16 second-chance points and 21 from its bench.

Baylor’s 86-70 victory over the once-undefeated Bulldogs marked Gonzaga’s first loss in over 13 months.

Did the game live up to the hype?

In the end, history wasn’t made tonight for the Bulldogs and Baylor played about as perfect of a game that any Bears’ fan could have asked for.

The Bulldogs were never able to cut their deficit to within eight points at any point of the second half. The close contest that the two programs seemed to promise all season long, dating back to their regular season contest that was canceled last Decmeber, never had a chance to occur.

Baylor’s offense put on a clinic from start to finish and that was the winning formula that finally took down the unstoppable Bulldogs.

Did the championship game live up to the hype that it deserved? No, but that shouldn’t take away from the incredible offensive showing from Scott Drew’s squad.

Scott Drew has finally achieved what he promised to do 18 years after his hiring by bringing home a National Championship back to Waco, Texas for the first time in 73 years.

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