Patrick Semansky/Associated Press
WASHINGTON — The first games of last year’s N.C.A.A. men’s basketball tournament made plenty of memories: Virginia’s historic first-round upset; the beginning of Loyola-Chicago’s fun Final Four run; Nevada’s exciting upset of second-seeded Cincinnati.
But you may hardly remember that tournament’s regional semifinals and finals, the games over the second long weekend. Some were close, others not. Only Kansas’s 80-76 overtime win over Duke registered as a classic. Even the Final Four felt like little more than the predetermined coronation of a dominant Villanova.
The contrast represented a trade-off. The theory went like this: If you want the wonderful anarchy of a crazy and unpredictable first weekend, you might have to settle for latter rounds with more than their share of lopsided matchups and consequent blowouts.