UConn’s dominance is good for basketball. The 2018 Final Four just proved it.

Michigan 6, Loyo

It’s been an interesting NCAA tournament for women’s basketball fans. While women’s college basketball is in an incredible place, outsiders continue to knock the game, blaming UConn for its dominance. There isn’t enough parity, they say. It’s not fun to watch, they say. UConn is ruining the game, they say. Those arguments got even louder this week as all four number one seeds made it to the Women’s Final Four. It’s only the fourth time that has ever happened. It’s not likely and it’s definitely not normal.

But what the outsiders didn’t consider is that maybe having the four best teams in college basketball fighting for one title, would create one of the best nights in college basketball history. Well, I hope those folks were watching Friday night.

Friday night marked the first time that in NCAA history, men’s or women’s, that both semifinal games went into overtime. Both games went down to the wire, with big bucket after big bucket, and so many lead changes it was hard to tell who would really win at any time.

In women’s basketball’s biggest moment, with it’s most dominant teams playing, it captured the hearts of basketball fans everywhere. Let’s check out how it all went down.

The first game of the night lived up to the hype that any Final Four game should. Mississippi State is now headed to their second straight National Championship game, thanks to 21 points and 25 rebounds from Teaira McCowan. YES, 25 REBOUNDS!

The game got hot at the end of the third quarter when Louisville’s Asia Durr knocked down this nasty three-pointer. The hesitation, the inside-out dribble, the shot. Just incredible.

Then Mississippi State’s Ro Johnson hit this three-pointer from the left corner to force the game into overtime. These are just huge shots down the stretch coming from both teams.

Mississippi State’s Victoria Vivians took over in the extra quarter, scoring the first five points and ending with a game-high 25 points. While Louisville ran out of gas late, Mississippi State kept pushing, willing themselves to victory.

Mississippi State is a team looking for revenge in the national championship game in 2018. Now it was a matter of who would be their opponent. We thought the first game gave us enough to sustain our need for chaos. Then Game 2 happened.

It was known going into the game that Notre Dame had a chance to knock off UConn. It was small, but it was a chance. The Irish are a scrappy team that had already played the Huskies well this season. Notre Dame came out with a stingy defense that gave them a 10-point lead at the end of the first quarter. A ten point lead on UConn? Unheard of. But UConn did their thing, fighting back with a 22-point swing in the second quarter alone.

UConn even led by eight with 6:49 left in the 4th quarter. But with 21 seconds left, Notre Dame miraculously had a five point lead. A lead that disappeared right before everyone’s eyes. That was until UConn’s Napheesa Collier hit a three-pointer followed by a steal and breakaway layup by Kia Nurse. The game was officially bonkers.

In overtime, with both teams hitting big shot after big shot, it was Notre Dame’s Arike Ogunbowale who stole the show, knocking down a game-winner with one second remaining on the clock, giving Notre Dame it’s final lead at 91-89.

If anything, UConn’s dominance has raised the level of the game in ways most don’t recognize. The gap between UConn and the rest of the country is smaller than ever and that is exactly because of their dominance. Their reign over the game has been a fantastic thing. It’s been beautiful to watch. It’s been hard and rare to see them fall. But we’ve seen it twice in a row now, in two of the greatest women’s basketball games of all time.

It’s 2018 and it’s time to start enjoying women’s basketball for everything it is. I’ll see you Sunday night.