The annual extravaganza known as March Madness, or the NCAA Basketball Tournament is over. It’s always a fun event although I must admit I found that watching games between teams I didn’t care anything about was boring. BUT, there is always excellence, and excellence should be honored.

There were the usual surprises. My school, Clemson, actually won three games – a shocker! Kentucky, a perennial contender, 3-seed this year, got bumped in the first round by Oakland University (who?), a 14-seed. Turns out they had a graduate student, Jack Gohlke, who could shoot 3-pointers. They almost won their second game which went into overtime before NC State finally prevailed. NC State ended up going to the Final Four.

That’s what makes the tournament fun: teams and players you’ve never heard of and may never hear of again have their moment in the sun. Speaking of, one fun highlight reel was Audie Crooks, the freshman center for the Iowa State Women, 6′ 3″ tall but twice as wide as anyone on the court poured in 40 points to lead a come-from-behind effort against Maryland. She’s won three state titles in…wait for it…shot put.

And while we’re on the women’s game, all eyes were on Caitlin Clark of the University of Iowa who broke all scoring records this year. To get to the Final Four, Iowa had to beat LSU, who beat them in last year’s championship game. Jason Gay of the Wall Street Journal wrote a beautiful summary of that game. Here are a few snippets:

If you left me alone in a well-lit gym for the next 800 years, I could not do what Caitlin Clark did Monday night [April 1] versus LSU.

Sure, I could probably score a few points, dribbling around by myself. I could hit a few layups, maybe nail a jumper or two, throw up a 3-pointer and have it plummet like a dead goose through the net. I’ve been getting into shape—I’m confident I could run up and down the court at least four times before I stopped to call a doctor and a priest.

But to pull off what Clark pulled off, in the Elite Eight round of the NCAA women’s tournament, amid absurd hype and crushing expectations, against a fired-up rival and defending champion, the abrupt end of her historic, record-setting college career looming? 

…She’s bent the boundaries and angles of women’s basketball, with her extreme shooting and peerless vision. She takes five shots a game that would get mortals benched for the rest of the season, and hits at least three.

…I worship the passes—the full-court transition bombs; the crisp bouncers to a cutter running at the basket; the no-look, over-the-shoulder darts…

Let’s review the numbers versus LSU: 40 minutes (she played every minute), 41 points, 12 assists, 7 rebounds, one block and 9 of 20 from the 3-point line and beyond. – Jason Gay, Wall Street Journal, April 2, 2024

Here are Caitlin Clark’s highlights from that game, worth the four minutes if you admire artistry. (She’s #22 in white.)

They got by UConn in the Final Four and lost the championship game, this year, to the best team in basketball, the University of South Carolina. It’s said that South Carolina’s second string is better than most team’s starters. Carolina finished the season 38 – 0. After the game, coach Dawn Staley had special words of praise for Caitlin Clark and appreciation for “lifting up our sport.”

Caitlin exited the arena, head high, smiling, flashing the heart sign to her fans.

On the men’s side, UConn took on Purdue, where both teams have centers over 7 feet tall. Purdue’s Zach Edey was college men’s player of the year, and he scored a game-high 37 points. But Purdue lost 75 – 60, just as Iowa lost with Caitlin Clark, women’s player of the year being the game’s leading scorer. Proving, once again, that great teams often beat teams with great players.

Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ…standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel. (Philippians 1.27, ESV)

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified. (1 Corinthians 9.24 – 27, ESV)

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12.1, 2, ESV)

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. (2 Timothy 4.7, ESV)