The 2011 March Madness betting online tournament finished up earlier this week, and to some it finished the way it started. Recall the sports betting college playoff tourney started out with Clemson simply destroying UAB a team that should not have been included in the tournament. Fast forward to this week’s final game, and many would argue, Connecticut should have never faced Butler. Here is a recap of the March Madness tournament.

This year was the first in which the NCAA used a 68 instead of a 65 team format, in order to expand. Essentially, the idea was to put the argument that good teams can’t qualify for the tournament to rest, by creating a first four round, in which eight bubble teams would battle it out for four spots. In theory, a team from the first four round should be able to make it far in the tournament, because they had the extra game in hand. However, historically, teams to qualify through the bubble round usually got eliminated in the first round of actual tournament play.

Enter the VCU Rams, who played USC in their first four round game, and emerged as a feel good story by tournament’s end, when they bowed out to the Butler Bulldogs in the final four. VCU led by Head Coach Shaka Smart, allowed the NCAA to use them as an example, of team’s that deserve to get into the tournament, even if it is on the bubble. What’s more, as VCU progressed from round to round, they weren’t just winning against top teams, they were literally blowing them out.

On the other hand, we felt a lot of our peers were anti the championship game, because it was the first time no top or second seed in a region qualified. Instead, we saw two teams in Connecticut and Butler that really weren’t the best teams, but the most opportune teams. This year’s final went down as the lost scoring game in tournament history, not because of good sound defense, but because both teams flat out couldn’t make a basket for stretches.