MADNESS ENDS

March Madness is nearly over. The overwhelming and incessant displays of basketball will conclude on Tuesday night, when the NCAA’s women’s tournament wraps up what’s left of the hysteria.

Welcome to the weekend of the Final Four, both men’s and women’s.

Kentucky, the runner-up on the men’s side last year, is 38-0 and the favorite to win it all. The Wildcats play Wisconsin (35-3) in the nightcap of Saturday’s doubleheader in Indianapolis. Interloper Michigan State (27-11), the only team in either the men’s or women’s quartets that was not a No. 1 seed, meets Duke (33-4) in the early game.

Seven teams have won the men’s NCAA title with a perfect record, but none since Indiana in 1976 with a 32-0 mark. Give Kentucky credit for enduring a seemingly endless pursuit of greatness. When the University of San Francisco won the 1956 title, it went 29-0. UCLA won four times with perfect marks of 30-0 in the 1970s. Kentucky must make it to 40-0.

On the women’s side, Connecticut seeks an unprecedented 10^th national title and its third in a row. The Huskies (36-1) take on Maryland (34-2) in Sunday’s late game in Tampa. Notre Dame (35-2) plays South Carolina (34-2) in the early game.

The men’s championship game is Monday night. The women’s is Tuesday. Then, and only then, will the madness subside.
 
 
Post By: Larry Weisman, a longtime sportswriter for USA TODAY, blogs for Twistity.com. Follow him on Twitter @MrLarryWeisman .