Even the casual fan knows that an NCAA basketball tournament doesn’t officially end until the “One Shining Moment” montage is unveiled.

On that note, the 2013 tourney officially comes to the end with this…

No. 1 overall seed Louisville completed a dominant run in the 2013 NCAA Tournament by pulling away from Michigan in the national championship game.

With the 82-76 win, Louisville earned its third national basketball championship and Rick Pitino, who will be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame later this year, becomes the first head coach to win a championship with two different programs 17 years after his title at Kentucky.

With 664 wins, two titles and an NBA stint under his belt, Pitino has pretty much seen it all on a basketball court. Heck, just the other week he witnessed a snapped tibia protruding through one of his player’s leg, so it’s pretty safe to assume that not much phases the man.

Unannounced celebratory fireworks, though, now those are scary…

courtesy of @NotBillWalton

For a minute there Rick Pitino thought he had been set up like the Joe Pesci character in “Goodfellas.”

— Frank Isola (@FisolaNYDN) April 9, 2013

Michigan got off to a great start behind the phenomenal shooting of Spike Albrecht, but Louisville quickly erased a 10-point first half deficit with some hot shooting from Luke Hancock and went into the half down just one after what was likely the run that changed the game.

Hancock, who lifted Louisville over Wichita State in the Final Four on Saturday, came up huge again in a game where the usual suspects were nowhere to be found for large stretches of the night. The junior swingman finished with an incredible 22 points on just six field goal attempts two days after dropping 20 on the Shockers to take home the Most Outstanding Player award for the Final Four.

Luke Hancock’s five 3-pointers are the most by anyone without a miss in a national championship game.

— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) April 9, 2013

Peyton Siva may not have shot the ball nearly as well as Hancock did, but the point guard was a major factor for the Cardinals on both ends of the floor, finishing with 18 points, six rebounds, five assists and four steals while being cheered on by the most enthusiastic parent of the tournament…

courtesy of SB Nation

For Michigan, there’s no shame in defeat. The Wolverines entered the tournament as the youngest team in the 68-team field and gave the Cardinals all they could handle in the championship game with the Fab Five in attendance (though Chris Webber didn’t sit with the other four). In addition, Trey Burke finished the season with a Wooden Award and Naismith Award to his name and Mitch McGary made a name for himself as a potential NBA prospect.

Thoughts of what might have been had Burke not been limited to just 26 minutes in the championship game because of foul trouble will surely haunt Michigan and its fans for years, however, especially when the fourth foul was clearly not a foul…

That play was a fitting end to the tournament for NCAA officials who seriously dropped the ball over the last few weeks.

Anyway, back to the champs.

In a season that was defined by parity and the lack of a clear cut No. 1 team, Louisville turned the script upside down in the tournament, cruising into the Final Four virtually untouched before erasing double-digit deficits against both Wichita State and Michigan once there.

In the end, Pitino’s Cardinals ensured that the lasting image of the 2013 tourney would not be of Kevin Ware writhing on the floor in pain, but rather of Ware on crutches, cutting down a net that had been lowered for him.

One shining moment, indeed.

courtesy of @Jose3030

You know it’s going to be a thunderous finish when even Gorgui Dieng decides to let it go without attempting a block.

Florida Gulf Coast may have a rival for alley-oop of the tournament, and it comes from Louisville on the last night of the tourney…

After Michigan jumped out to a 31-21 lead on the back of some ridiculous shooting from Spike Albrecht, Louisville quickly got back in the game with some equally impressive marksmanship from Luke Hancock.

The Cardinals then finally took the lead when Peyton Siva stole the ball and threw this pass up for Montrezl Harrell, who finished the play with an absolutely thunderous jam.

courtesy of @BuzzFeedSports

68 teams have been whittled down to two, and tonight, Louisville takes on Michigan for the right to be called 2013 NCAA men’s basketball champions.

No. 1 Louisville (Midwest Region) vs. No. 4 Michigan (South Region)

Start time: 9:23 p.m. et

Broadcast team: Jim Nantz, Clark Kellogg, Steve Kerr and Tracy Wolfson

The Matchup

Michigan’s offence vs. Louisville’s defence: In terms of team strengths, it’s tough to ask for a better matchup. Michigan takes the third-most efficient offence in the country (1.13 points per possession) and an offence that was tested against Syracuse’s vaunted 2-3 zone into the championship game, while Louisville boasts the third-ranked defence in terms of defensive efficiency (0.847 points allowed per possession). The Wolverines take care of the ball better than any other team in the nation, committing just 9.4 turnovers per game (they turned it over 10 times against Syracuse) while the Cardinals force the second most opponent turnovers per game at 18.4. Any way you look at it, this is a perfect matchup.

Having said all of that, I’m a firm believer in great defence overcoming a great offence and the general rule that defence wins championships, and on that note, I’ll take Louisville tonight.

(All stats courtesy of teamrankings.com)

Player of the year vs. player of the tournament: Michigan’s Trey Burke took home the Wooden Award and the Naismith Award as the NCAA player of the year for 2012-13, but there’s little debate that Louisville’s Russ Smith has been the player of the 2013 tournament so far, averaging 25 points per game on 50 per cent shooting through five games. If Smith goes for 20 points or more tonight, he’ll become just the fifth player in tournament history to score 20 or more in all six games of one tournament.

While Smith and Burke enjoy most of the hype, don’t sleep on Wolverines freshman big man Mitch McGary, who can stake his own claim to player of the tournament with a big game tonight.

Kevin Ware watch: Whether you want to or not, if the Final Four was any indication, be prepared to see and hear a lot about Kevin Ware tonight. The camera will frequently find itself on Ware sitting on the sidelines, the commentators are sure to discuss both the impact of Ware’s absence and the emotional lift of having him on the bench multiple times throughout the broadcast, and at the very end, win or lose, we’ll probably see a touching moment between an emotional Ware and a family member.

Don’t blame Ware for the overplay though. He deserves better after handling one of the most gruesome injuries in sports history like a champion.

Pitino chasing history: Rick Pitino is going to be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame this year, but he can add another chapter to his story of greatness with a Louisville win tonight as the only coach to win a national championship with two difference programs. On that note, make sure you check out some of the best Pitino has to offer before the game tips off.

Image via totalprosports.com

It’s championship night, things are tense, we could all use a laugh, Rick Pitino is going to be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame and he’s a dead ringer for Al Pacino.

On that note…

Now for some real Pitino to get you fired up…

Russ Smith has been the player of the tournament so far, and you can probably credit Pitino with getting Smith to wake the **** up earlier in March…

You’re welcome.

Syracuse’s vaunted zone defence held Michigan below 40 per cent shooting, but the Wolverines found a way to control the game and hold off a furious Orange rally down the stretch to advance to the championship game.

Behind another solid performance from breakout freshman star Mitch McGary (10 points, 12 rebounds, six assists), Michigan was able to hold off a Syracuse team that just couldn’t find a way to score with Michael Carter-Williams and Brandon Triche fouling out late. Carter-Williams especially was disappointing for the Orange, as the player of the tournament for Syracuse up to this point finished with just two points on 1-of-6 shooting, failing to really leave his mark in the national semifinals.

Michigan’s star struggled just as much, with Trey Burke going 1-of-8 from the field, but guys like McGary, Tim Hardaway Jr. and Glenn Robinson III picked him up with 33 points between the three of them.

C.J. Fair had 22 points and seven rebounds for Syracuse, who looked to have a chance at stealing the game until Jordan Morgan slid in to take a controversial charge, resulting in Triche fouling out with Syracuse down two and just 19 seconds remaining. Fittingly enough, it was Morgan who sealed the Michigan win with a dunk in the dying seconds that made it a two possession game.

On the surface, a No. 4 seed that happens to be a traditional power program making the championship game isn’t all that shocking, but considering that this Michigan squad entered the tournament as the youngest team in the 68-team field, it is quite the magical run they’ve embarked on.

From the suffocating zone defence of Syracuse, the young Wolverines now move on to the swarming, turnover forcing defence of Louisville in Monday night’s championship game.

Wichita State hung tough in the first half and actually started to pull away at the start of the second half, but Louisville’s incredible defence looked the part to close out the game and the Cardinals are off to the NCAA championship game after a 72-68 win.

The Shockers packed the paint and turned the Cardinals into a jump shooting team, which worked magically for the first 27 minutes as Wichita State took a 47-35 lead with about 13 minutes remaining. From there, Louisville took the game over on the backs of their suffocating defence and was able to get out and run on account of forcing turnovers.

It also helped that Gorgui Dieng was doing this…

courtesy of @BuzzFeedSports

Despite that late Louisville domination, the Shockers actually had a chance late in the game (down three) after a missed Luke Hancock free throw, but Ron Baker got tied up with Hancock after the defensive rebound and a jump-ball was called. The Cardinals had the possession arrow, and after an intentional foul from Wichita State, they also got the chance to make it a two possession game at the free throw line. The quick whistle for a jump ball and the entire idea of a possession arrow quickly came under fire following the play…

The jump ball call was bad…the alternate possession rule is worse.

— David Aldridge (@daldridgetnt) April 7, 2013

What’s worse – that last jumpball call, or the possession arrow in general?

— Bill Simmons (@BillSimmons) April 7, 2013

What a joke but again we re dealing with college refs. What a joke

— chuck swirsky (@swirsk054) April 7, 2013

While the play in question will be talked about for a while, Hancock ‘s game and the performance of the Louisville bench in general should not be forgotten. Hancock finished with 20 points, four rebounds, two assists and two steals to lead a Cardinals’ second unit that outscored Wichita State’s bench 34-9, spoiling Cleanthony Early’s 24-point, 10-rebound performance for the Shockers.

After the game, Kevin Ware, who was sitting on the Louisville bench all night, shared this touching moment with his dad…

courtesy @BuzzFeedSports

If you’ve watched Wichita State at all in this tournament, it should come as no surprise that the Shockers are hanging tough with No. 1 overall seed Louisville in the first Final Four game.

Wichita State jumped out to a quick 8-0 lead (which was actually Louisville’s biggest deficit of the tourney so far) and kept the pressure coming throughout the first half, as evidenced by this thunderous Cleanthony Early dunk…

courtesy of @BuzzFeedSports

Between him actually being the one to calm his teammates down after his horrific injury and his upbeat personality in the days following, Kevin Ware has already become somewhat of an inspiring figure regardless of how swiftly or successfully he gets back on an NCAA basketball court.

As if that inspiration hadn’t already endeared the sophomore Louisville guard to fans and casual observers, here’s Ware helping people find the humour in his misfortune on the Late Show with David Letterman:

Ware’s facial expression as Letterman described the snapped tibia protruding through the leg was priceless, as was his assertion that “I could play ball tomorrow if I really wanted to.”

Hey, at least his bracket’s not busted.