The 2014 March Madness fever has officially ended in the first week in April with the seventh-seed UConn Huskies bringing home the National Championship Trophy in a 60 to 54 victory over Kentucky.

The teams played before a record breaking crowd of 72,239 at the AT&T & Center in Arlington, Texas.

The Final Four’s Most Outstanding Player went to UConn’s Shabazz Napier who scored 22 points, teammate Ryan Boatright added 14. UConn’s defense was tight holding the Kentucky Wildcat’s roster to 39.1 percent shooting.

Kentucky which never led also went 13-for-24 from the foul line, while UConn was a perfect 10-for-10. It was quite evident from the start that UConn wanted a victory even though the game was a nail-bitter at times. The Huskies came to win and even though a couple of times the two contenders were within one point of one another.

UConn jumped out to a 19-10 start paced by eight early points from Boatright. The Huskies upped their lead to as much as 15 following a pair of Niels Giffey’s free throws with less than six minutes left in the first half, putting the score at 30 -15.

But with Boatright and DeAndre Daniels on the bench with two fouls each, Kentucky closed out the half on a 16-5 run. UConn went into the break with a 35-31 lead, led by 15 points from Napier. The Wildcats pulled to within a point when Aaron Harrison started the second half with a 3-pointer. Even with that, the Wildcats would never take the lead.

The second half continued with more magic when Napier hit a 3-pointer for an 8-0 Kentucky run. Julius Randle scored on a drive then Niels Giffey put up a 3-pointer. More buckets from the Huskies had the Wildcats behind by 15 shots.

Late in the game Kentucky managed to keep the March madness excitement alive when they got within four points (58-54), based on a layup by James Young with as little as 60 seconds left. But a couple of free throws from Lasan Kromah sealed the championship for UConn.

All of this sportsmanship is what March Madness is all about; the bracket buster and basketball fever, excitement. “March Madness” started in Illinois. The Illinois High School Association grew from a small invitational affair in 1908 to a statewide institution with over 900 schools competing by the late 1930’s. A field of teams known as the “Sweet Sixteen” routinely drew sellout crowds to the University of Illinois.

The Assistant Executive Secretary of the Illinois High School Association, Henry V. Porter, was so impressed by the phenomenon that he wrote an essay to commemorate it. Entitled “March Madness to describe the excitement surrounding the tournaments,” it first appeared in the Illinois Interscholastic, the IHSA’s magazine, in 1939. The term struck a chord with newspapermen, who used it throughout their pages. During the tournament’s “Golden Era” of the 1940’s and 1950’s, “March Madness” became the popular name of the event.

So when we see two middle seeds like UConn and Kentucky taking down top seeds like the Florida Gators and Wisconsin Badgers to make it to the National Championship game just know this is what makes March madness so special. Any team on any given day has a chance to make it all the way to the national championship from the SWAC to the PAC 12, to the Big Ten, Big 12 and Big East, etc. So until, next year congratulations to UConn!