Villanova finishes the job again

On Monday night Villanova beat Michigan by 15 points to win their second national basketball championship in the past three years. This is quite impressive because of the fact that they have had no players do the "One and done" and play for just one year before going straight to the NBA. This is unlike other teams; including Duke, North Carolina and Michigan State, just to name a few.

Once the tournament started, Nova was clearly the best overall team. They won all their games by more than 10 points. In the championship game, the star player was actually from Delaware. His name is Donte DiVincenzo, who scored a career and NCAA tournament record high 31 points coming off the bench. The overall tournament was very exciting, especially the story of Loyola-Chicago. They played great and actually had a legitimate chance to advance to the championship game.

I have to start taking the Philadelphia 76ers seriously now, as they have won 12 straight games and are now tied with the Cleveland Cavaliers for the third seed in the Eastern Conference. Rookie Ben Simmons has taken over the team, and has started to dominate the entire NBA. I don't expect the Sixers to win the NBA finals this year, but if they continue playing this well into the playoffs, they should be able to make a lot of noise.

The Phillies don't deserve much mention this week, because they're really struggling at the start of the season. We can hash that mess out in a few weeks and hope for some improvement.

For The Masters in Augusta, the golf course is playing very difficult for everyone except one player. Jordan Spieth, the current leader, is at six under par after the first round. There are several others who are at four under or three under par. Tiger Woods is one over par and has to get moving to have any chance.

Last years winner, Sergio Garcia, fell apart and took a 13 on the 15th hole and finished with an 81. Maybe he will have to wait for next year. Regardless of who wins, the finish of The Masters is always exciting, partly because the course is so beautiful and challenging, especially the back nine holes. That is a place I would like to go to someday.

I would also like to say congratulations to all of the Drive, Chip and Putt participants at Augusta last weekend. I am so glad they televise this event. It is a lot of fun to watch. My neighbor, Sawyer Brockstedt, finished tied for fourth in her age group. That is an amazing accomplishment! I expect to see her on the circuit in the years ahead.