The Bears cut down the nets in Indianapolis

March Madness is over (the crowd boos) and the Baylor Bears have been crowned National Champions for the first time in their history (the crowd gives a raucoused applause for the Bears’ excellent season).

The Bears dominated the Gonzaga Bulldogs from wire to wire in Monday’s matchup of the tournament’s top two overall seeds. Baylor’s suffocating defense kept Gonzaga’s historically efficient offense at bay, ending Zags hopes at an undefeated season.

The game was seemingly over within the game’s opening minutes. The Bears’ 9-0 run to start the game essentially put the game away. Baylor was that much better on Monday night. The final 30 minutes of the game felt like a formality as the Bears proved they were clearly the nation’s top team.

The Bulldogs came into Monday’s game averaging a staggering 91 points a game on the season. The Bears held the Zags to just 70, far and away their lowest output of the year.

The Bears were just as good on the offensive side of the ball in their 86-70 victory. After leading the country in a three-point percentage on the season at 40%, the Bears even better on Monday going 10-22 from beyond the arc.

Gonzaga’s season ends, once again, in a disappointing fashion. Remember when Stefon Diggs walked off the Saints in the playoffs three years ago and the media spent a week talking about the Vikings just for them to get their doors blown off by the Eagles in the NFC Championship game? Well, same story different day here with the Zags. After Jalen Suggs’ game-winning buzzer-beater capped off one of college basketball’s all-time great Saturday, Monday was supposed to be Gonzaga’s coronation into basketball immortality.

Now Bulldogs fans are left wondering when, or if their one shining moment is ever going to come.

For Baylor, they finally get the respect that has been coming their way for the last two seasons. the Bears are 54-6 in their last 60 contests. With the blue bloods of the college basketball constantly demanding all the headlines, Baylor’s quiet dominance over the college basketball world somehow slipped through the cracks.

We should have absolutely seen this coming. With how Scott Drew’s teams have performed in recent history it should not have been if, but when Baylor was going to finally break through and cut down the nets.

For now, we are all forced to toss our busted brackets in the garbage until next year rolls around and we once more convince ourselves we are the smartest one in the room while filling out a new one. And hopefully, by this time next year, we’ll be able to watch our bracket fall apart in person, amongst thousands of other screaming fans in the seats around us.