Kevin Ware received hug after hug, Peyton Siva ended his Louisville career a champion, and Rick Pitino became the first coach in Division 1 NCAA men’s basketball history to win a national title at two different schools.

The Cardinals defeated Michigan, 82-76, in a thrilling, up-and-down affair to win their third NCAA title in school history.

Louisville trailed the Wolverines by one at the half but Luke Hancock (22 points) powered the Cardinals to 45 second-half points. Trey Burke led Michigan with 24 points.

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The good news for Louisville’s Kevin Ware is that he should recover from his gruesome injury in last week’s NCAA regional semifinal. Now, he and his teammates just have to worry about putting the disturbing incident behind them.

“That’s just one of those things I’ll never want to see,” Ware told ESPN’s Rece Davis of the video. “Like when you’re a kid and you’ve got that scary movie that you never want to see. That’s just going to be like one of those nightmares I never want to face.”

Ware didn’t initially realize how severe the injury was. In fact, head coach Rick Pitino told reporters he went over to help Ware up thinking it was nothing serious, until he saw the injury. His teammates were also caught off guard, before trainers could cover the leg. They were seen in complete shock on the court afterward.

“Coach kind of gave it away,” Ware said of the severity of the injury. “His eyes got huge.”

Ware suffered a compound fracture of his tibia on a seemingly innocuous play in the first half last Sunday, landing awkwardly and snapping the bone due to how he landed. The doctors told him it was simply a freak injury.

“The full force of me jumping so high and not seeing where I was landing caused the actual break,” Ware said.

ABC News reported he may have had a previous stress fracture which contributed to the break.

Ware, who underwent surgery on Sunday night immediately after the injury to avoid infection, was released from the hospital Tuesday and is looking forward to joining his teammates in Atlanta, nearby his hometown of Conyers, Ga.

“I just want to win at this point,” Ware said. “That would mean so much more to me than anything.”

Louisville faces Wichita State on Saturday night in the Final Four.

Follow Metro New York Sports Editor Mark Osborne on Twitter @MetroNYSports.

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Kevin Ware is walking, one step at a time.

The sophomore guard returned to Louisville’s campus on crutches Tuesday, two days after the world watched Ware break his right leg on national TV. Ware wrote on Facebook that “the first step is always the hardest one to take.”

His teammates are preparing to take on Wichita State Saturday in Atlanta for the Final Four. Coach Rick Pitino said he wants Ware to travel with the team, but an official decision won’t come until Wednesday after Ware’s doctors are consulted.

Ware’s injury was one of the most gruesome in sports history, as his leg completely shattered and caused many of his teammates to cry or throw up. Ware was carted off the court, then told the team to “just go win the game.”

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The injury that Kevin Ware suffered in Sunday’s NCAA regional final between Louisville and Duke was, arguably, the most sickening sight in sports television history.

If you get queasy when watching someone roll an ankle or have a finger popped back into place, do not, I repeat, DO NOT watch this video:

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  View Video

  Louisville’s Kevin Ware breaks leg (gruesome)

If you are an under-the-weather puppy that DOES like to watch this type of stuff, with one eye closed at least, then you will want to compare Ware’s injury with these disgusting breaks:

The gold standard

The video is grainy and it’s tough to tell just how bad he got it, but every sports fan over the age of 40 swears that Joe Theismann breaking his leg against the Giants is the the most gruesome sports injury of all-time. There is breaking your leg and then there is BREAKING your leg like Theismann did that night.

Theismann’s name is so synonymous with this type of injury that his tweet Sunday was agreed to be the most relevant tweet of all: “Watching Duke/ Louisville my heart goes out to Kevin Ware.”

Your knee isn’t supposed to bend like that

The world was watching when University of Miami running back Willis McGahee had his knee bashed in during the 2002 National Championship game. Most in the world wished that ABC never showed the replay 500 times.

Who says wrestling is fake?

WCW was in a ratings war with WWE at the time of this hideous leg injury. Things were so ridiculous at the time that many thought that the injury was just a ploy by WCW to grab more viewers. Nope. It was all too real for Psycho Sid that night.

The post Kevin Ware leg injury was disgusting – you sick puppies will like these too appeared first on Metro.us.

The NCAA men’s basketball tournament field of 68 was announced Sunday and, for once, much of the snub controversy seemed subdued.

The four No. 1 seeds are Louisville (29-5), Kansas (29-5), Gonzaga (31-2) and Indiana (27-6). The Cardinals are the top overall seed and landed in the Midwest region (Indianapolis), meaning they get to play the first few rounds in their own backyard. No. 4 Saint Louis (27-6, champions of Atlantic-10), and No. 3 Michigan State (25-8), appear to pose the biggest challenge to Louisville making a return trip to the Final Four.

The top opening game during the tourney’s first two days could very well be No. 8 Colorado State vs. No. 9 Missouri, two teams that dominate on the glass. Higher seeds on upset alert should be No. 5 Oklahoma State, which faces No. 12 Oregon (who won the Pac-12 tournament) and No. 7 Creighton, which opposes No. 10 Cincinnati. Creighton junior forward Doug McDermott (23.1 ppg, 7.5 rebs) might be the best player in the country and could have landed the Wooden Award if his team didn’t have a tailspin late in the regular season.

Gonzaga has a nice path to the Sweet 16 in the West region (Los Angeles), starting in Salt Lake City, although a matchup with No. 5 Wisconsin looms and the Badgers are always a tough out. No. 2 Ohio State and No. 3 New Mexico also appear on a collision course.

Once again, an 8-9 game provides a great matchup with Pittsburgh taking on Wichita State – two under-the-radar but very solid teams. No. 10 Iowa State has a great chance to beat No. 7 Notre Dame and maybe this is the year that No. 11 Belmont finally gets a win (they’ll meet No. 6 Arizona).

The Jayhawks were rewarded with arguably the toughest region (South), in terms of the other high seeds. Kansas begins in Kansas City and No. 2 Georgetown, No. 3 Florida, No. 4 Michigan and even No. 5 VCU all have the capability to reach the Final Four.
Michigan vs. South Dakota State should be highly entertaining as Big Blue sophomore guard Trey Burke (19.2 ppg, 6.7 asts), the likely Wooden Award winner, takes on senior guard Nate Wolters (22.7 ppg, 5.8 asts, 5.6 rebs).

The Hoosiers looked like the top team for much of the season but they kept losing whenever they were ranked No. 1. They are in the East region (Washington D.C.) and will start things off in Dayton. Other than No. 2 Miami, which had a legitimate case for a No. 1 seed, the rest of the East looks pretty weak. It is definitely Indiana’s to lose but there could be plenty of juicy upsets. No. 11 Bucknell meets No. 6 Butler, No. 14 Davidson could scare No. 3 Marquette and No. 10 Colorado is basically a pick ’em against No. 7 Illinois.

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