Bill Murray has had an incredible year of sports — from his minor league team clinching its first playoff berth in over a decade in June to the Cubs winning the World Series in November to Xavier’s March Madness run to the Elite Eight.
“The power of Bill Murray,” as NBA star Dwyane Wade called it, was magical.
On Saturday, it came to an end as No. 11 Xavier, where Murray’s son is an assistant coach, was knocked out of the NCAA tournament by No. 1 Gonzaga.
However, Murray and the Musketeers shouldn’t be too upset right now, though I think Murray knows that (Murray was seen applauding Xavier all the way to the end and hanging around after the 83-59 loss). The reason they shouldn’t be too upset is they were the best Cinderella story of the tournament.
Xavier was the only double-digit seed to make it this far this year, and to get here, the Musketeers took down No. 6 Maryland in the first round, No. 3 Florida State in the second round and No. 2 Arizona in the Sweet 16.
So even though Murray’s magical sports year is over, it at least ended on somewhat of a high note. Xavier wasn’t able to make its first Final Four, but the team fought to its first Elite Eight since 2008.
But at the end of the day, does Bill Murray ever really lose?