In the hours leading into tipoff, Monday night's NCAA men's basketball national championship game, between Virginia and Texas Tech, received about as much love a blister on a big toe. Or a wart. Pundits and the general basketball populace wrote it off as an eyesore. Two of the best defensive teams in the country, sans transcendent stars, and worst off all, the game featured Virginia, the team that plays that plodding pace and grinds you into the ground.