Are you serious?!
To my readers: I apologize for the far past due post. I've been out of town, but I have not taken my eye off of what I consider to be the greatest NCAA Tournament of all time.
Have you ever seen a collection of such exciting games on consecutive nights? I sure haven't. Show me the bracket with LSU, UCLA, Florida and George Mason (!!!) in the Final Four, and I'll take you to Indianapolis myself. Holy Patriot!
This tournament has had it all. My top five favorite moments:
(Well, six. I had to throw this one in there. Coming back from Tampa last Friday, my buds and I stopped in Atlanta to watch the 'Nova/BC game in a bar. One minute into OT, we look up and see none other than Glen "Big Baby" Davis, LSU's 315-pound center and SEC Player of the Year. He's a big man. And he wasn't even paying attention to the game.)
5. Boston College's Craig Smith -- a mediocre free throw shooter at best -- hit two free throws with his team down two to Pacific in the first round, and the four-seed Eagles went on to win in double OT.
4. Winthrop's scare of Tennessee in the first round had us all on the edge of our seats. It took a Kobe/T-Mac-like fadeaway on the baseline by Volunteer Chris Lofton to propel UT to the second round. What a shot.
3. This shot may have been even more impressive, though. Down by two, Northwestern St. guard Jermaine Wallace rebounded his teammate's miss with four seconds left, dribbled toward the 3-point line, stepped back, and with an outstretched hand directly in his face, nailed a fadeaway triple from the true corner to lift the Demons over three-seed Iowa in the first round, capping a furious rally.
2. I had never seen Tyrus Thomas play, nor had I heard his name. After his performance against Duke in the third round, he made sure I'd remember it for a long time, and I think a few NBA scouts noticed, too. Thomas had five blocks -- most of them against Dukie banger Shelden "the Landlord" Williams -- and some rabidly emphatic dunks to help the Tigers advance. Then, against Texas in the Atlanta regional final, he had three consecutive alley-oop dunks in the first half to help LSU build a lead it would relinquish, but rebuild again in OT en route to its first Final Four since 1986.
1. George Mason is headed to Indy, after a fantastic win over Connecticut in the Washington, D.C. regional final. Two comebacks occurred. First, the Patriots trailed by nine at the half, but they kept their poise and managed to pick away at the Huskies' lead throughout the second half. Then, it was UConn's turn to rally. With less than a minute to go, Marcus Williams got into the lane and made an off-balance runner, count it and the foul, to bring the Huskies within one. GM then made a FT, then missed one, setting up Denham Brown's last second bucket -- a reverse on the baseline where the ball defied gravity and remained on the rim, eventually falling in to force overtime -- and the Huskies were still breathing. Their faces were the definition of fatigue, disbelief, and dejection, though. Through three rounds, they had had to come from behind and make the clutch plays in the waning moments. It wasn't meant to be a fourth time. GM had a bit more savvy in the extra period, scoring calmly inside and making free throws, until the very end when one last free throw miss carromed off, and Denham Brown had the chance to be the hero one last time. His 3-point shot bounced off the rim and fell to the ground, though, and the Patriots were dancing to the Final Four for the first time. Connecticut's well had run dry. As the one-seed, too many close games tired them out. Had they been blowing out their opponents, they would have had a bit of gas left in the tank for this thriller.
Have you ever seen a collection of such exciting games on consecutive nights? I sure haven't. Show me the bracket with LSU, UCLA, Florida and George Mason (!!!) in the Final Four, and I'll take you to Indianapolis myself. Holy Patriot!
This tournament has had it all. My top five favorite moments:
(Well, six. I had to throw this one in there. Coming back from Tampa last Friday, my buds and I stopped in Atlanta to watch the 'Nova/BC game in a bar. One minute into OT, we look up and see none other than Glen "Big Baby" Davis, LSU's 315-pound center and SEC Player of the Year. He's a big man. And he wasn't even paying attention to the game.)
5. Boston College's Craig Smith -- a mediocre free throw shooter at best -- hit two free throws with his team down two to Pacific in the first round, and the four-seed Eagles went on to win in double OT.
4. Winthrop's scare of Tennessee in the first round had us all on the edge of our seats. It took a Kobe/T-Mac-like fadeaway on the baseline by Volunteer Chris Lofton to propel UT to the second round. What a shot.
3. This shot may have been even more impressive, though. Down by two, Northwestern St. guard Jermaine Wallace rebounded his teammate's miss with four seconds left, dribbled toward the 3-point line, stepped back, and with an outstretched hand directly in his face, nailed a fadeaway triple from the true corner to lift the Demons over three-seed Iowa in the first round, capping a furious rally.
2. I had never seen Tyrus Thomas play, nor had I heard his name. After his performance against Duke in the third round, he made sure I'd remember it for a long time, and I think a few NBA scouts noticed, too. Thomas had five blocks -- most of them against Dukie banger Shelden "the Landlord" Williams -- and some rabidly emphatic dunks to help the Tigers advance. Then, against Texas in the Atlanta regional final, he had three consecutive alley-oop dunks in the first half to help LSU build a lead it would relinquish, but rebuild again in OT en route to its first Final Four since 1986.
1. George Mason is headed to Indy, after a fantastic win over Connecticut in the Washington, D.C. regional final. Two comebacks occurred. First, the Patriots trailed by nine at the half, but they kept their poise and managed to pick away at the Huskies' lead throughout the second half. Then, it was UConn's turn to rally. With less than a minute to go, Marcus Williams got into the lane and made an off-balance runner, count it and the foul, to bring the Huskies within one. GM then made a FT, then missed one, setting up Denham Brown's last second bucket -- a reverse on the baseline where the ball defied gravity and remained on the rim, eventually falling in to force overtime -- and the Huskies were still breathing. Their faces were the definition of fatigue, disbelief, and dejection, though. Through three rounds, they had had to come from behind and make the clutch plays in the waning moments. It wasn't meant to be a fourth time. GM had a bit more savvy in the extra period, scoring calmly inside and making free throws, until the very end when one last free throw miss carromed off, and Denham Brown had the chance to be the hero one last time. His 3-point shot bounced off the rim and fell to the ground, though, and the Patriots were dancing to the Final Four for the first time. Connecticut's well had run dry. As the one-seed, too many close games tired them out. Had they been blowing out their opponents, they would have had a bit of gas left in the tank for this thriller.
posted by RGarfield @ 12:57 PM
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