What an afternoon in Tampa.
First, there was an instant classic overtime duel between Drake and West Kentucky. And then there was another instant classic between Sad Diego and UConn.
It didn’t look that was early on, though. San Diego looked to pull away in the first and led by as many as 10 in the second half. But UConn battled back, tying the game with about 8 to play. But that was about it. They could close the gap, but never overcome it and had to rally back from a four-point deficit with under a minute left. Holding the ball with the shot clock off at the end of the second, they went for a quick basket, giving the San Deigo Toreros a chance to tie the game (which they did).
And again in overtime they found themselves down and had to rally. And, yet again, they couldn’t seal the deal. Called for a goaltending call and letting the Toreros hit a long two, they found themselves down by four before they hit a shot in overtime.
Enter De’Jon Jackson’s late-game heroics. He hit a late – and long, from just inside the arc - shot with only 1.2 ticks left, giving San Deigo a 70-69 lead. But if not for Brandon Johnson’s heroics – 18 points, four of them from beyond the arc – it might not have been that close.
So, like the game immediately before it, it was a classic right to the final buzzer. Oddly, one major difference between the two games was where each final basket was scored: at opposite ends of the court.
I guess that means fans at both ends get to enjoy clutch shooting.
But for interesting games, that was about it. Butler and Texas A&M each won by 20, while Georgetown won by 19.
For the Hoyas, both Roy Hibbert and Patrick Ewing Jr had good games, scoring 13 and 10 while grabbing seven and six rebounds, respectively. All in all, four Hoyas scored in double digits, while Darryl Proctor and Brian Hodges did the bulk of scoring for Maryland-Baltimore.
Against Austin Peay, the Longhorns of Texas tore it up offensively, scoring 74 and grabbing 44 rebounds and led the entire game. Leading them in scoring, with 26, was AJ Abrams while both Damion James and Dexter Pittman had double-doubles.
Rounding out the second set was Butler’s rout of South Alabama. Despite keeping the score close in the first half, the Bulldogs pulled away late in that half and never looked back. And although Pete Campbell scored 26 and grabbed 5 rebounds, it was Matt Howard’s reverse layup early in the second half that will be remembered, effectively putting an exclamation point on their win.
Like all day, recaps of the other games will be coming along shortly.
Friday, March 21, 2008
March Madness running blog two
It takes all kinds to win the NCAAs. There’s teams that win on skill, that win on luck, that win with calls. In a best-of-one, it’s not always the best team that wins.
So sometimes you can win on individual performance. You can ride a shooter’s hot streak all the way to the Sweet 16, if you’re lucky enough.
That’s what Davidson did against Gonzaga – they rode the hot shooting of Stephen Curry, who netted 30 of his 40 points in the second half, including a clutch 3-point trey and a solid performance from the line.
In game where both teams traded blows like prizefighters and neither team managed to take much of a lead, it was Gonzaga that blinked first, missing shots all throughout the second half.
But even a classic shooting performance wasn’t the lightlight of the first round of games on Friday. No, it was a roller coaster of a game between Drake and West Kentucky that gets that honor.
Despite being down by as much as 15 in the second half, Drake didn’t just claw their way to overtime, they forced it by capitalizing on 22 turnovers. Tying the game with 30 seconds left in regulation, they forced a turnover and took the last shot of the half. They too rode a hot shooter in Jonathan Cox, who scored 17 points in the last 10 minutes of regulation.
But that wasn’t enough. WKY won the game on a three-pointer at the buzzer. Sometimes that’s all it comes down to.
Elsewhere, American, the winners of the Patriot League tournament, tested Tennessee, the number two team in the East quarter. The Eagles kept it close all through the first half, and cut Tennesse’s lead to one with about six minutes to play, but the Volunteers pulled away late, as the Eagles kept going to long shots, hoping to tie the game or take the lead, not to chip away at Tennessee. It didn’t pay off.
More to come later on the second set of games.
So sometimes you can win on individual performance. You can ride a shooter’s hot streak all the way to the Sweet 16, if you’re lucky enough.
That’s what Davidson did against Gonzaga – they rode the hot shooting of Stephen Curry, who netted 30 of his 40 points in the second half, including a clutch 3-point trey and a solid performance from the line.
In game where both teams traded blows like prizefighters and neither team managed to take much of a lead, it was Gonzaga that blinked first, missing shots all throughout the second half.
But even a classic shooting performance wasn’t the lightlight of the first round of games on Friday. No, it was a roller coaster of a game between Drake and West Kentucky that gets that honor.
Despite being down by as much as 15 in the second half, Drake didn’t just claw their way to overtime, they forced it by capitalizing on 22 turnovers. Tying the game with 30 seconds left in regulation, they forced a turnover and took the last shot of the half. They too rode a hot shooter in Jonathan Cox, who scored 17 points in the last 10 minutes of regulation.
But that wasn’t enough. WKY won the game on a three-pointer at the buzzer. Sometimes that’s all it comes down to.
Elsewhere, American, the winners of the Patriot League tournament, tested Tennessee, the number two team in the East quarter. The Eagles kept it close all through the first half, and cut Tennesse’s lead to one with about six minutes to play, but the Volunteers pulled away late, as the Eagles kept going to long shots, hoping to tie the game or take the lead, not to chip away at Tennessee. It didn’t pay off.
More to come later on the second set of games.
March Madness running blog one
March Madness, for me, is one of the best times of the year. It’s a time when I can watch basketball for something like 11 straight hours for four days.
Which is what I tried to do yesterday, even if things didn’t work our for me all the way.
Walking around downtown Toronto, you’d never know the tourney was going on. Nobody wears jerseys, the bars have their TVs turned to TSN or Rogers Sportsnet so people can watch Leafs Lunch or whatever.
It wasn’t until I popped into a sports appeal store downtown that I heard anything about it. The man behind the counter had the game going over the PA system and seemed to be absorbed in listening. I asked him who was winning and we ended up talking about the madness.
“I have a thousand dollars on the games today,” he told me before pulling out a list about two feet long. Incomprehensible words and numbers all along it, he had to explain how he was betting on the spread.
“See Pitt here, they only JUST win,” he explained, “so I’ve got Oral Roberts beating the sprad.”
“Good luck,” I laughed as I left the store. The poor guy would need it.
My plan for the weekend was to watch as many games as I could and comment on them. As it would turn out, I only would see a few games on Thursday, so I’m just combining them into Friday’s blog.
USC vs Kansas State
Not quite the game I was hoping it would be, but the game I expected it to be. USC’s OJ Mayo is a good player, but I find he tries to do too much on a team that’s a year or two away from being great. He’s the next Starbury, I fear, if he jumps to the NBA too soon.
But Beasley was great. He was dominating the boards, making solid shots and helped lead Kansas State to a solid first-round win.
Duke vs Belmont
A classic. Duke was having a hard time late in the game, not hitting their shots while Belmont was. It took Gerald Henderson’s late-game heroics – and a good steal on an inbounds pass – for Duke to squeak by the Bruins.
It was a sloppy game for the Blue Devils, who looked more then rattled when the pressure arrived. This is twice now that Duke has fallen apart in crunch time of a close game. The first was against North Carolina when Duke missed their last 10 shots.
Of the late games, nothing too big happened. UCLA crushed Mississippi Valley State in a game that I only saw bits and pieces of. Wisconsin survived a scare by Cal State, a school best known for it’s baseball team, and pulled away only midway into the second half.
Notre Dame looked good against George Mason and Brigham Young surprised m dad, who didn’t even know they had a good basketball team, since it’s primarily a school known for it’s football.
All in all, it was an okay evening of the madness, with one great game and a couple pretty good ones. Despite that, though, blowouts by UCLA, Washington State and Pittsburgh dampened the drama a little.
I’ll have comments on the first games of the afternoon up in a bit.
Which is what I tried to do yesterday, even if things didn’t work our for me all the way.
Walking around downtown Toronto, you’d never know the tourney was going on. Nobody wears jerseys, the bars have their TVs turned to TSN or Rogers Sportsnet so people can watch Leafs Lunch or whatever.
It wasn’t until I popped into a sports appeal store downtown that I heard anything about it. The man behind the counter had the game going over the PA system and seemed to be absorbed in listening. I asked him who was winning and we ended up talking about the madness.
“I have a thousand dollars on the games today,” he told me before pulling out a list about two feet long. Incomprehensible words and numbers all along it, he had to explain how he was betting on the spread.
“See Pitt here, they only JUST win,” he explained, “so I’ve got Oral Roberts beating the sprad.”
“Good luck,” I laughed as I left the store. The poor guy would need it.
My plan for the weekend was to watch as many games as I could and comment on them. As it would turn out, I only would see a few games on Thursday, so I’m just combining them into Friday’s blog.
USC vs Kansas State
Not quite the game I was hoping it would be, but the game I expected it to be. USC’s OJ Mayo is a good player, but I find he tries to do too much on a team that’s a year or two away from being great. He’s the next Starbury, I fear, if he jumps to the NBA too soon.
But Beasley was great. He was dominating the boards, making solid shots and helped lead Kansas State to a solid first-round win.
Duke vs Belmont
A classic. Duke was having a hard time late in the game, not hitting their shots while Belmont was. It took Gerald Henderson’s late-game heroics – and a good steal on an inbounds pass – for Duke to squeak by the Bruins.
It was a sloppy game for the Blue Devils, who looked more then rattled when the pressure arrived. This is twice now that Duke has fallen apart in crunch time of a close game. The first was against North Carolina when Duke missed their last 10 shots.
Of the late games, nothing too big happened. UCLA crushed Mississippi Valley State in a game that I only saw bits and pieces of. Wisconsin survived a scare by Cal State, a school best known for it’s baseball team, and pulled away only midway into the second half.
Notre Dame looked good against George Mason and Brigham Young surprised m dad, who didn’t even know they had a good basketball team, since it’s primarily a school known for it’s football.
All in all, it was an okay evening of the madness, with one great game and a couple pretty good ones. Despite that, though, blowouts by UCLA, Washington State and Pittsburgh dampened the drama a little.
I’ll have comments on the first games of the afternoon up in a bit.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
The Yankees' mahvelous new star player
When I heard the Yankees had a new star player earlier today, I wasn’t even remotely surprised, until I read who it was. It was Mr. Billy Crystal, the guy who hosts the Oscars, who starred in City Slickers and produced 61*, one of the best baseball movies ever made.
Hearing that Billy Crystal is playing for the Yankees was a pretty good sign for two reasons. First it just gives me another excuse to hate the Yankees (or Billy, for that matter).
It gives me another excuse to pull myself away from classes and catch a ball game, even if it’s just spring training.
And, by giving the talking heads a fun little topic, it signals a realization that spring is finally here. More on that later, I’ve got some questions to ask myself about Mr. Crystal first.
But does he have any right to be on the field? Is he taking a valuable roster spot away from some rookie? And can he bat cleanup?
Like I said before, it’s spring training, bub. He’ll play two, maybe three innings and get a single at bat. He’s stealing nobody’s thunder, at least until he ad-libs after his one and only strikeout.
And Billy always seemed more of a leadoff guy, anyway.
Besides, it’s not like there’s no precedent, either.
George Plimpton pitched in an exhibition game, Bill Murray called a Cubs game from the booth and Paul Gallico crouched behind the plate. Sure, they were journalists, but they were living the dream, too.
Is it worthwhile to ask about his pay? The AP report makes no mention if he’s getting paid, only that he signed a one-day contract. If he is, is he donating the money to charity?
What if he’s paying for the right to be there, like Garth Brooks did a few years back? Is that going to line Mr. Steinbrenner’s pockets?
Who cares? It’s spring training; let the man live out a dream. I doubt he’s getting paid, even if some union stipulation says he should be.
Still, I like this story. Having just suffered through a terrible snowstorm that left something like two feet of snow all around my place, making it impossible to get outside on Saturday night to see Duke play North Carolina, I had finally gotten my fill of winter.
Snow? Blah. Ice? Double blah. Hockey? Call me when the playoffs start.
But baseball, the summer game, was on TV today. The lush green fields, crystal-blue skies and the warm weather of Legends field were just what I needed to see.
Who cares if it was meaningless or another Boston/New York game? Opening day, and spring, are just around the corner.
I can't wait, and by the sounds of things, neither can Billy.
Hearing that Billy Crystal is playing for the Yankees was a pretty good sign for two reasons. First it just gives me another excuse to hate the Yankees (or Billy, for that matter).
It gives me another excuse to pull myself away from classes and catch a ball game, even if it’s just spring training.
And, by giving the talking heads a fun little topic, it signals a realization that spring is finally here. More on that later, I’ve got some questions to ask myself about Mr. Crystal first.
But does he have any right to be on the field? Is he taking a valuable roster spot away from some rookie? And can he bat cleanup?
Like I said before, it’s spring training, bub. He’ll play two, maybe three innings and get a single at bat. He’s stealing nobody’s thunder, at least until he ad-libs after his one and only strikeout.
And Billy always seemed more of a leadoff guy, anyway.
Besides, it’s not like there’s no precedent, either.
George Plimpton pitched in an exhibition game, Bill Murray called a Cubs game from the booth and Paul Gallico crouched behind the plate. Sure, they were journalists, but they were living the dream, too.
Is it worthwhile to ask about his pay? The AP report makes no mention if he’s getting paid, only that he signed a one-day contract. If he is, is he donating the money to charity?
What if he’s paying for the right to be there, like Garth Brooks did a few years back? Is that going to line Mr. Steinbrenner’s pockets?
Who cares? It’s spring training; let the man live out a dream. I doubt he’s getting paid, even if some union stipulation says he should be.
Still, I like this story. Having just suffered through a terrible snowstorm that left something like two feet of snow all around my place, making it impossible to get outside on Saturday night to see Duke play North Carolina, I had finally gotten my fill of winter.
Snow? Blah. Ice? Double blah. Hockey? Call me when the playoffs start.
But baseball, the summer game, was on TV today. The lush green fields, crystal-blue skies and the warm weather of Legends field were just what I needed to see.
Who cares if it was meaningless or another Boston/New York game? Opening day, and spring, are just around the corner.
I can't wait, and by the sounds of things, neither can Billy.
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