Texas and UCLA Tip Toe Onward
March 23, 2006 – 10:22 pmWhat a great couple of finishes the Texas-West Virginia and UCLA-Gonzaga games had this evening. I have already bitched and moaned about this regarding college football, but what a shame it is to live out here on the west coast as a Texas alum. If USC or UCLA is scrimmaging, I get to watch that ahead of just about any Texas game. Fortunately, CBS switched back and forth between the two games this evening as Texas-West Virginia came to a close, and I saw the finish.
We’re up 71-68, and West Virginia has the ball. Their big guy hits a three from the top of the arc to tie it at 71. There is something like five seconds left. Instead of calling time out, we inbound the ball and race up the court. Kenton Paulino is wide open a few feet behind the arc. The ball winds up in his hands. He shoots, the ball leaving his hands with about 0.8 or 0.9 seconds remaining. Just as the game clock expires, the ball swishes through the hoop. Texas wins, 74-71. How cool is that?
The UCLA-Gonzaga finish was a stunner. Because I’m here in Los Angeles, we got to watch most of that game. Gonzaga was downright embarrassing UCLA in the first half. I had visions of a 20 point Gonzaga win in my head around half time. The second half was back and forth for about 15 or 16 minutes, and then UCLA finally ate the lead away. A couple of crucial Gonzaga turnovers late in the game allowed UCLA to sneak it out in the last few seconds. Unbelievable finish.
What does this mean for my bracket? Well, add in the fact that LSU beat Duke (which I called in my bracket), and the four teams that made the Elite Eight tonight are all there in my bracket. By the way, how great was that Duke loss? There is very little in sports I enjoy more than watching Duke lose. Watching the Yankees lose comes to mind. Watching Texas win also comes to mind.
Tomorrow will be interesting to see in terms of my bracket. I have Georgetown beating Florida to make it to the Elite Eight. I have Villanova beating Boston College. I have North Carolina beating Tennessee, which shows you how badly that portion of my bracket got busted. And I have Connecticut in the Elite Eight as well. We’ll see. Tomorrow can’t be as good as today was for my bracket, but I sure hope it’s close.
Hook ‘em!
One Response to “Texas and UCLA Tip Toe Onward”
The LSU defeat of Duke was rather beautiful to watch. Now, granted, I’m not a basketball fan and I don’t know all of the intricacies of the game, but it seemed to me that LSU just dominated the game. They were up for most of the game, with Duke really only making one rally to tie things up. Then Duke just fell apart at the end. It’s good to see an SEC team in there. (I cheer for LSU as long as what they’re doing doesn’t hurt Tennessee).
And I certainly agree that there are few things better than watching Duke lose. As mentioned, it’s similar to wanting the Yankees to lose. However, what really comes to mind is the pure hate that developed for the Atlanta Braves, the Dallas Cowboys, and the Chicago Bulls during the late ’80s and 90s.
I was actually a Braves fan for a couple of years, but they started to get old. It also didn’t help that my overall interest in baseball died as my dislike for the Braves grew. As for the Cowboys, the only thing better than seeing them lose is if (1) it’s the Redskins beating them, (2) the ‘Skins are beating them by a lot, (3) the ‘Skins are beating them in Dallas, and (4) if a Dallas loss would knock them out of the playoffs. As for the Bulls, I never really disliked them, since I never watched basketball as a kid. However, as with most teams that are “unbeatable”, there were a lot of people who wanted to watch them fall.
By Adam on Mar 24, 2006 at 11:53 am