friday night games have historically come with a lot of upsets. i don't know what it is, it might be the "friday night stage" or something, but they seem to come up with slightly more than the other sets (since santa clara-arizona, IMO).
that said, i was with clark kellogg last night when he admitted he thought the heavy favourites would come out unscathed in the first round. looking at the games, i just couldn't imagine bucknell beating kansas, or even simien falling short in his laettner imitation. when it comes to vermont-'cuse, i'm so excited that UVM won that game, and it was definitely my highlight of the tournament to this point, but i didn't actually think they
could win beforehand. it was a best case scenario that i didn't think would happen in a million years... but it did. that's sports. it was beautiful.
i'm not one who enjoys upsets for the sake of upsets, that's not me, but vermont was enormous. i think people are going to be remembering that game vividly for 5-10 years. coach brennan deserved something like that, the "U-V-M" fan chant on the possession when sorrentine nailed the 28-footer was legendary, and watching the orangemen fight tooth and nail
themselves was special for me. you can talk about "underestimating your opponent" and all that, but i think syracuse deserves more credit here. that game had everything and while they were clearly the more "talented" group, that means a lot less than you'd think when you're talking about just 40 (or 45) minutes.
the game had it all. that game was in fact one of the best basketball games i have ever seen in my life (at any level). mopa njila's drive that saw him toe the baseline, peter warrick's almost comical athleticism erupting at important points, roberts' controversial tech for hanging on the rim, coppenrath's myriad of college talents that will surely never see him set foot on an nba floor, the 2-3 orange, the syracuse full court press to tie the game and attempt to confuse the catamounts- which all succeeded-, a fantastic game call by gus johnson and len elmore, etc.
it was a very memorable night. props to the orangemen, i could never question their effort for that one while many others are going to HAVE to resort to that explanation to make sense of the upset, props to the officials for making the game that much more memorable with all their strange calls
)), and congrats to vermont.
now what's next?
peace
