A Preview of Real March Madness

Last night, my girlfriend and I randomly decided to stop for a bite to eat at the Cheesecake Factory in the Prudential Center. The night was about to become a little more eventful than a Navajo chicken sandwich (hold the avocado, please) and obviously, a Harpoon I.P.A. To my surprise, former UConn superstar Rudy Gay, along with his current Grizzlies teammate and former Syracuse University superstar Hakim Warrick, were eating two tables down from us (they're playing the Celts tonight). I walked by and said, "Ruuuuuuuudy," which got a response of "what up man?" Later, in the middle of my Navajo, I realized that the Big East Tournament was featuring both the Pittsburgh Panthers and the UConn Huskies later that night, with my main focus on tuning into Connecticut vs. Syracuse (Jimmy vs. Jimmy).

For a game that started around 9:30, I didn't expect to be up until 2 in the morning. I'm not sure what was worse, losing a few hours of sleep before a long say's work at the brewery, or the number of prayers that A.J. Price threw up with 7 seconds left in each overtime from wayyy beyond the NBA arc.

It was pretty evident that America was going to be in for an amazing showcase of collegiate basketball talent, especially with the history that these two teams have had, and made in the past. Well, with six-overtimes in 3 hours and 46 minutes, a total of 244 points scored, 8 players fouling out (6 being starters from each team), this was one of the best games that I have ever seen. A.J. Price (33 points, 10 assists) and Stanley Robinson (28 points-career high, 14 rebounds) led the way for the former #1 Huskies while PG Johnny Flynn (34 points, 11 assists) and Paul Harris (29 points, 22 rebounds-10 offensive) were just too much for Calhoun's club. However, along with the talents that were executed on the court, there was much controversy surrounding the game. So many no-calls, unreasonable plays at the end of each OT, and an amazing 3 by Eric Devendorf that was called off at the end of the first overtime. So from these controversies, I have some issues, mainly with UConn, as they were the obvious favorite to win this game, along with being ranked one of the top teams in the country.

1) Free throws: I know for a fact that Jim Calhoun preaches to his guys how important it is to make your free throws, whether you are Hasheem Thabeet or Scottie Haralson (benchwarmer). I also know that he enforces the importance by repetition at every practice, as one of his players was my high school head coach and followed his exact methods. So why, Jim, does your team shoot 57.1% (24-42) from the line? Maybe I'm missing something, but these kids are the elite performers of the sport and still cannot make a FREE throw, a shot that is completely uncontested.

2) Turnovers: Way too many, obviously. Although there were 6 OTs, UConn totaled 27 turnovers, 11 more than Syracuse. They're assist-to-turnovers ratio was even. You aren't going to win a game of UNO with that many turnovers...

3) Last second plays: A.J. Price shot up at least 3 prayers at the end of both regulation and overtimes. Note: the game was TIED. That means you only need to score 2 points to win the game. The thing that troubles me is that Calhoun let this occur more than once. With 7 seconds left in a tied game, the ball should always be driven inside to try to get an easy lay-up, dump it off to a big man, or draw a foul and go to the line for two. Villanova executed this perfectly in an earlier game, where they won on a last second lay-up. UConn definitely needed to take notes on that.

Overall, this game will go down in history as one of the most hard-fought, energetic games. Congratulations to Jimmy B. for the win.

"I was thinking, 'Lord, just get this game over with. Whoever wins the game, let's just get it over with.'"

-Jonny Flynn