I've not been quiet in my hatred for the Jays participation in Bracket Buster Saturday. I think their matchups over the years have on the whole been a joke, and the day just gives ESPN another chance to rip on the Valley. Anyone see Hubert Davis tell a nationwide audience that 24-3 Drake, the regular season MVC champs, are quote "not a lock for the NCAA Tournament"? Even Digger Phelps isn't THAT dumb, but only slightly...
In defense of ESPN, Jay Bilas called him out on it immediately, and Rece Davis made fun of the comment throughout the evening -- even at halftime of Memphis-Tennessee. After reading the highlights of the Drake game, he turned to Hubert and said, "And Hubert still thinks they're not a lock for the tournament!"
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Former Duke coach Bucky Waters thinks he's the basketball equivalent of Harry Caray. Seriously, during the course of today's game, he told us so many ridiculous things, I could write an entire entry with little else. In my own Hubert Davis "Idiot" moment, I didn't write them all down, so all I can recount now are the two I remember. I'm seriously considering setting my DVR to record the replay at 3:30 AM Monday morning just to properly document all of them. Anyway...
"The MVC is the sort of league where you get skin under your fingernails." What does that even mean? Doesn't everyone have skin under there?
"Its a shame Elvis died...that's a guy who should have been around a lot longer." Was there an Elvis impersonator at the game? How did I miss this?
You know Steve, Elvis spelled backwards is Sivle.
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Speaking of announcers, we had the radio broadcast on because the George Mason-Ohio game was running long and we didn't want to miss anything. When the lights went out at the Mabee Center for the starting lineups, there apparently weren't any lights on press row. T. Scott was about to read the Oral Roberts lineups, but he suddenly couldn't read his notes.
It was really hilarious hearing him try to listen to the PA, then relay the name to the audience. Because T. Scott is dominant, he admitted to the audience what was up. "They turned the lights out on us, and I can't read anything. The beauty of live radio, folks." The audible giggling of Kevin Sarver in the background made the moment that much funnier. Working strictly off memory, the two of them tried as best they could to relay relevant information about the players.
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As for the game, what an exciting battle. The game was hard-fought, back-and-forth all day, with an exhilarating finish.
After two devastating losses to Evansville and Bradley, I openly wondered what direction the seniors would take this team. I privately wondered if they'd allow them to phone in the rest of the rest of the season like the 2003-04 group did. Those thoughts can cease immediately.
Dane Watts was a beast for the second consecutive game, scoring 18 points and more importantly grabbing 8 boards. Nick Bahe fought back spasms to gut out 16 minutes, and pulled down 5 tough boards. And Pierce Hibma played some stellar defense down the stretch, as Dana Altman subbed offense-for-defense every dead ball down the stretch. His thought was probably to keep P'Allen Stinnett from picking up his fifth foul on defense, but it actually worked extraordinarily well when Hibma turned in one of his best defensive efforts.
The young players, particularly P'Allen and Booker Woodfox, continued to drive the bus offensively. Time after time, the pair made tough shots. Stinnett dribble penetrated all day long for easy layups, a move Oral Roberts had no answer for. And Woodfox did what he always does: drain threes all day long.
The last minute of the game showcased both players. With 40 seconds left in a tie game, Stinnett drove inside and drew a foul. The normally excellent free throw shooter missed the front end of the 1-and-1, and Oral Roberts' supersub Robert Jarvis grabbed the rebound.
During the scramble for the rebound, Jarvis twisted his ankle. He hobbled down the court and in his Kirk Gibson moment, sank both free throws while not being able to put weight on one leg. Jarvis, by the way, was a really impressive player. The Jays actually defended him OK, but he's such a dynamic scorer that he still scored 17 points (although he took 16 shots, making just 6, en route to those 17 points).
As the Jays waited for Jarvis to hobble down court to shoot, Woodfox made a prediction according to a quote related by Stinnett in this morning's World-Herald.
"While we were standing there waiting for him to shoot, Booker told me, 'I'm going to hit the shot, I'm going to hit the shot.' Then he did exactly what he said he was going to do."
You bet he did. With Oral Roberts up 64-62, Altman rounded up the troops to draw up a play for a game-winning shot. His assistants were lobbying for a play to allow Stinnett dribble-penetration for an easy layup to tie the game, the sort of shot he'd made all day long. But Altman had other ideas. Namely, getting Woodfox open and letting him hit a long-range shot to not just tie the game, but win it. Oral Roberts would never suspect it. How devious!
And so Dotzler took the inbounds pass, dribbled up the court, and came across halfcourt just as Dane Watts' pick had freed Woodfox from his defender on the wing. Dotzler delivered a perfect pass, and before anyone even knew what was happening, Woodfox drained a three. 65-64 Jays!
I'm not going to lie to you, I screamed. What a shot! We all know Woodfox is a helluva shooter, but that's ice-water-in-the-veins stuff. Hostile crowd, team down 2, 30 seconds to play...and you drain a 25-footer like its nothing. Awesome.
Of course, the game wasn't over; Oral Roberts had 26 seconds left to get a game-winning shot of their own. Their last possession saw them get a couple of decent looks, with Adam Liberty missing a 10-footer from the baseline and Moses Ehambe missing a rebound-and-putback from 2-feet under the hoop.
A fitting ending. The Golden Eagles missed so many easy shots in the game that a missed shot from two feet out at the buzzer is the only way this game could have ended. While their overall field goal percentage wasn't awful at 37.5% (25-66), their three-point percentage was HEINOUS. 4-23, which equates to 17%. Ouch.
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POLYFRO CHORK PLAYER OF THE GAME: Brought to you by CHORK, the meat substitute that's not quite chicken, not quite pork and not quite approved by the Catholic Church for consumption on Lenten Fridays.
Its going to my man Booker Woodfox in this game, despite his overall line not being as impressive as some others'. Dane Watts probably had the better overall game, but it was Booker who hit the game-winning shot. So that's my reasoning. You bet.
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