Well, the Jays certainly pulled that one out of their nether regions, didn't they? Ah, but its late February, when results matter more than how you get them. Its Machiavelli crossed with Al Davis, in a way; the ends justify the means. I don't care how you win, just win, baby.
That's all nice and good in theory, but I've got a litany of new clever smack-talk phrases that beg to differ. Like all creative endeavours, there's no off and on switch on the smack talk, and my best stuff comes out when I'm cheering on during either a blowout loss or a tight game. Ask any of my college roommates from years ago; they used to make me sit and watch them play Madden 64 because they knew it would piss me off, I'd start talking smack, and they'd get some cheap laughs.
For some reason, I yelled out "What's the Frequency, Kenneth? 96.Awesome!" after Kenny (Kenneth) Lawson's second block in as many possessions. I also at one point or another told a lustily-booing MSU crowd to "Get some facts, and come and see me!", although the facts I had in mind were more easily defensible than Jim Calhoun's. I sang the Casey's General Store commercial jingle after Casey Harriman's last two three's; "Casey's its all good!". To say I was excited is an understatement. At one point or another during the depressing first half, I lamented the fact that I had picked the wrong week to stop:
Smoking
Drinking
Sniffing glue
Taking amphetamines
By the ten minute mark of the second half, I was out of vices that I'd picked the wrong week to stop associating with, so I was quite relieved that the Jays decided to play better. Tell your old man that it gets tiring dragging Walton up and down the court for 48 minutes a night!
Based on the notebook pages of new material I got last night, the means did matter, at least to me. Coming out lethargic and with no energy, the Jays turned in one of the worst halves of basketball they've played all season long against the last place team in the league. In a game they HAD to have to stay in the race for the league championship, they came out flat. As late as 8:25 PM, things looked awfully bleak. Ten minutes of inspired ball, jump-started by Kaleb Korver knocking a ball loose, diving on the floor and in the process getting fouled was the catalyst for a comeback.
A loss would blow to smithereens any chance of an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. A loss would make winning the regular season championship virtually impossible. Perhaps worst of all, a loss to such a bad team while playing so poorly could derail all of the positive steps forward this team made in the last month.
And then two capable players who haven't been asked to carry the load this year offensively did just that. Casey Harriman hit three HUGE longballs, Cavel Witter started doing the sort of dangerous dribble penetration moves he showcased late last season (and that have been MIA most of this season), and the rest of the team came along for the ride, contributing where they could but mostly just riding the hot hands.
Schematically, Dana Altman had one of his better in-game coaching jobs of the year, rightly predicting that a switch to man-to-man defense and a full-court press midway through the second half would force the Jays to play with more energy and intensity. Sometimes a 2-3 zone can allow you to be slightly lazy, but when you're going man-to-man, its Mano Y Mano. His scheme worked, and as the Jays played with more intensity, the Bears began playing faster. Turnovers, bad shots and transition breakdowns soon followed. Before long, the Jays had cut the deficit to a manageable amount, allowing Harriman and Witter's heroics to put them over the top.
Somewhat annoyingly, Northern Iowa took a course in the Heimlich Maneuver en route from Siena, NY to Normal, IL. Either that, or suddenly choking became contagious. I'm not a doctor, and I didn't stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night, so your guess is as good as mine. What I do know is Northern Iowa inexplicably won at Illinois State, and now I feel gipped. Here I was, excited for a one-game, winner-take-all Thunderdome Mel Gibson Badass Awesometime Cue the Tina Turner Music game on Saturday. Now thanks to the Panthers dislodging the pork cutlet they'd been choking on for two weeks, we get a game that is meaningless for seeding or positioning for one team. Its still gonna be a blast, considering a Creighton win gives them no worse than a share of the conference championship, but I wanted to see the intensity of a Thunderdome game. Alas.
*****
Tonight's Polyfro Player of the Game is brought to you by Beer. Its Good, Drink Some!
Cavel Witter. Yes, I'm aware that Casey Harriman hit the three big outside shots, but those shots aren't available to him without Cavel dribbling into the paint to draw defenders away from the perimeter. This is how an offense is drawn up to work, and when it does, its beautiful like a cold Bud Light in one of those aluminum bottles.
You bet.
