This post brought to you by the mysterious "MSHOME" network in my apartment building. Stupid Windows people, allowing someone like me on an iBook to mooch off their internet connection.
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Apparently there are 32 more teams playing in the NCAA Tournament today. But its over, really. Like I care about Crap University taking on Suck State.
And yes, Creighton got eliminated last night. In case you couldn't tell by my tone.
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The hell of it is, Creighton could have, nay, SHOULD HAVE, won this game. They jumped out to a 10-0 lead less than four minutes in. Funk and Mathies both scored well above their average. Tolliver and Day held their own on the boards. McKinney ran the offense reasonably well. They played pretty decent defense, at least for this team. And yet somehow, they lost.
I really believe it had a lot to do with Johnny Mathies fouling out with 2:20 left. From that point on, the offense was stagnant, the defense not near as crisp. I mean, look at the shots they got in the last minute! Atrocious. That 30-footer by Funk as the shot clock elapsed with 6 seconds left in a tie game? Worst shot selection ever. With 18 seconds left in a tie game, DRIVE THE FUCKING BALL INSIDE! DRIBBLE PENETRATE! MAYBE YOU DRAW A FRIGGING FOUL!
I mean, at least by doing that, your offensive players collapse to the basket, giving you a fighting chance at a rebound and a putback. You might not get the board, but if you can jostle around long enough fighting for it, the clock runs out and you go overtime. And you get five minutes to find enough points to win.
Seems simple enough. But what does Creighton do? Milk away almost all of the clock, and fire up a three from 30 feet out. When it clanked off the rim, there were no players in position for a board, and West Virginia ABSOLUTELY SHREDDED the defense for a three second fast break and a game winning dunk. A GAME WINNING DUNK! Are you freaking kidding me?
This game now moves into the Polyfro Pantheon of games that would be classics had the score been different. To refresh your memory, the previous inductees:
-2004 American League Division Series, Game Two (Twins vs Yankees, Yanks win in 12th)
-1998 NFC Championship Game (Vikings vs Fucking Falcons, Atlanta wins in OT)
-2000 NCAA First Round (Auburn vs Jays, Furious second half comeback by Creighton falls just short when Ben Walker's desperation three misses)
-2005 NCAA First Round (West Virginia vs Creighton, Both teams trade leads in hard fought well played game, Jays start to pull away only to blow lead late in second half)
Dammit anyway.
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