Friday, March 20, 2009

Excitement and disappointment


After the Louisville Cardinal men's basketball team put Morehead State (KY) away in the second half of their early evening first round NCAA March Madness game in Dayton, two of my teams (Florida State Seminoles and Ohio State Buckeyes) played in thrilling and simultaneous overtime games which unfortunately ended with last-second defeats for both of them. The Seminoles lost their game in Boise (ID) with 2 seconds to go in overtime, with the Wisconsin Badgers hitting a 2-point shot to turn the Seminoles' 1-point lead into a 1-point Badger lead, then made a free throw. The Seminoles got the ball to the other end of the court, but couldn't get a shot off in time (and the shot they got off missed anyway). (From the Albany (NY) area) the Siena Saints took the Bucks - playing an hour from Columbus in Dayton - to two overtime periods and hit a 3-point shot with 4 seconds to go to pull away. I watched most of these last two games at a local sports restaurant with a dozen folks from the KY Seminole Club - a group that usually watches football games together and does service projects - but in this case had a good 'Nole basketball team to cheer on too (seeing each other in March - not just in the summer and fall). Siena should be tired when they face the Cardinals Sunday, after this late-night double-overtime game - one of two games for the ages that my teams ultimately lost tonight. (Oddly enough, I'm familiar with a bunch of these small-time schools in the tournament: not only Siena but also Portland State, Morehead State, and even Cleveland State (which routed Wake Forest tonight),)

-- Perry

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