Hey ladies. I think most of us feel that the first weekend of the NCAA tournament (next weekend) is probably the best sports weekend of the year… yes, there are a few other contenders (Final 4/Baseball Opening Day weekend, Nordstroms Half-Yearly Sale, etc), but Im going to add an unexpected wrinkle to the mix. This weekend, which is home to most of the major college basketball conference tournaments, might top them all. Teams are playing to stay alive and achieve their dream of making it to the Dance, bubbles are bursting and millions of fans are treated to the occasional “Instant Classic”. Thursday night’s BigEast quarterfinal between Syracuse and Connecticut was a prime example of why so many of us love college basketball.
Syracuse 127, Connecticut 117… seems like just a rare high scoring Big East game until you see the rest of the summary: 6 OT’s. Yes, that’s correct, it took 6 overtimes to come up with a winner in this one, and each one got better than the last. Both teams are comfortably in the NCAA Tournament, however each squad played with a determination that would make you think they wouldn’t be allowed to come home without a win. Numerous players fouled out, and Syracuse ended up with a walk-on player having a significant role in the 5th and 6th overtime periods. Do you realize how long 6 overtimes is? They basically played three 20 minute halves plus another 10 minutes! Almost two entire games. The game ended after 1:20 AM Eastern time, and there weren’t many empty seats in Madison Square Garden at the time, everyone stayed, knowing they were watching something special. The moral of the story? Next time you’re stuck watching a game that you’re not really into, pay a little bit of extra attention, it could end up becoming the next “Instant Classic”… you just never know, and thats what makes sports so great.
In other news bubble teams are keeping a close eye on tournaments such as the Atlantic 10, the Big 12 and Conference USA. Why? Each of these tournaments have at least one surprise team in the finals (a team that would otherwise not be selected for the NCAA tournament). If one of these teams wins their tournament and the resulting automatic bid it will take away a spot for a bubble team..for example if Memphis (a lock for the tournament) loses the Conference USA championship they will have to take one of the “at large” positions that would have otherwise gone to a bubble teams…leaving a bubble team (like Virginia Tech) out of the tournament.
Here are a few of the key games for you to see on Saturday…
The A10 Championship Game (Temple vs. Duquense)…both of these teams are in Pennsylvania…neither were predicted to make it to the NCAA tournament…but now one of them will prevent one of those bubble teams to make it (could it be PennState…after their loss to Purdue on Friday night who knows?)
The Big East Championship – Louisville will try to win their first Big East tournament against either Syracuse or West Virginia
The Big 12 Championship - Upstart Baylor (ladies…my husband tells me that upstart means that Baylor is a surprise) tries to complete a comeback from numerous scandals like murder (dead serious…one player murdered another player a few years ago….)
Pac 10 Championship – The LA fan base will have to decide their rooting interest between whichever hometown school makes it (USC or UCLA) and Arizona State, which has several LA area starters….
So, as you can see…there is drama in the world of sports…I promise, even I can tolerate game after game….Enjoy the rest of conference championship weekend, keep studying, the brackets will come out on Sunday at 6 PM Eastern!
-sportsgirl
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