Irish Weekend Part 1: NCAA, Nosebleeds, and the Q

I am not a rich man.  Thus, I looked briefly at lower bowl seats for the NCAA Tournament "2nd and 3rd" round games at Quicken Loans Arena.  After seeing the prices and passing out for several minutes, I decided to acquire 2 seats in Section 206, Row 15.  I was noticeably closer to the rafters than to the floor, but I could not have asked for 4 better games in checking March Madness live off of my bucket list (I so need a new name for that).  After you look at the pics in the next post, you will understand.  It will also become painfully obvious that I need a camera with a better zoom.  Quelle dommage.

Let's deal with the highlights from bottom to top --

#4 - Ohio State 75, UTSA 46

Swallowed up in a sea of red, I felt as if I was still on campus.  There were certainly more OSU fans in attendance for the Buckeyes 1st round (and, yes I am going to keep calling it that) thrashing of the Roadrunners than for any Cavaliers game this season.  I have two good things to say about San Antonio: Devin Gibson (24 points, 4 steals, 3 rebounds, 3 assists) is a player and Rowdy the roadrunner is wicked cool.

The UTSA gameplan was decidedly uncool.  On every possession, including those in the second half when they were trailing by 30, the Roadrunners ran the stall.   Over the course of the game, the #16 seed might have initiated their offense with 12+ seconds on the shot clock twice.  It was grating.  In addition to the shocking absence of beer in the early afternoon of March 18th, it is why I enjoyed this game the least of those that attended.  Coupled with the extended length of time outs during the tournament and we likely spent more minutes waiting through stoppages than watching actual basketball.  Still, the Bucks won just as handily as the should have and chalked up 75 points in spite of the lame UTSA game plan.  Thad Matta was classy as he took the starters out one by one to standing ovations and the crowd chanted O-H-I-O as fervently as any bunch I've sat with at the Shoe.

#3 - Marquette 66, Syracuse 62

I'll be honest, this game started at 8pm Sunday and I was running on E.  Plus, I had to watch two Big East teams sputter through a bruiser.  Marquette got off to an awful start and I had visions of simply heading home for some R&R, but eventually Golden Eagles came to soar.  Regardless of the game's drudgery, watching Scoop Jardine stumble onto the mid-court line (what a bunch of thugs the Orange are) and flying out of my seat when Darius Johnson-Odom drained that 3 were perfect moments.  There was that instant in time when the whole world just melted away into pure joy, like the moment of weightless, suspended on a roller coaster.  Perfect.  I don't even know why I was rooting for Marquette, other than the fact that they were a decided underdog.  I purposefully turned the channel when the team came on during the regular season.  The lack of execution and inconsistent game work that Buzz Williams got from his boys this year is nothing to be proud of.  Making it to the Sweet 16 certainly is.  And that, my friends, is the magic of the tournament: latching onto one team for one night and living each breath in cheering for their victory.

#2 - Ohio State 98, George Mason 66

How does one feel when their heavily favored #1 seed and team of destiny falls behind 11-2 to a #8 seed that is playing without the hero of its 1st round win? Well, if the team is this year's Buckeyes, you sit calm and confident.  During a start that featured a perfect storm of offensive frustration (Buford and Diebler couldn't hit the ocean with a stone and constant double teaming had forced 3 turnovers of Sullinger), the hours that I had spent with my Buckeyes on the television over the past four months allowed a peace of mind that they would kick the crap out of this team.  Hell, I can't speak right now because I am so hoarse from screaming encouragement.  David Lighty could not miss (7-of-7 from deep).  The 50-15 run to close the first half was beyond dominant and Diebler's 3 as the clock expired followed by his "primal scream" as he sprinted off of the floor rang all to way my seat in the third row from the ceiling.  Aaron Craft played like a man possessed, forcing a 5 second call, literally, by himself and nailing Sullinger with a 30 foot bullet from the sideline for a lay-up.  The Q was a-rockin'.  Still, the second half held little doubt and only a free throw from senior walk-on Eddie Days highlighted a final 8 minutes that saw the Buckeyes narrowly miss the century mark.  I wouldn't ask for anything more palpitating from OSU, but what if a team I wasn't so invested in was playing...

#1 - George Mason 61, Villanova 57

I had been up Irishing until 3:30am on St Pats.  I had just learned that the Q was dry for the tournament.  The adrenaline of actually making it was wearing off and here was this garbage team from the Big East squaring off against a school from the Colonial Athletic Association. Great.  Four minutes in the score was tied at 3.  More than once I almost passed out.  Good thing that I did not.  Mason led 7-6 after five and a half minutes and would not lead again until the last minute of the game.  Despite forcing three ties and pulling within one on five occasions, the Patriots seemed destined to fall away.  Luke Hancock, however, would not be denied.  Hancock coolly knocked down a staight-on triple with 20 seconds play, erasing the folly of Isaiah Tate's foul of Corey Fischer beyond the arc.   But the best, man, the absolute best was Mike Morrison's break away dunk to close the scoring.  I swear, the guy was horizontal and the arena an absolute madhouse. This might now have been an upset on paper, but to those of us in attendance, it was as good as basketball gets.

Oh, P.S. You gotta believe in Doc Nix and Green the Machine

More to come. Cheers.