The Butler Couldn't Quite Do It
Cinderella's slipper was a half-size too small...
In a tightly-contested classic of a championship game, Duke outlasted Butler to become kings of the college basketball world. It's not really our style to do recaps of what happened in the game. If you didn't see it, there is about a 1.6% chance you read this blog. So let's just get to the hindsight debate of today: Duke's strategy in the last 3 seconds of the game.
It was all over sports radio. Three seconds left. Duke hits the first free throw to go up 2 points. Butler was out of timeouts. So what do you do, Blue Devils? Well coach KShasheffski had the unique idea of missing the second free throw on purpose. The upside: the rebound probably flutters around and kills the 3 seconds, Duke wins. The downside: Butler's best player (Gordon Hayward) grabs the rebound and gets enough breathing room to launch a heave that could win the game.
Well, the downside reared its ugly head for coach K. I have a theory that the national championship had nothing to do with the coach's celebration at the end. It was pure relief that the next seven months won't be miserable for him. As Hayward's prayer sailed toward the backboard, what could have possibly been going through his mind? Instead of going for the free throw and going to overtime in the worst, worst, worst case scenario, Coach K and Duke watched in horror as Hayward missed by an inch on what would have been the most memorable shot in college basketball history. When it clanked out, nothing but ecstatic relief took over Duke's bench.
Not a bad ending to the tourney, eh? It's astounding that with all the madness and chaos over the past month, it was actually a one-seed that ended up winning. How deceiving. But a standing ovation definitely goes to Butler. I for one had them going out in the first round. But off they went...upset after upset after upset. After the performance of the 2010 Bulldogs, all bets are off for the picking trends of next year's tourney. No predicted champion will be scoffed at, no upset will be dismissed. Quite a year for college basketball. (It's a shame the tourney is on the brink of being ruined by expansion. But that's a blog for another day.)
With that said, I'm proud to announce the winner of the 2010 NY Sport Blog bracket contest:
Now that Chris is settled down as a Denver-ite, check back to the blog for wall-to-wall coverage of baseball starting up and basketball/hockey winding down. We'll be in touch.
In a tightly-contested classic of a championship game, Duke outlasted Butler to become kings of the college basketball world. It's not really our style to do recaps of what happened in the game. If you didn't see it, there is about a 1.6% chance you read this blog. So let's just get to the hindsight debate of today: Duke's strategy in the last 3 seconds of the game.
It was all over sports radio. Three seconds left. Duke hits the first free throw to go up 2 points. Butler was out of timeouts. So what do you do, Blue Devils? Well coach KShasheffski had the unique idea of missing the second free throw on purpose. The upside: the rebound probably flutters around and kills the 3 seconds, Duke wins. The downside: Butler's best player (Gordon Hayward) grabs the rebound and gets enough breathing room to launch a heave that could win the game.
Well, the downside reared its ugly head for coach K. I have a theory that the national championship had nothing to do with the coach's celebration at the end. It was pure relief that the next seven months won't be miserable for him. As Hayward's prayer sailed toward the backboard, what could have possibly been going through his mind? Instead of going for the free throw and going to overtime in the worst, worst, worst case scenario, Coach K and Duke watched in horror as Hayward missed by an inch on what would have been the most memorable shot in college basketball history. When it clanked out, nothing but ecstatic relief took over Duke's bench.
Not a bad ending to the tourney, eh? It's astounding that with all the madness and chaos over the past month, it was actually a one-seed that ended up winning. How deceiving. But a standing ovation definitely goes to Butler. I for one had them going out in the first round. But off they went...upset after upset after upset. After the performance of the 2010 Bulldogs, all bets are off for the picking trends of next year's tourney. No predicted champion will be scoffed at, no upset will be dismissed. Quite a year for college basketball. (It's a shame the tourney is on the brink of being ruined by expansion. But that's a blog for another day.)
With that said, I'm proud to announce the winner of the 2010 NY Sport Blog bracket contest:
Get a load of that handsome mofo! Ryan Steele never lost hope in his beloved Blue Devils, and he's now $25 richer in Modell's credit. Steele was one of three brave souls that picked Duke to win it all. He was able to edge out Andrew 'Woody' Wooden and Todd Bangles in the rest of the bracket to secure the title. We're hoping to publish Ryan's thoughts on winning this prestigious honor in the coming week. Stay tuned for that. And a final thanks to all those who participated in the contest. We will be sure to have some more in the coming months.
Now that Chris is settled down as a Denver-ite, check back to the blog for wall-to-wall coverage of baseball starting up and basketball/hockey winding down. We'll be in touch.
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