Virginia and Auburn were the participants in that game and both teams had incredible storylines coming into this battle. Virginia's story was all about redemption. They will forever be remembered as the first #1 seed in the men's tournament to fall to a #16 seed. And they didn't just lose, they were clobbered, ending up on the wrong end of a 20 point beatdown. Once again they were a #1 seed and once again they had trouble in the opening round. But they gathered themselves and found a way to win four straight tournament games, landing them a spot in the Final Four that they expected to have a year ago.
For Auburn, this was the story of an unprecedented run through the NCAA Tournament, following an impressive run through the SEC Tournament. They had won 12 in a row coming into the Final Four. They had to beat Kansas, North Carolina, and Kentucky just to get here, a murderer's row of opponents that we've never seen a team overcome during the first two weekends of play. (Arizona did beat the same three teams en route to winning the 1997 title, but they only had to beat one of them to get to the Final Four.). Not only was Auburn's route to Minneapolis daunting, but they had to overcome adversity too, losing their top rebounder and one of their best players in general late in the game against North Carolina. They managed to win shorthanded against Kentucky. Could they do it again vs Virginia?
From the start it was apparent that the game would be played at Virginia's pace. Auburn was the only team left in the tournament that was known for their offense, but the Cavaliers have a way of imposing their will on you defensively. That didn't necessarily mean they were in charge of the game though. In fact, it was the Tigers that led the game by 3 at halftime. But Virginia found a way to ratchet up their defensive intensity even more. It took Auburn nearly 6 minutes before they made a basket in the second half. Even when the Tigers made a hoop, it was almost always on a heavily contested shot. Nothing was going to come easy for the rest of the game. The Cavaliers would eventually open up a 10 point lead with 5 minutes left and it looked like Auburn's run was over.
That was when a couple of weird things happened:
- Virginia's Ty Jerome committed his 4th foul. Not especially weird, right? Except that he had zero fouls with 12 minutes left in the game. He committed all four of these fouls within a span of 8 minutes. Also weird was the fact that Virginia only had 4 fouls in the second half, so Jerome was responsible for every foul the Cavs had called on them. Jerome was their "glue guy" (translation: holds the team together), so when he had to go to the bench, it was a problem.
- More importantly, CBS showed a graphic that said Auburn was 30-0 when they held the lead with 5 minutes left in the game and 0-9 when they did not. Major graphics jinx alert!
With Jerome out of the game and with CBS hexing Virgnia, the game took a turn. The Cavs wouldn't score another point until there was less than 10 seconds to go in the game. Meanwhile, Auburn began finding their rhythm and started knocking down one shot after another. With 10 seconds to go, they were up 4. They were headed to their first national championship, right?
Virginia got the ball to Kyle Guy in the corner and he hit a desperation three to keep the Cavs alive. A foul was called before the ball could be inbounded, sending Auburn down to the other end for free throws. They could only knock down one of two, making it a two point game with 7 seconds left. Virginia was facing a bigger problem than a two point deficit though. Auburn had only committed 4 fouls in the second half, meaning they had fouls to give (teams don't shoot free throws until 7 fouls have been committed in the half unless the foul occurred in the act of shooting). Virginia inbounded the ball, but within 2 seconds, the Tigers had fouled them. Only 5 seconds left in the game. The Cavs next made the strange decision to inbound the ball away from their hoop. As Virginia's Ty Jerome rushed up the court, he dribbled the ball off of his foot, quickly regained possession and then was fouled right after he dribbled again. (We'll come back to this.) The foul occurred at half court with 1.5 seconds left.
Virginia used their final timeout to draw up a play. They found Kyle Guy in the corner and he put up another desperation three from the corner (the opposite one he hit from to bring them within 1). There was a whistle, a buzzer, and chaos after the shot did not go in. Auburn celebrated. Virginia pointed to the officials. And the broadcasters had no idea what was going on. After the referees huddled together, they announced that a foul had been called on the shot. Virginia would get three free throws with 0.6 seconds put back on the clock. The crowd booed as Guy would go to the line for the three most pressure-filled free throws of his life. He made the first. He made the second. He made the third. Virginia was dead for a moment, but they were now one play away from the national championship. Auburn drew up about as good of a play as you could come up with in terms of going the length of the court and making a shot in 0.6 seconds, but their fling at the buzzer did not fall. Virginia survives yet again, ending Auburn's magical run.
So a few things about that ending:
- After the game, it was brought up that a double dribble should have been called on the second-to-last play when Jerome dribbled the ball off his foot, picked it up, and dribbled again. Totally correct. It was a missed call that undoubtedly affected who won this game. But blaming the refs for missing the call in that moment seems a bit harsh. None of the players reacted to the play indicating that they knew it was a double dribble. No one on the sidelines did either. Did the broadcasters notice it? Nope. Virginia actually called a timeout, the broadcast went to commercial, and when they came back, there was still no mention of the missed call. This wasn't an obvious call that everyone noticed and the refs missed. It was a call that everyone missed because of the chaos of the situation.
- The reason that sequence was so chaotic is because everyone knew Auburn was trying to foul on purpose and there was precious little time on the clock. So when the ball bounced away from Jerome, I'm sure the ref was doing what the rest of us were: seeing if time was going to run out, seeing if Auburn was still going to foul, and seeing if Jerome was going to heave it from half court in desperation. The second dribble seemed like such a minor part of what was going on in that sequence that a game-changing call was missed.
- If you've seen the replay of the foul, I don't think there is much dispute over whether it was the right call. The defender hit the shooter's lower body while he was in the air and still had the ball in his hands. Go try and make a three-pointer while someone runs into your legs and let me know how that goes. It was a call that is rarely made, especially given the importance of the moment, but it was the right call.
- Finally, I would argue that the foul on the three-pointer was not the worst foul made in the last 7 seconds. The foul after the missed double dribble was. I'm sure the player was told to foul, I get that. But after the ball bounced away from Jerome, the defender had to know there was no time left for the Cavs to get down the court for a reasonable shot. The play started with only 5 seconds to go. If the dude makes a defended shot from half court to send you home, so be it. Instead, Virginia had the clock stopped for them, got to use their timeout, and got to take the ball out from the sideline near the hoop they were shooting at. The second to last foul saved Virginia's season as much as the missed double dribble call did.
(Sorry, I'm always amazed at the poor decisions made by athletes and coaches in late game situations. We live in an era dominated by stats, yet no one seems to have any grasp of good strategy.)
Oh yeah, there was a second national semifinal to be played! And the expectation was that it would be lower scoring than the 63-62 slugfest that began the evening. Michigan State has the reputation of a gritty team that will wear you down, while Texas Tech's calling card was suffocating defense. Therefore it shouldn't have been too much of a surprise to see a halftime score of 23-21, advantage Red Raiders. Could either team find their offensive touch in the second half? I'm not sure you could say one team did as much as one player did. Texas Tech's Matt Mooney caught fire in the second half, launching one trey after another that sank through the net, helping the Red Raiders open up a 13 point lead. But Michigan State's gritty reputation is well earned and they would prove it late. A 16-4 run brought them within 1 with less than 3 minutes to play. That would be as close as they would get though. Texas Tech star Jarrett Culver was silent most of the game, but he scored 6 key points down the stretch to lead the Red Raiders to a spot in the title game. Texas Tech will take on Virginia for the title after defeating the Spartans, 61-51.
They say a broken clock is right twice every 20 years. (Is that not the saying?) If my memory serves me right, I started this pool in 1999. I won my own pool that year. And I haven't won it since. But this year's pools were a tribute to Aunt Becky and the story of those who rig the system to benefit themselves. Did I send money to Yahoo to constantly change my bracket throughout the tournament, ensuring that I would emerge victorious? Unknown. Perhaps the more important question is whether any of you can prove that I did. All I can tell you is that if I were going to hatch a plan like that, I wouldn't be as sloppy about it as Aunt Becky and Mrs. William H. Macy were.
Virginia's victory and Michigan State's defeat gave me the top spot in both pools this year. You can rest easy knowing I won't be in contention again until 2039. As for the other spots on the podium, you'll have to await the outcome of the national championship. In the main pool, a Virginia victory would put John Baxindine second and Aiden Schweitzer third, while a Texas Tech victory keeps Aiden in second and Scott Brown in third. As for the Pled Guilty In Court This Afternoon pool, Dave Henderson has second locked up, with a tiebreaker needed for third. If the championship game total is under 131, 3rd goes to James Dematteo. Over 131 and it goes to Nate Heffner. If it lands on 131 exactly, I will quit gambling forever.
(I'm kidding. Obviously that would never happen. They would split third place.)
Here are the top three in each pool with one game to go:
Safety School:
- Dave Nichols - 90 points
- Aiden Schweitzer - 85 points
- Scott Brown - 84 points
Paid For My Kids SATs:
- Dave Nichols - 90 points
- Dave Henderson - 88 points
- James Dematteo and Nate Heffner - 85 points
For the full standings, click here.
One more game, one shining moment, and one last recap. The Madness comes to a close for another year after Virginia and Texas Tech meet for the title on Monday night.
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