It was a night for one classic game and one defensive gem.
I have been privileged to attend more than 20 Final Fours, but I can’t remember an ending as exciting and dramatic as I saw in the first game as Virginia made three free throws with 0.6 seconds on the clock to come back from the dead to win a shocker, 63-62.
For the large and vocal Auburn crowd who were watching the Tigers’ first Final Four appearance, it will be a night and a finish they will never forget. Not to mention the stunned Virginia crowd that saw their team snatch victory from a certain defeat.
Give Auburn coach Bruce Pearl credit, he made no excuses in the postgame press conference. He gets a lot of criticism for prior issues while at Tennessee, but he told the media postgame that he instructed his team to act with dignity and class. This despite two last-second calls that went against Auburn, the foul on Virginia’s desperation 3 (a foul, yes), and a missed double-dribble call against Virginia a few seconds earlier that would have sealed the win for Auburn.
The second game featured one of the most impressive defensive efforts I have ever seen by Texas Tech, which ran away from Michigan State in the final four minutes in what had been a close game. Tech held Michigan State’s outstanding point guard Cassius Winston in relative check with a suffocating man-to-man and switching defense. The only thing keeping Michigan State in the game was a significant free-throw disparity (until the final minute) caused by that outstanding defense.
So Monday night the first team to 60 should win. Two great defensive teams.
Meanwhile earlier Saturday, I attended the annual Jewish coaches breakfast with Hawaii coach Eran Ganot. The group keeps growing, as there were almost 100 folks there, I learned that there are now seven Jewish head coaches, including Pearl, who left his team’s practice to attend.
At the game, I had great seats once again. Third press row, right behind Dickie V and right in front of a slew of retired coaching legends like Steve Fisher, Gary Williams, Gene Keady, Tubby Smith, Bo Ryan and Denny Crum. On the other side, Jim Boeheim and Jay Wright.
It was a cloudy day and a balmy 50 degrees. Could be worse. Snow is predicted for Wednesday. U.S. Bank Stadium is beautiful but not for basketball. Despite relatively poor seats going for $1,000 to $4,000, 72,000 attended, many of whom could only see things on the giant scoreboard.
Today is an off day, but if Saturday night was any indication, I can’t wait for Monday. And for you football fans, I sat next to the Texas Tech section. A guy by the name of Patrick Mahomes had a prime seat (but not as good as mine).
