As I said on my previous post, this year's college basketball tournament has got to go down as one of the worst and most boring in history. Not to say that there weren't close games. How can you not have a few if you're playing 63 games? The ones off the top of my head include Oklahoma State-Tennessee, Siena-Ohio State (I saw those two after the games at the Dome wrapped up Friday night on the TV screens in the concourse; thank Buddha the ushers let us stay till the end), Gonzaga-Western Kentucky, and Villanova-Pittsburgh. However, even though they were great games all tight down the finish, they weren't buzzer-beaters, games where the final shot is in the air or hanging on the rim as the horn sounds. (A buzzer-beater is the end of the Division II basketball championship, and I'll say that that shot alone makes their tournament a much better one than the Division I tourney.)
You need four things to make a great tournament: Great players (not necessarily teams, just players), close games, Cinderella squads, and buzzer-beaters. If you don't count Arizona, a 12-seed, making it to the Sweet 16 (and I do, even though I understand the reasons why others don't), you are missing the last two ingredients, and so Big Dance '09 lacks a lot more than others. But if there was one indelible moment I will remember from this tournament is the spectacular brainfart committed by Marquette junior forward Lazar Hayward in the Golden Eagles' second-round game against Missouri. I'll assume you guys know what happened, but for those who don't, look at the video; the offense occurs at about 2:09:
I understand that in the heat of the game, when you need to get the ball in to make the shot that'll prevent the end of your season, mistakes happen. But shit, stepping on the inbounds line as you're trying to throw in the ball?
Poor bastard. Hope he gets a chance to redeem himself next year.
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