Thursday, March 7, 2013

Games 30-21

Game 30:  Northern Iowa 69 UNLV 66, 2010 Round 1
Ali Farokhmanesh.

Game 29:  Syracuse 83 Georgia 81, 1996 Elite 8
Ocassionally, one player takes a team on a deep run in March.  One such instance was John Wallace ans Syracuse in 1996.Georgia took a 2 point lead with 3.5 left in regulation.  Syracuse inbounded to mid-court and called another timeout.  Syracuse struggled to get it in and Wallace passed it to Jason Cipolla on the other side of the court just past the outstretched hands of a Bulldog defender.  Cipolla rose and hit sending the game to overtime.  In overtime, Georgia took the lead on a 3 with 7.1 seconds left.  Wallace rose to the occassion again, taking the ball down the court and hit a 3 from the top of the key sending the Orange to the Final 4.

Game 28:  George Mason 86 UConn 84, 2006 Elite 8
On selection Sunday, the inclusion of George Mason raised the ire of manypundits but it would be GMU that would have the last laugh knocking off heavyweights all the way to the Final 4.  The last team in their way was overall #1 seed UConn.  Mason had a chance to win in regulation when Tony Skinn, an 81% FT shooter missed the front end of a one-and-one.  UConn's Denham Brown would make a reverse layup to send the game to overtime.  Mason jumped out early in overtime amd withstood a buzzer beating 3 to win and send the most improbable team of all-time to the Final 4.

Game 27:  UConn 75 Washington 74, 1998 Sweet 16
UConn had been a tourney mainstay for years but had never tasted a Final 4.  A favorite to reverse that in 1998, UConn found themsleves in a tussle with Washington.  Washington didn't lead until 33 seconds remained but they had been in the game all day.  Khalid El-Amin held the ball until 11 seconds remained and passed to Jake Voskuhl who missed a fade away that hung on the rim forever.  Rip Hamilton got the rebound but missed a baby hook, Kevin Freeman got another shot up for Uconn but that missed, too.  Hamilton got UConn's 3rd board and this time made the fadeaway at the buzzer sealing the win for UConn.

Game 26:  Texas 74 West Virginia 71, 2006 Sweet 16
WVU Kevin Pittsnogle buried a 3 with 5 seconds left.  Rick Barnes allowed the Longhorns to bring the ball up sans timeout.  Texas G A.J. Abrams raced up the court and fired a terrible pass to Kenton Paulino who secured the ball and promptly hit the three at the buzzer to send Texas to the Elite 8.

Game 25:  Michigan State 85 Maryland 83, 2010 Round Two
Sparty would lead by as many as 16 in the final 10 minutes but Maryland's Greivis Vasquez would not go quiet into the night leading a Terp charge.  Vasquez put the Terrapins ahead 83-82 with a spinning basket with 6.6 seconds left. Michigan State would have to go the length of the court.  Draymond Green raced to the 3pt line where he was well defended.  Green found Korie Lucious open and he buried the 3 to win it.

Game 24:  Princeton 43 UCLA 41, 1996 1st Round
Pete Carril got his tourney win after 29 years over the defending champs in a grinders delight as UCLA got burned by the back door cuts one too many times.  It would be Jim Harrick's last game as coach of UCLA and the troubled coach would end his career in disgrace at Georgia while Carril is beloved by coaches and basketball.

Game 23:  Valpo 70 Mississippi 69, 1998 1st Round
Bryce Drew wins it on one of the most incredible and well-executed end of game plays ever.

Game 22:  California 71 West Virginia 70, 1959 National Title Game
One of the stars of the game for Cal was Milwaukee native Bill McLintock who was told by Marquette he would never play major college basketball.  The tournament at the time was only 16 teams.  Prior to the start of the tournament, Sports Illustrated ranked Cal 15th of the 16 teams.

Game 21:  Seattle 69 San Francisco 67, 1958 2nd Round
The Dons were heavy favorites having made 3 consecutive Final 4's.  But Seattle had future NBA star and Bill Simmons punching bag, Elgin Baylor.  The game was tied in the final seconds when Baylor would hit a 35' jump shot at the buzzer to send the Chieftains to the Final 4.

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