2008 Woodie Awards
I have just witnessed perhaps the greatest basketball game in my entire life.
Down one with just five seconds to go, the Hilltoppers’ Tyrone Brazelton drove the length of the court, dished it off to Ty Rogers, and the guard nailed the 3 at the buzzer to claim a 101-99 victory in overtime here in Tampa.
As soon as the shot fell through the nylon, the crowd absolutely erupted. Chills went up and down my body and my jaw literally dropped and stayed that way for almost three minutes as I watched the Hilltoppers burst on the court and jump all over each other in celebration.
It’s hard to put the emotion on the court into words, but I can say that this is by far one of the great moments of my life and it should be one of the most memorable ones of this year’s tournament.
The Huskies are on court right now, warming up for their first-round match-up with San Diego. I’ll be back with more when I can focus on the game ahead.
UConn’s destination for the NCAA Tournament will be announced today.
The official tournament selection show will begin a 6 p.m., and the Huskies’ seed and opponent will be announced soon thereafter.
In Joe Lunardi’s latest version of Bracketology, UConn is receiving a No. 5 seed and scheduled for a date with No. 12 seed Oregon in Denver as part of the East Regional (Charlotte).
The seed is a bit lower than where Lunardi and other analysts have been placing the Huskies, as they’ve been a No. 4 or No. 3 seed throughout most of the projection process.
However, after getting bumped from the Big East tournament by West Virginia in the second round and after No. 7 seed Pittsburgh (now a No. 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament) taking down Georgetown in the finals, the Huskies have slid to the top No. 5 seed.
Although the sites of the first two rounds and regional don’t change from Lunardi’s projection yesterday of a No. 4 seed, it does put UConn in the dreaded 5-12 match-up. If you’re not aware, almost every year a five is downed by a 12. With UConn losing two of their last three, they seem to fit the M.O. of an upset-bound fifth-seed.
I’ll be back later tonight with the official announcement.
Final Stats
Pittsburgh: Points Rebounds Assists Mins FG FT
Sam Young, F, Sr.: 16 6 0 36 6-12 3-8
DeJuan Blair, F, FR.: 10 10 0 21 3-8 4-8
Keith Benjamin, G, Sr.: 4 6 4 26 2-7 0-0
Levance Fields, G, Jr.: 10 5 6 36 2-10 5-13
Ronald Ramon, G, Sr.: 17 5 1 37 4-7 7-10
Georgetown:
DaJuan Summers, F, So.: 9 6 2 23 4-7 1-2
Roy Hibbert, C, Sr.: 17 6 1 28 8-14 1-1
Jonathan Wallace, G, Sr.: 12 2 5 35 4-9 2-2
Austin Freeman, G, FR.: 9 0 2 25 3-7 0-0
Jessie Sapp, G, Jr.: 9 2 1 23 3-8 0-0
Post-game Quotes:
Georgetown:
John Thompson III:
Q: It appeared that our team really failed to match their intensity. You look at the offensive numbers particularly, that seems to be the difference in the game. What jumps out at you about that?
A: “They hurt us on the boards. It was evident right from the beginning. You know, who, what, when, where, why, I don’t know. I thought our guys fought and scrapped. But he rebounding was key.”
Q: At the end of the first half, they were outrebounding you. Those are hustle plays. How did you address that at the beginning of the second half?
A: “It just happens. It’s one of those days. I agree, it did happen. And you’ve got to give them all the credit in the world. That’s a team that’s gone through a lot of adversity this year with the injuries that they’ve had.
“Obviously, Jamie [Dixon] is a terrific coach. They’ve done a terrific job of sticking together and staying focused as a unit. So you’ve got to give just all the credit to them for what they accomplished.”
Q: What will you take away from these three games heading into the NCAAs?
“I got to digest it before I can answer that question, I guess. The second part of the year has just ended. The third part of the year is getting ready to start. So as we try to do all the time, you know, you can’t have too many high highs, you can’t have too many low lows. That’s hard to say that right now because it doesn’t fell too good right now.”
Roy Hibbert:
Q: How do you guys turn this loss and still be able to keep your chins up for the tournament?
A: No matter what, we just have to bounce back. Figure things out. Look at the stuff from this past game and just move on to the next segment of the year.
Jessie Sapp:
Q: Did that team play like a eam that had played four games in four days?
A: They just played like they wanted to win. They did a lot of hustle plays. And you wouldn’t have known that they played in four days. They just played hard, and congratulations to those guys.
Most Outstanding Player
Sam Young, Pitt
All-Tournament Team
Joe Alexander, West Virginia
Jerel McNeal, Marquette
LeVance Fields, Pittsburgh
Roy Hibbert, Georgetown
Jessie Sapp, Georgetown
Pittsburgh 74, Georgetown 65
Pittsburgh had been to the Big East tournament finals two times previous to Saturday and left Madison Square Garden empty-handed.
But this time, things were going to be different. Ronald Ramon was going to make sure of it.
Scoring a game-high 17, Ramon led the seventh-seeded Panthers to their second Big East tournament title with a 74-65 victory over No. 1 seed and regualr season champs Georgetown Saturday night.
Post-game interviews are starting. More to come after.
Halftime
Wireless on the court is on the frits again, but I’m here with your first-half update — and it’s a bit of a shocker: Pitt up 31-28
Six points on three consecutive posessions gave Georgetown a quick, 6-0 lead, but the Panthers came storming back to cut the lead to one with five straight points. With the help of DaJuan Summers’ five points in the first six minutes, the Hoyas held the lead until the 12:26 mark.
The advantage would then flip-flop the entire half, with a total of six changes occuring.
But with Roy Hibbert logging just 13 minutes after picking up two quick fouls, Pittsburgh went on a 5-2 run to break a 26-26 tie to lead going into the break.
First Half Leaders:
Points: Gilbert Brown, Pitt, 8; Jessie Sapp and Austin Freeman, G-town, 6 (all off of 3s).
Rebounds: DeJuan Blair and Keith Benjamin, Pitt, 4; DaJuan Summers, G-town, 3
Mins: Levance Fields and Ronald Ramon, Pitt, 18; Jonathan Wallace, G-town, 17
9:17 p.m.
After failing to covert on their first three posessions and falling behind by six, the Panthers have scored on two consecutive posessions to cut the lead to one, as the Hoyas lead 6-5 with 15:44 left to go.
Pre-game
Here live from Madison Square Garden for the Big East tournament finals between No. 1 and regular season champs, Georgetown, and No. 7 seed Pittsburgh. Tip-off will be at 9 p.m.
Just want to throw out a quick apology to anyone who has been following the blog for the absence of a post during yesterday’s second game. Wireless went down on the court and I couldn’t get anything in without complications. If you’d like, check out the roundup I wrote for yesterday’s two games on the Web site.
And onto tonight’s match-up.
The Hoyas (27-4) proved why they were the winners of the regualr season title last night, as they held the hot-shooting Joe Alexander to 12 points and a 31 percent from the field in the 72-55 victory.
As one handsome writer predicted, Roy Hibbert had his way with the undersized West Vriginia defense, thrashing inside and even hitting his third 3-pointer of the season — I think all UConn fans remember the first. The big man finished with 25 points — a season high and one point shy of his career mark — and 13 rebounds.
The Mountaineers, well, mounted a comeback in the second half, but the Hoyas controlled tempo almost the entire game and eventually shut the door with a 16-0 run toward the end of the game.
As for the Panthers, their margin of victory may not have been as large, but their performance was equally as impressive. Pittsburgh’s Sam Young, who finished with 22 points, gave the Panthers a 2-0 lead on the game’s first posession and the team never trailed the rest of the way, as they pulled out a 68-61 win in the nightcap.
This will be Pitt’s seventh Big East Championship finals appearance in eight years and third straight appearance for head coach Jamie Dixon. However, in the last five games, the Panthers have claimed just one title.
Tonight’s game should be a close one, albeit a boring one, as both teams like to establish themselves in the post and grind out wins. Neither team should socre more than 65, but there’s a lot of history between these teams. The two squads locked up in last year’s championship game, with the Hoays coming out on top, and the Panthers took the regualr season meeting at home, 69-60.
Both Levance Fields and Ronald Ramon hail from NY for Pitt, and Jessie Sapp orginates from the Big Apple for the Hoyas, so all three should be looking to have big games in front of family and friends.
Prediction: Georgetown 62, Pitt 56
Player of the Game: Jessie Sapp, 17 points, nine rebounds
Back a the first timeout.
Final: Georgetown 72, West Virginia 55
West Virginia’s Cinderella ride through the Big East tournament is over.
Internet problems didn’t allow me to bring you normal updates, but the final score tells the story.
Roy Hibbert was absolutely unstoppable tonight, as the star center bounced back from a scoreless game Thursday to record a game-high 25 points and 13 rebounds o push the Hoyas into the championship round.
For more coverage, check out the Big East semifinals roundup on the Web site later tonight.
8:16 p.m.
Apparently there still is a little fight left in the Mountaineers.
Downby 15 after Jonathan Wallace drained a 3 to open the first half, West Virginia hit 3s on three out of four posessions to pull within eight. The Hoyas have pushed the lead back into double-digits, though, as they hold a 45-34 lead with Alexander at the line shooting two with 15:19 left to play.
Back in a bit.
Halftime
After not scoring a game ago, Hibbert has certianly made up for it tonight, scoring 13 points and leading the Hoyas to a 33-21 lead at the end of the first half. Now would’ve predicted that (see pre-game prediction).
The Mountaineers simply don’t have the size or a good enough defender to mathc-up with him. Jamie Smalligan is the only player on West Virginia with any kind of height, but like yesterday, he picked up his second foul early and has been riding the pine ever since. He played Hibbert physical eary, literally pushing him around and not letting him establish any kind of positioning down low, but after about two minutes of that, Hibbert simply took over — he’s on a whole other level. Joe Alexander guarded him most of the second half, but that’s not a favorable match-up, and it’s not a suprise he’s not winning it.
Offensively, Alexander isn’t winning the battle either, as he has just four points at the half on 2-of-7 shooting. If he can’t take control in the second half, this game could get ugly.
7:46 p.m.
Georgetown’s remains ahead, 33-21, with 31 seconds remaining.
The Hoyas simply have too much depth. They only have two starters in right now, but the team could still probably be a contender for the Big East title.
7:37 p.m.
You know, the Mountaineer gets a lot of credit as one of the best mascots, mainly because you need to grow a Grizzly Adams beard just to be considered. But I must say, this one is pretty lame. He doesn’t really do much. When the West Virginia cheeleaders were on the court a little while ago, he was just kind of lingering in the background with his musket and pumping his face.
Now, I wouldn’t tell him any of this because he’d probably turn me into one of those stylish Pat Boone-style hats, but i’d like to see just a little more effort from you, Mountaineer.
7:30 p.m.
With 6:45 left to play, the Hoyas currently boast a 22-14 lead over West Virginia. The Mountaineers have managed to keep up, but the score isn’t indicative of the stranglehold Georgetown has on this game. Roy Hibbert is dominating down low against a smaller Mountaineers lineup. The senior center already has 11, and being the expert mathematician that I am, that means he has accounted for half of the team’s output despite getting bumped around in the post.
He even nailed a 3-pointer at the top of the key, giving me bac flashbacks to the one he hit in the waning seconds to beat UConn.
On the flip side, Joe Alexander has been held in check. After dominating both of the previous two games he played in, Alexander just has two points on 1-of-4 shooting.
Pre-game
Hi all,
With the Huskies now on their way back to Connecitcut after being bounced from the Big East tournament by West Virginia, I’ll now be focusing on taking you through the magic carpet ride that is the final four.
I’ll be on hand for both of tonight’s games and most likely the finals Saturday night.
Today’s first match-up will feature the conference regular season champs, Georgetown (26-4), taking on the No. 5 seed Mountaineers (24-9).
Despite struggling to find a win to hang tis hat on throughout the season, West Virginia has rattled off four straight wins, thanks in large part to Joe Alexander. Although the junior failed to score a single point in last year’s Big East tournament, Alexander averaged 28 in wins over Providence and UConn.
Many may not have known who he was — including myself — until his fantastic play of late, but Alexander is emerging as one of the stars of the conference. If he continues to play the way he has tonight, I wouldn’t be surprised if NBA scouts don’t start sniffing around in the NCAA Tournament. At least, he will come into his senior season as one of the top three players and will be a legitimate Big East POY contender.
Complementing Alexander are Da’Sean Butler and Darris Nichols, who each scored in double-figures yesterday and streched the court for their budding star with their ability to hit the 3.
As for the Hoyas, there was no need to prove themselves here in Madison Square Garden — 26 wins and only four losses speaks for itself.
Georgetown is the reigning tourney champ and after last night’s 19-point beatdown of Villanova, it doesn’t seem like their ready to give that title up. Despite losing Jeff Green to the draft last year, the Hoyas are still a formidable oppoinent and should be a trendy pick to make it back to the Final Four.
The Hoyas have a significant size advantage over the Mountaineers, and Roy Hibbert should be able to have his way with Jamie Smalligan, West Virginia’s center who had more fouls (5) than he had points (2) last game.
Look for at least a 10-point win for Georegtown in this one.
My perdiction: Georgetown 76, West Virginia 58
Player of the Game: Hibbert
Probable Starters:
Georgetown
Jonathan Wallace, G, Sr.
Dajuan Summers, F, So.
Austin Freeman, G, Fr.
Jessie Sapp, G, Jr.
Roy Hibbert, C, Sr.
West Virginia
Joe Alexander, F, Jr.
Da’Sean Butler, F, Jr.
Alex Ruoff, F, Jr.
Darris Nichols, G, Sr.
Jamie Smalligan, C, Sr.
Back after the half.
The Big East regular season champions survived their quarterfinal matchup with the No. 8 seed Villanova Wildcats. The Hoyas knocked down a record-tying 17 3-pointers to down the Wildcats, 82-63.
The 17 3-pointers match the amount that West Virginia hit against Providence in the 2007 Big East tournament.
Georgetown advances to the semifinals and will play the winner of the UConn-West Virginia game Friday night at 7 p.m. on ESPN.
An extended game recap of this and all other games will be posted on dailycampus.com later tonight.
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