Moving on... What this game really got me thinking about was how much better the NCAA Tournament is than the NIT. I know, I just blew your mind. You thought the NIT was much more exciting than teams actually competing for a National Championship. I know, it's an obvious comment. But how much better it is, is truly staggering. This game went into DOUBLE OT with Texas Tech sinking two late three pointers to get it there. But I didn't care. I'm not totally sure the Ole Miss crowd cared when the second overtime buzzer rang and they had won the game!
I love good basketball. I love good, well-played, high intensity basketball. Most importantly I love close basketball games, games where shots are taken that people actually remember. During the regular season I would rather watch Vermont and Marist play an overtime game than see Duke beat UNC by ten-- even if it's a good UNC team, not the crap they put out there this year. However, when it comes to March, I would rather watch a #1. seed crush a #16. by thirty than watch a double OT NIT game. Is it because I have a vested rooting interest in the #1. seed? I picked them in my bracket? That's probably part of it, but it's also because of what’s on the line. Every player in this game has been playing his entire life for this one moment. Yeah, you have the one-and-dones, players who use college as a means to an end. Forget about them, they matter not to us. I'm watching for the seniors dancing for the last time, the freshman dancing for their first, for all the players who in their heart of hearts know that they will most likely never be back. They are the ones that this truly means something too, and if they thought about that half as much as I do, one thing is for sure; no one would ever make a game winning shot again.
As Northern Iowa senior Ali Farokhmanesh splashed a 30 footer to beat UNLV and then hit the ballziest trey ball I’ve ever seen to, as phrased so aptly in NBA JAM "put the nail in the coffin" against Kansas, I found myself yelling, as I typically do, "Does he realize that every shot he has ever taken was for this one moment?! That every time he lifted, went for a run, shot hoops at the park and played one-on-one with his sister would have been a waste if he had missed? Can he come close to understanding that if he had missed he would have thought about that shot everyday for the rest of his life and it might have ruined him?!" I DON'T THINK HE DOES!!!! AND THAT'S THE BEAUTY OF IT!!!
Basketball is an action reaction sport. As much as Ali wants to tell us that he was thinking about the defender and about a pending trap and his sociology final as he took that three pointer, I know the truth. He wasn't thinking! At least he hardly was. His head was spinning so fast that all his brain could muster was "Up 1, losing ground, three pointer good," then he shot and all was good in the world.
I'm not trying to take anything away from anyone who has ever made a buzzer beater, you're great, but when everything is happening so fast, you just... kind of do it. Not having time to think about the negatives makes it easier. In contrast think about a kicker, a golfer, a bowler, even a basketball player on the stripe with two shots to tie the game with no time left. When you have a second to really gather yourself and think about the negatives, what's on the line...you tense up, you get nervous. This is exactly what makes Adam Vinatieri, Tiger Woods, Albert Pujols and Norm Duke (yes, including bowling here is mostly a joke) are so amazing. They consistently deliver knowing exactly what is on the line; the Superbowl, NL Championship series, the US Open, a bowling thing...
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