It's over. The 2005-2006 college basketball season has officially come and gone, but not without first providing another exhilarating tournament. In a few years time, most will probably remember that Florida won its first national championship in basketball.
Aside from that, however, memories will most likely fade over time as future NCAA tournaments overtake the tournaments of years past in the short-term memory banks of the sporting world. With that in mind, it's time to look at the most memorable aspects of this year's big dance while the memories are still fresh.
16) The Success of the Missouri Valley Conference
Many criticized the selection committee for including four MVC schools in the field of 64. The pundits hypothesized that the MVC schools would be sent packing early, and by doing so, would prove that the spots they occupied in the tournament would have been better utilized by teams from larger conferences who could have made a larger impact.
Not so fast.
Sure, Northern Iowa and Southern Illinois didn't make any noise this year, but Bradley and Witchita State made enough to carry the conference. While supposed power conferences like the Big 10 didn't have any schools survive the first weekend, the Bradley Braves and the Witchita State Shockers both finished amongst the final 16 teams in the country, which is more than I can say for perennial powerhouses like Illinois, North Carolina, and Michigan State.
15) The Illinois/Washington Game
In one of the most bizarre games of the entire college basketball season, Washington beat Illinois 67-64 in a second-round matchup.
How was this game bizarre, you ask? Let's start off by mentioning that Illinois started the game by making only four of its first 25 field goal attempts and was down by 14 points in the first half. The Fighting Illini managed to bridge the gap to two before halftime and promptly scored 12 of the first 14 points in the second half. After being down by 14, the Illini were up by 11 almost three-fourths of the way through the game.
hen Washington stepped up. Led by Brandon Roy and Illinois-native Justin Dentmon (of course), the Huskies stormed back to win a game they had seemingly won, lost, and been blown out of.
14) Brandon Roy
Speaking of the Washington guard, he showed many hoops fans around the country what they had been missing all year. If you watched any of Washington's games in the tournament, you undoubtedly heard the commentators going on and on about how Roy had the numbers and the game to be considered for national player of the year, but had virtually gone unnoticed.
In my opinion, Connecticut had the most talent of any team in the country and when they played Washington, the best player on the court was Brandon Roy. Although Roy had some pretty good statistics, his impact was not measurable by looking solely at numbers. Anytime something good happened regarding Washington, Brandon Roy was almost always involved. In fact, if not for Roy's foul trouble in the UConn game, Washington could have easily advanced past the Huskies of the Northeast, as Conncecticut made up a lot of ground with Roy on the bench.
Don't forget: as I mentioned above, Roy was the primary catalyst for Washington's comeback victory against Illinois in the previous round.
13) Rashad Anderson's "Clutchness"
In the sports world, there are many players that get it done throughout the game and freeze up when it matters most. In basketball, these are known as the "Peja Stojakovics." Conversely, there are the "Robert Horrys" of the world; the guys who play their respective roles to a tee, then turn into stone cold assasins when the game is on the line. College basketball's Robert Horry is Connecticut's Rashad Anderson.
Anderson, who has seemingly been on campus forever, is the guy who gets the ball at the end of the game for one of the best programs in the country during his tenure. UConn would not be so highly-regarded without Anderson. Keep in mind, if you were to take away Robert Horry from the Houston teams of the mid-'90s and the Shaq/Kobe Laker teams that won NBA titles, it's quite possible that they wouldn't have won anything. Ditto for Rashad Anderson. When you are the most dangerous player on a dangerous team at the most dangerous time, you are invaluable.
We should all commit to memory his three-pointer to send the Uconn/Washington game into overtime with someone right in his face although everyone knew the ball was going to him.
12) The Toughness of Randy Foye and Allan Ray
Villanova was dealt a huge blow last season when it was learned that its best big man, Curtis Sumpter, was lost for this season due to a knee injury. During the Big East tourney, Villanova was dealt another potentially devastating blow, when one of its All-American guards, Allan Ray, was poked in the eye. This wasn't the type of eye poke that a player can recover from after a few minutes and resume playing. This is the type of poke that lands a player in the hospital before the game is even over.
Despite the eye poke taking place roughly a week prior to the start of the NCAA tournament, Ray was able to tough it out. He practiced just a few days after the incident and played in his team's first-round game. He then helped lead his team to an appearance in the Elite Eight.
That appearance, however, would not have been possible were it not for the heroics of Villanova's other All-American guard, Randy Foye. Foye, who had overcome a multitude of tough breaks in his young life, scored six straight points at the end of regulation and added a three-pointer and a layup in overtime to propel the Wildcats to a one-point victory over Boston College.
Foye's performance was all the more spectacular considering his backcourt mate, Ray, was having an off-night and that Foye played all 45 minutes of the contest. During the crunchtime portion of the game, Villanova's coach, Jay Wright, asked Foye if he was able to continue going. Foye's response? "It's my career. I have got it."
Villanova may have lost before the end of the tournament, but the toughness displayed by Ray and Foye, two of the nations's best players, ensured that nobody thought of them as losers.
11) The Ending of the Texas/West Virginia Game
In my area of the country, this game wasn't televised in its entirety. No worries. I saw what I needed to see. With just a few minutes to go, we were presented with this game. When it came on, it didn't seem terribly interesting. Texas seemed to have everything under control. Before we knew it, West Virginia had cut it to a one possession game. I wanted the Mountaineers to tie the game because I wanted to see one of those games that end up in the annals of the NCAA tournament for years to come. Well, this game was one of those, only not in the way I imagined it.
As West Virginia kept chipping away, I became more and more juiced. Finally, with about five seconds or so remaining, West Virginia's Kevin Pittsnogle squared up and drilled a three. Finally! A tie game! Before I could finish cheering, Texas' A.J. Abrams had taken the inbounds pass, raced down the floor with time running out, and passed it. Yes, passed it for THREE! Kenton Paulino knocked it down as the final buzzer sounded.
What started off as a boring final few minutes turned into a breathtaking final 20 seconds as Texas avoided being "Pittsnogled," and instead, "Paulinoed" the Mountaineers home. Now, that's why we love this tournament.
10) LSU Down Low
If you go onto ESPN's basketball site, you should find a draft lottery simulator. Here, anyone can press the "simulator" icon and watch it present different scenarios of the draft order and which players would be picked at any given spot according to team need. Trust me, it's less complicated than it sounds. Regardless, a few weeks ago, a buddy of mine and I were bored and playing with this thing when his team, the Seattle Supersonics, ended up with the third pick. The simulator had the Sonics taking Tyrus Thomas, forward, Louisiana State. At that point, I'm pretty sure the words out of my mouth were, "who the #@! is Tyrus Thomas?"
Well, a lot has changed in the last few weeks. If someone asks me who Tyrus Thomas is from this point on and I say that I don't know, it means I'm suffering from amnesia. That is the only logical explanation, because after watching this tournament, I have a feeling that Tyrus Thomas is not going to be easily forgotten.
He brought down 13 boards while swatting five shots, one to essentially end any shot of a comeback against Duke. In that game, he scored four of his nine points inside the last minute. He followed up this performance by registering 21 points, 13 rebounds, and 3 blocks against Texas. He shot 10-for-15 in that game and looked as if he was one of the best players in the country. When he was forced to the bench late in the game due to cramps, the impact was clear. It was just as clear when he returned shortly thereafter. I have a feeling that if the Sonics were to somehow obtain Thomas now, nobody would scoff at the notion. By the way, did I mention he was only a freshman? Wow!
Thomas' more celebrated counterpart down low, is Glen Davis. You may know him as "Big Baby." Big Baby is not only a great moniker, but a huge load. He's listed at 6'9", 310 pounds, but looks as if he's shorter and heavier. During the Texas game, he patiently watched the wing players brick three-pointer after three-pointer. When he finally got the ball, he knew what to do with it. He continuously punished Texas' big men and although it was Tyrus Thomas who kept the Tigers in the game, it was Big Baby who won it in the end.
Davis stepped up in overtime and hit the biggest shot of the game, a three-pointer of all things, to give LSU some breathing room. It's as if he told the brick-laying guards on his team, "This is how you shoot the rock." The best part about the three was that this guy, the SEC Player of the year, had hit only a handful all year.
When he took the shot in overtime, it wasn't because he was standing there wide-open all day or because the shot clock was running out. He just rolled to the spot, took the pass, and calmly blasted it through the net in rhythm. It must be a nightmare to have to guard this guy. He bangs and bangs down low and then just when you think it's safe to leave him out on the perimeter, the Big Baby makes you soil your diaper.
9) George Mason University, Final Four Team
With all due respect to the Florida Gators, the biggest story of this tournament was George Mason's run to the Final Four. CBS analyst Billy Packer blasted the selection committee for choosing the Patriots to make the field of 64, and it's worth mentioning that he wasn't the only one.
If you thought the MVC teams felt disrespected due to the criticism the conference received for having four teams make the tournament, wait until you get a load of this. The George Mason players felt disrespected for all of the attention being spent on the MVC. They thought that the best mid-major conference was the Colonial Athletic Association. I don't know whether it is or not, but I do know that the best mid-major team, the George Mason Patriots, hailed from that league.
How good was George Mason? Well, they started off by beating Michigan State, a recent national champion and yearly Final Four contender. They then knocked off defending national champion North Carolina. Then, in the battle of the mid-majors, George Mason beat MVC representative Wichita State for the second time in about a month. Finally, George Mason took out the national champion of two years ago, Connecticut, in the type of game that you would expect UConn to somehow pull out. It was an overtime game and the final margin was two. The more experienced and more talented group is usually a good bet to pull that off, but don't tell that to the Masons.
By knocking off the last two national champions, as well as a perennial title contender in Michigan State, Jai Lewis, Will Thomas, and company showed that they not only belonged, but they were elite. They won by comfortable margins and they won by very small margins. All in all, they showed that they didn't get to the Final Four by accident. You don't accidentally beat the calber of teams they did by being lucky. You don't pull off two-point victories in overtime against one of the best teams in the country unless you can dig deep and unless you're one of the best teams in the country.
George Mason did all of this, but what Jim Larranaga's squad did for the long-term outlook of the tournament may end up being groundbreaking. The Patriots, along with the 1986 LSU Tigers, are the lowest-seeded teams to make the Final Four. The difference is that LSU was from a large conference, and a perenially strong conference to boot. This George Mason team is truly a Cinderella story. On many years, they probably would not have even been chosen to go to the dance, despite their impressive record entering the tournament, because of the conference they play in.
In the next few years, we will most likely see what kind of impact this run has had on the college game. With the successes of Bradley, Wichita State, and George Mason, the smaller conferences are showing they can compete with anyone.
In 1998, Gonzaga made an impressive run through the tournament and have been mainstays since that time. Gonzaga's success had a profound impact on the game. Back then, it was unimaginable to have a player from the West Coast Conference receive player of the year attention, as Adam Morrison did this year. Not only that, Gonzaga paved the way for more schools from smaller conferences to get consideration for the field of 64. Due to the fact that they never advanced quite far enough, however, what they were unable to do was secure high seedings for said schools.
Now, thanks to a "Gonzaga-beneficiary" school like George Mason advancing to the final weekend of the college basketball season, every school might have a chance to really be considered on an equal playing field. We can only wait and see.
Please stay tuned for the second part of the Sweet Sixteen.
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