Glory.
Remember this guy?
Last year, he missed two free throws with no time left on the clock. Just one of them would have put the game into overtime. Two of them would have given the Tigers a conference championship and an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. But the freshman missed them, and the team went to the NIT. Again.
The city really stuck with him though. They supported him whole-heartedly when he returned at point guard this year. No one said, "Oh yeah...that's that dumb ass who missed the free throws."
And just look at him now.
Hampered by a deep thigh bruise for over a month, he scored 22 points and 10 assists, including an AMAZING move at the buzzer with less than two minutes left in the game, where he exploded right, spun back left and floated the ball over the outstretched arm of Gonzaga's imposing big man.
It fell through the rim.
And one.
*The [sold-out] crowd goes wild!*
The Hero
We hadn't been to a Tigers basketball game since we had season tickets in the Pyramid. Back then, we sat on the fourth row directly across from the Tiger bench. My Kid would slap hands with the players when they came out and sometimes they would throw him their headbands after the game.
Now they're playing in the FedEx Forum, and we let our tickets lapse in opposition of the crazy extortion fees the university charges for season tickets. But when the #4 team in the nation (yours) plays the #8 team in the nation (Gonzaga) - who also happens to have the #1 player in the nation Idon'tcarewhatanyonesaysJJReddick - you buy tickets to the game and you go. Even if you have to sit in the nosebleed section.
I am not kidding. We were closer to those walkways under the ceiling than we were the actual basketball court.
On the plus side, it's much easier to recognize a zone defense when you're looking down on the floor rather than sitting directly on it.
It was the most amazing fucking game I've ever seen. As in "...Seeing your team shut down Adam Morrison...PRICELESS."
Today, we bask.
