The Essence of March

I’d be required to turn in my fan card if I didn’t at least mention Syracuse winning the Big East Championship in one of the more improbable runs I’ve ever seen (the AP story is tarted up with ESPN graphics here). They looked dead heading into the tournament– having lost by 39 to lowly DePaul barely a week earlier– but won four games in four days by a total of eight points to defend their conference championship from last year.

It’s really hard to overstate how impressive Gerry McNamara’s performance was in this tournament, though the sports media are going to do their damnedest to. I don’t know if even ESPN is capable of it, though– he was instrumental in all four wins, hitting a game-winning shot against Cincinatti, forcing overtime against UConn, and setting up the game-winning lay-up against Georgetown. He didn’t have as dramatic a moment in the championship game, though the three-pointer he nailed (right in some Pitt player’s face) after Pittsburgh rallied to take a second-half lead was arguably as big a shot as any of the others. Pitt led for all of one play, and Syracuse never trailed again.

And he did all this while nursing a groin injury. If you’re male and unimpressed by that simple statement, consider this: one of the stories on the game said he was able to play Friday and Saturday only after receiving ice bath therapy. For a groin injury. Yeah, you’re impressed now…

(If you’re female, and don’t understand the previous paragraph, find a man, and have him read it. When he climbs down off the ceiling, ask him to explain.)

Let’s take a moment, though, to acknowledge the contribution of Josh Wright, a little-used sophomore guard who was on the court thanks to Eric Devendorf’s impulse control issues. Wright stepped up in the final seconds and hit four straight free throws (his only points of the game) to seal the victory. He doesn’t appear in the ESPN highlights package (free throws are boring, I guess), but Wright was huge. McNamara’s the King of Central New York today (he was already God Emperor of Scranton, PA), but Josh Wright deserves a dukedom at least.

I’m really ecstatically happy for this team. McNamara has been a rock for them for the last four years, and it looked like he was going to end his career in the worst way possible, limping out without an NCAA bid. For him to turn that disaster around and carry the team through to another Big East crown (and doing it with class), well, that’s what March is all about.

And the fun is just getting started…

7 comments

  1. Also, those free throws were one-and-ones, making it *even more critical* that he hit them. And there were some really long delays before he could shoot as the refs tried to figure out how much time was on the clock.

    Go, Josh Wright.

  2. It’s too bad the Orange that they played like crap during the regular season (especially that big loss to DePaul). I’ve heard they won’t get higher than a 7 seed (and more likely, an 8 or 9), which means they’re in for a tough road in the tournament. Of course, they showed they can beat a top seed during the Big East tourney. And, hey, if they come across a team that gives ’em trouble, they can always poke the eye out of their best player’s face. That’s how it’s done in the Big East, right?

  3. So, Chad, have you entered the scienceblogs NCAA tournament pool? If you have, your nickname is so cryptic as to be undecipherable.

    Consider this an official invitation to join — for you and all your readers. You just need to go to:

    http://tournament.fantasysports.yahoo.com/men

    In order to join the group, go to the game front page and click on the “Sign Up” button to create a team. After completing registration, or if you already have a team, click the “Create or Join Group” button and follow the path to join an existing private group. Then, when prompted, enter the following information…

    Group ID#: 26228
    Password: e-mail me for the password at dave–@–wordmunger–.–com.

  4. I’m not much of a sports fan, so I was skimming until I got to “If you’re female, and don’t understand the previous paragraph…”, at which point I rolled my eyes and went back up to read a bit.

    Then I had to climb down from the ceiling.

  5. RPM: t’s too bad the Orange that they played like crap during the regular season (especially that big loss to DePaul). I’ve heard they won’t get higher than a 7 seed (and more likely, an 8 or 9), which means they’re in for a tough road in the tournament.

    I’m shocked to see that they got a 5. Which, of course, means that they’re primed to lose to Texas A&M in the first round, but whatever. The Big East tournament run was worth a lot.

    Dave: So, Chad, have you entered the scienceblogs NCAA tournament pool? If you have, your nickname is so cryptic as to be undecipherable.

    I’m in there as “StampCollecting,” as in “In science, there is only physics. All the rest is stamp collecting.”

    I’ll post something here a little later.

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