12/22/24
March 21, 2002
IU WINS! IU WINS!: For the first time in years, IU is proceeding to the Elite 8, knocking down the number one team in the country. The last time Indiana beat Duke in the tournament in 1987, they went all the way. Could it happen again?
posted by insomnyuk to basketball at 08:45 PM - 17 comments
God, that sucked. :( Duke fans are going to wonder for a long time how Boozer could have possibly missed that last tip-in, after having been so automatic from that range the entire season.
Oh well... has to happen to most of the teams. Big congrats to IU for winning, and for not folding early when they could easily have done so.
posted by tieguy at 08:53 PM on March 21, 2002
The last time I actually cried after a basketball game (sappy bastard that I am) was the 87 final. It happened again tonight. IU came back from a 17 point defecit to beat the best team in the country. Enough said. They are ready to play. Oh yeah, and GYC, if you're out there, you can suck on my nuts until you choke, as the Illini are bound to.
posted by ttrendel at 09:07 PM on March 21, 2002
I choose to rephrase that- the 'best' team in the country
posted by ttrendel at 09:10 PM on March 21, 2002
"Oh yeah, and GYC, if you're out there, you can suck on my nuts until you choke, as the Illini are bound to."
That's just not appropriate. Follow up to this comment in the lockerroom.
posted by tieguy at 09:25 PM on March 21, 2002
And clearly Duke isn't the 'best' team in the country and hasn't been since...well, it's easy to say 'since Shane graduated' but at least everyone should have known since the middle of the season, when KU was spanking everyone and Maryland kicked our ass. Despite what the polls said, this team had trouble focusing for 40 minutes and just couldn't quite put it all together. <shrug> Clearly just wasn't meant to be this year, though I did expect us to get further than the sweet 16.
posted by tieguy at 09:29 PM on March 21, 2002
The game went into Indiana's hands when Jason Williams missed a wide open layup. At that point (around nine minutes left) I called it for Indiana, they were out rebounding Duke and outplaying them in the paint. The same thing happened when Duke lost to Virginia, Williams was off his game, got emotional, and screwed up at the end of the game.
posted by insomnyuk at 09:34 PM on March 21, 2002
Well, it really went south when we had three starters with four fouls, which made it really, really hard to play good D, and without turnovers and such, our offense tends to get into a rut. So that was the real beginning of the end, I think. But yeah, I've never seen Jason miss a layup like that. I'm sure that's when a whole lot of Duke fans had their first really serious Oh Shit moment.
Oh well. I've got tickets to the Duke women's games this weekend... so as K says, Next Game.
no, I swear I'm not fervently wishing Jason changes his mind about leaving early. I swear. :)
posted by tieguy at 09:43 PM on March 21, 2002
And P.S.: Go Kent State :)
posted by tieguy at 09:45 PM on March 21, 2002
Sweet. 74-73, same score as when they beat the Cuse. Cept that time I wasn't happy :) The curse of Knight strikes in a big way as it's his old team that knocks out Duke (after they won back to back, he cursed them, saying they'd never win while he was around. Last year, he wasn't, so they did. This year, he's back, and they lost.) Gotta love curses :) Time to get on the horn and rub it in some more to my sister (Duke '03). :)
posted by Bernreuther at 10:40 PM on March 21, 2002
Boomer!..................................................................
...................................................................Sooner! What a great set of games I witnessed tonight. In the entire history of my life, I'm not sure I've had a day of sports play out as perfectly as tonight has.
posted by howa2396 at 02:11 AM on March 22, 2002
Wow, that was a fantastic game...I only saw the last three or four minutes. All Indiana had to do on the last play was stay out of the way, because they had the four point lead, then Fife fouled Williams on the three-pointer. I'm not a lip reader, but it looked like Indiana coach Mike Davis said "What the fuck are you doing?" after the foul. Then Jason Williams misses the last shot of his college career, and Boozer couldn't make the put-back shot. Great game. I thought Boozer was fouled on the put-back shot, but they let 'em play. (I'm not a Duke fan, it just looked like a foul to me.) Duke blew a 17-point lead, and Indiana showed a lot of courage and heart to stay in the game, then come back and win.
posted by kirkaracha at 03:14 AM on March 22, 2002
ding dong the witch is dead! which ole witch? the wicked witch. ding dong the wicked witch is dead. hi ho, the merry-o, ding dong the wicked witch is dead. she's gone where the devils go. below. below below. yo ho! let's play some ball and sing. and ring the bell now!
posted by danostuporstar at 08:45 AM on March 22, 2002
so did anyone pick two of last night's four winners in their bracket? i only picked up points for oklahoma and still moved up 91,000 places on yahoo. how anybody can think march madness is not the absolute most fun playoff of any sport is beyond me.
posted by danostuporstar at 08:59 AM on March 22, 2002
As much as I enjoy watching NCAA basketball in March, I never watch it any other time. This is strictly a playoff-only sport for me. And danostuporstar, the only playoff that I think is more exciting is a Stanley Cup playoff overtime game. Especially if it goes to the 2nd overtime or beyond. Even if I don't have a rooting interest in either of the teams, I can't turn off a NHL playoff overtime game. I've stayed up 'til 2am to watch them finish (NYI vs Wash c.1987, Phil vs Pitt c.1999) and felt like I was as exhausted as the players.
posted by grum@work at 11:32 AM on March 22, 2002
Grum, ah, two classic games....... But Philly-Pittsburgh '99 was my favorite game of all time. Just excrutiating! I think I woke up my whole neighborhood when Primeau put the winner in at 2:30 that morning. Being a Pitt alum & a Duke fan, I was absolutely crushed following the pair of sensational contests in Kentucky last night. I took the Pitt loss even harder though, knowing 1) They beat themselves last night, shooting as poorly as I've ever seen using terrible judgement in their shot selection (especially Knight at the end of regulation decided to dish to Page instead of continuing his drive to the basket) and more importantly, 2) Knowing they were that close to a legit shot at playing into the Final 4. Ah well, knowing everyone but Johnson will return next season calms me a little bit. As for the Duke game, what a tough one for Devils fans (myself included). Duke got what they deserved though, and regardless of Williams unbelievable miss at the foul line and Boozer's botched shot, they never should have gotten lazy when they got up by 17. Give Indiana all the credit in the world, what an amazing comback.
posted by rosey8810 at 12:42 PM on March 22, 2002
I loved that Pitt-Philly game too (wasn't it 2000? Or was that another one), although for entirely different, female-related reasons :) I agree though... I am not a hoops fan at all but March Madness is so exciting. And as a hockey fan, I have a hard time changing the channels on any game, but an in a playoff OT game you won't even catch me flipping channels during commercials (and I am a commercial surfer like you've never seen...)
posted by Bernreuther at 05:09 AM on March 23, 2002
I can't believe Williams got fouled on the 3 pointer with 4 seconds left, and then he missed the free throw! Gotta love those last minute games. I think this gives Indiana a good shot at the Final Four.