Finally, a good game?

It's halftime in the national championship game between Memphis and Kansas, and thus far, the predicted blowout (for whichever team) has failed to materialize. It's 33-28 Jayhawks at the break.

20 minutes till One Shining Moment!

P.S. If this is true, it would be the greatest "shining moment" of them all: "Nantz seemed to go out of his way to mention Packer’s 34th-straight Final Four broadcast. It does seem like this could be his last." More here.

UPDATE: OVERTIME!!! Memphis couldn't hit its free throws down the stretch (missing 4 of its last 5), opening the door for Kansas to tie it on an AWESOME three-point shot with 2.1 seconds left by Mario Chalmers. The Jayhawks finished regulation on a 12-3 run. And now the Tigers have to play OT without Joey Dorsey, who has fouled out.

UPDATE 2: Rock, Choke, Tigers?? Memphis has totally collapsed here. In addition to the free-throw woes, they haven't scored a field goal in over 5 minutes, and it's now 69-63 Kansas with 2:29 left. Poor Jay. He must be losing his mind right now. The Tigers had a national championship within their grasp -- I was already working on the "Amy Greca wins the pool" write-up -- and they let it slip away. Can they get it back?

UPDATE 3: Kansas wins!

Sorry, Jay. :(

P.S. Here's what my current list of TypePad blog posts looks like. The little pencil icon indicates a draft post.

Amy Greca wins! Dewey Defeats Truman! Heh.

P.P.S. I understand John Calipari wants to praise his players and blame himself, but um, how can he say "they did everything they could" when they missed 4 of 5 free throws in the final minute, any one of which would have been enough to win the game?

P.P.P.S. Let it be known that, after an incredibly weak start, I actually won the Loy Household Sub-Pool, thanks in large part to my correct prediction that Kansas would win the championship. (I believe that's the first time I've correctly picked the national champ since UConn won it all in '99.) The final standings were:

Brendan 266
Becky 213
Toby, Sasha & Butter 197
Loyette 194
Robbie 133

Yes, I'm bragging about doing better than my three-month-old daughter, my cats and my dog. :) Hey, when you finish tied for 122nd place in the overall pool, this is what you're reduced to!

If we expand the field a bit, to include all immediate family, we get:

Ginny 310
Ted 290
Leanna 287
Brendan 266
Soren 257
Becky 213
Toby, Sasha & Butter 197
Joe 195
Loyette 194
Jen 174
Robbie 133
Casey 35

Congrats to Ginny! And to Casey! :)

Comments

[chris a]

looks like gene cross is the leading canidate for the toledo job. I think he is following me; DePaul, ND, then Toledo.

[NDLauren]

OMG

[NDLauren]

That shot was freaking fabulous.

[Brendan Loy]

Jay must be going nuts right now.

[Marty West]

F YOU JOHN CALIPARI!!!!!

[Brendan Loy]

Did John Calipari miss those three throws? Did John Calipari commit a dumb ticky-tack foul that fouled him out of the game and gave Kansas free points with the clock stopped? Did John Calipari let Kansas get that crucial steal and three-pointer?

[Jim Hu]

And now we get to see what Boone Pickens will do...

[Jay Johnson]

I don't have anything to say other than feeling like my guts have been ripped out.

[B. Minich]

Wow . . . feel sorry for Jay . . . that's gotta hurt. So close . . . sorry man.

Nantz mentioned that Memphis has lost three close ones now in the NCAA championship . . . better luck next year, man!

[Jay Johnson]

I still don't understand our play in the first half. Screens and posting up is definitely not the offense we play. If we let Rose take the ball off the bounce and drive and kick with any kind of proficiency in the first half, I think we do better.

[JD]

No, "Amy Greca Wins" was simply covering your bases as anyone in a similar situation with time pressure would do. Just like in 2003 when I was working on a centerpiece for the Chicago Cubs going to the World Series...uh, on second thought, never mind.

[Brendan Loy]

Well, yes and no. If I had been "covering my bases" in the classic sense that you describe, I would have made a write-up for both eventualities well before the game, and had either one ready to go. In reality, I didn't write anything until the final minutes (though I had both lead sentences written in my head: "Just call it the Kansas-Nebraska Act" and "There's a new power couple in Living Room Times basketball pools: the Grecas"), and at that time I only wrote the one for Amy/Memphis, because it appeared that was the going to be one I'd need. I didn't start a "Whitfield wins" draft until halfway through overtime. :)

[Casey]

I am so great... I am so great... Everybody loves me, I am so great...

Read it and weep, losers! Last place again! Woooooo hooooooooo!!!!

[Brendan Loy]

looks like gene cross is the leading canidate for the toledo job. I think he is following me; DePaul, ND, then Toledo.

Hehe. That's funny. (Though Gene Cross leaving Notre Dame is NOT funny. Nooooo! Does this mean Mike Brey will start sucking again?)

In other news, if it weren't for your ND homer picks (I'm not including ND over Wazzu in that category, but ND over UNC and Louisville definitely counts as homerism :) you would have finished sixth in the pool.

[Brendan Loy]

(This from the guy whose bracket predicted a national semifinal between #4-seed USC and #6-seed Gonzaga in 2002 -- with the Trojans winning the championship, if I remember correctly -- and who picked the Zags to win it all in 2004, 2005 and 2006. Heh.)

[Marty West]

The only thing good about this win is that we get to hear Calipari bitch for another year about being underrated.

Maybe CDR can take some of this time to work on free throws instead of getting lame ass tats. I still don't understand how college/pro ball players can consistently miss free throws. It's mind boggling.