Are you kidding me? Alumni of UCSB are cheering in disbelief this afternoon after a thrilling 69-64 win against Long Beach State earned the Gauchos the Big West Championship (both regular season and tournament) and handed us a date for the Big Dance. This is freaking incredible.
The last time UCSB went dancing was 2002, when I was a sophomore, and they went down to Arizona (and some terrible officiating). This squad, though, seems to be more of a complete package, and should have fans hoping for a realistic first round win in the NCAA tournament, right? Let's just go with yes. The 49ers were bringing the heat toward the end of the game, but champions James Powell and James Nunnally (my son's name is James! This was meant to be), powered the crew through on the free throw line to seal the deal. OJ, Orlando Johnson, earned the tournament MVP award, as he led the Gauchos through thick and thin against UC Davis in the semifinals and LBSU in the finals.
After a regular season that started slow and ended amazingly, and a following this thrilling tournament, the Gauchos now advance to the NCAA Tournament, with dreams of getting to the Final Four in Indy (come on, let's be crazy optimistic fans). We enter into the Midwest bracket of the tournament, with our opening game in Milwaukee. While we were able to do one better than the last ranked #16 Lehigh Mountain Hawks (they have to face #1 Kansas), we are coming in ranked 15th, which puts us against recent media darlings, Ohio State. March 19, the #7 ranked Big Ten Champions (27-7, 14-4) from the Buckeye State are laying in wait for our mighty Gauchos (20-9, 12-4). This would be one of those shocking upsets that not a single person would pick on their brackets, outside of Isla Vista. So, I ask you: Do you believe in miracles? Can the Gauchos become one of the all time giant killers in NCAA Tournament history? Can Nunnally, Serna, and the boys lift the spirits of Gaucho Nation beyond our wildest dreams? Bring it on!!!
In other Tommy's team news:
> The Celtics dropped their Sunday game against the Cavs 93-104 and are now 10 back of the Cavs, and sitting 4th in the East. Dropping....dropping....
> The Angels and Cubbies are tied at 7 going into the ninth inning in spring training game #9 for the Halos. It's amazing, in this day and age, how hard it is to get a Spring Training box score.
> The Canucks look to keep things going against the Flamers tonight. At 42-23-3 (87 points), the Vannies are primed to hold onto that three spot in the West with 14 to go.
> Celtic won their second straight shutout this weekend, 3-0 over Kilmarnock, but still trail Rangers by 7 in the table. Robbie Keane with the hat trick, as he continue to show he is the best transfer window acquisition ever.
> Newcastle earned a draw with Middlebrough, 2-2, today to keep their lead atop the ELC at 4 over West Brom. How close are we to the season being over so we can get back to the EPL?
Man, blogging is hard now that I'm back to work. If only the LSF paid.
0 comments:
Post a Comment