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Final Four Thoughts
By
Rob Smitherman Just got back from New Orleans. What a great Final Four in a great city! A friend, C., and I went to both Saturday and Monday games, and they were each exciting in their own way. The Kansas-Marquette game was a clinic, I don't think I have ever attended a game where a team played such a perfect game; Kansas did very little wrong. Marquette couldn't keep up, even though Dwayne Wade gets my vote as the best player of the tournament; he was incredible, even better than Carmello Anthony, because he was carrying his team while Anthony had a great supporting cast at Syracuse. I will say that the Marquette fans were the most excited, most spirited, and most obvious of all four teams, they all wore bright yellow T-shirts and were just so happy to be there. And when Kansas fans did their "Rock-chalk-Jayhawk" cheer, which they only do with victory is assured (they could have done it at halftime, but that would have been rude) it sent shivers up my spine; that has to be the coolest chant in all of sports. The Texas-Syracuse game was exciting, back and forth, and was the best performance by an individual player the entire weekend--Anthony put on an NBA-worthy performance, he could not be stopped. He hit turn-around jumpers, dunks, and 3-pointers. He rebounded, defended and passed the ball. An amazing performance that Texas just could not equal, even though they tried. And Brian Boddicker from Texas, well, let's just say my binoculars for some reason focused on him quite a bit. OMG, what a beautiful man. The final on Monday was also excellent, in a very different way. The place was packed again, more than 54,000 each day. You could just feel the excitement. The first half Syracuse just could not be stopped. It wasn't that Kansas played poorly, but now they knew how Marquette felt on Saturday. Everyone before the game was talking about the awesome 2-3 zone of Syracuse, but it didn't appear that Kansas had a problem with it. They shot about 50% and scored 42 points the first half, many of them layups, easy shots, or offensive rebounds because Nick Collison played against the zone perfectly, getting the ball at the foul line and driving or dishing to Graves on the block. But while Kansas shot 50% and had 42 points, Syracuse shot 65% or so, was almost perfect for 3-point shots, and had 53 points. Gerry McNamara could not miss (another guy who received much binocular time) and Anthony was his usual brilliant self. Syracuse finally cooled down and started making mistakes right before halftime, and that continued into the first 5 minutes of the second half, with Kansas cutting the lead to three. Then it was back and forth, Syracuse going up by 10, lead being cut, etc. With five minutes to go, Syracuse up about 8 or so, it looked like no one had any energy left to do anything, but then Kansas made a final run, digging into their reserves one last time. I know, Kansas had the foul shooting problem, but anyone who has played at any level knows how that can happen. And by that time Collison, who had played the whole game, was just tired, it appeared, and frustrated that all the effort expended was not getting them anywhere. Even with his misses from the foul line, he played the best all-around game of anyone that night, including Anthony, who didn't score that last 10 minutes or so of the game. When Collison finally fouled out with 12 seconds to go, he got the biggest ovation of the night, and not just from Kansas fans, or the neutral fans like me. The entire Syracuse section and the Syracuse bench stood and applauded, and even McNamara, standing on the court, clapped for him. Syracuse won because of their first half and because at the end they had just enough energy left, just barely, to play defense and not give Kansas open 3 point shots. It was a great game, well-played, exciting, dramatic, one of the best finals in many years. All four teams had class, both in victory and defeat. Syracuse could have copped an attitude, but while they were overjoyed by the victory they were also complementary of Kansas, and of Texas on Saturday. The sportsmanship and attitudes I believe were reflections of the coaches involved, especially Jim Boeheim of Syracuse and Roy Williams of Kansas, two class acts. Of course it helped that New Orleans is a unique city that not only doesn't care if you party, it encourages excess. It was funny that while Bourbon street was completely packed, especially Saturday night after the semis, the crowd extended only to St. Anne Street and then there was an invisible wall created by Oz and Bourbon Pub. At the gay end of Bourbon mostly locals, and a few confused straight couples in their 50s, wandered between the bars. NYCSportsFan and I met, along with C., and three Kansas fans, and we formed the Outsports Final Four club, and after a few refreshments vowed to travel to San Antonio next year and try to increase the gay college basketball fan participation. We did see a couple of Texas fans and one lone Orangeman in Lafitte in Exile, but otherwise it looked to be a straight, or at least closeted, crowd that attended the Final Four. Next year, I hope we can get more Outsports fans to experience the great sports experience that is the Final Four. |