March Madness
March 16, 2009
The first of these incredible games involved my alma mater, the University at Albany. The Great Danes endured an up-and-down 2008-09 season marred by injuries and inconsistent offensive play. As Hank Williams Sr. would say in his 1952 hit Half as Much, “You only build me up to let me down”. The Danes finished the non-conference season with an impressive 8-5 record (3 of the 5 losses were to the hands of NCAA Tournament teams), and raced to a remarkable 3-1 start in America East Conference play, registering wins over the league’s top three teams. Subsequently, the Danes would go on to win only three more conference games, slipping all the way down to 7th place in the conference. It was an interesting season for the Danes, to say the least, one that was best summarized by Albany Times-Union sports columnist Mark McGuire: “Perhaps the one consistent thing about this 15-15 Great Danes team is they are consistently, invariably and unalterably unpredictable. Praise this team, and they’ll go into a tailspin. Bury them, and they come out fighting. (…) Nothing this team does should surprise anyone at this point. It can be ugly, but that doesn’t mean it’s not pretty fun to watch.” (McGuire, 2009). OK, one more thing was consistent this year: the approximate shelflife of Head Coach Will Brown’s sport coat. I don’t think it made it to the first media timeout all season long…
- Hank Williams Sr. is considered the father of country music.
Throw the records out the window. The seventh-seeded Great Danes, who would host the 2009 America East Tournament, can be as dangerous as anyone on their home floor. When the SEFCU Arena is filled to capacity, it becomes a pretty intimidating environment for visiting teams. One only needs to pull out the tape of the 2006 Conference finals vs. Vermont to see what I mean. That was the one thing that UAlbany supporters could cling to all season long. Let’s win two in our building in March to reach the conference finals, and anything can happen. In the end, that darned near happened. The short-handed Great Danes welcomed the second-seeded Vermont Catamounts, led by the redoubtable two-time Player of the Year Marqus Blakely and 2,000 point scorer Mike Trimboli. That did not seem to bother the adrenaline-pumped Great Danes, who made life miserable for Blakely in the paint and seemed to be able to score at will (no pun intended) in the first half. However, the second half, much to our chagrin, was a microcosm of the Danes’ season: four field goals in 20 minutes, foul trouble for their star players (i.e., Tim Ambrose) and a flurry of inopportune turnovers (including a dribble off the foot of Will Harris with four seconds left in regulation). But credit the Danes’ suffocating defense, relentless rebounding and toughness, as they pulled off the upset in an overtime thriller before an electrifying crowd at the SEFCU Arena. Though sloppy at times, this game was one for the ages, the type that will be talked about for years to come, as it often is when these two teams tangle. It would be difficult to imagine a more intense and spirited battle between two rivals who desperately want to hear their names called on Selection Sunday. That was Game 1.
- Will Brown’s jacket did not often make it to the first media timeout.
And finally, Game #3 will probably live on as one the most incredible college basketball games ever played, especially when you consider the setting and the circumstances. To both the Connecticut Huskies and the Syracuse Orange, last Thursday’s quarterfinal game in the Big East tournament at Madison Square Garden was insignificant. Well, OK, let me rephrase, because I don’t ever want to say that a game is insignificant. But let’s be honest, Jim “Not a Dime Back” Calhoun’s Huskies were going to be a #1 or #2 seed in the NCAA Tournament no matter how they fared in the conference tournament. And the good guys, er the 20th ranked Syracuse Orange, were assured a berth in the Big Dance, with at worst a #5 seed. 70 minutes of rough-and-tumble Big East basketball later, the Orange had themselves a 127-117 victory in six overtime periods. The statistics from this game are astounding, as you can see from the box score. There were too many memorable moments to recap here, but what stands out is the unbelievable amount of heart and courage that these players exhibited in this epic game. Especially when you consider the fact that the Orange had played 40 minutes the previous night, and had just gotten through an 18-game schedule in the toughest conference in NCAA history. That, folks, is why I love college basketball. In spite of all the negative things that can be written and discussed about sports and athletes these days, this particular game really made me feel good about being a sports fan (and also a Syracuse fan!). What an incredible effort!
As a side note, what made the 6-OT thriller that much more enjoyable was the broadcasting crew consisting of Sean McDonough, Jay Bilas and Bill Raftery on ESPN. I have always maintained that this is the best crew in college basketball because they offer an excellent mix of knowledge, humour and enthusiasm. They complement each other as well as any broadcasting crew in any sport. New Jersey native Bill Raftery, in my opinion, is a treat to listen to. He loves the game of basketball and enhances telecasts with catchy sayings that never become annoying (ex.: a little Nylon!, Onions!, Send it in!). For my money, though, Sean McDonough is the best in the business. And I’m not just saying that because he’s a Syracuse graduate and a former Red Sox broadcaster. Perhaps part of the reason behind my admiration for him is the fact that I have fond memories of listening to him on CBS during baseball post-seasons in the early 90’s, which is about as far back as my baseball memory stretches. Besides Expos and Jays games back then, I didn’t get the opportunity to watch many American broadcasts, and when I did, they were usually postseason games. Therefore, his voice is one of the few that I will always associate with my childhood. He also called one of the most memorable moments in baseball history, Joe Carter’s walk-off homerun in the 1993 World Series, which I will never forget. McDonough has the innate ability to use the right intonation for each moment, has the flair for the dramatic and has a great voice. You can also hear the passion for his work in his voice. We saw this during the 2006 Big East Tournament (when Gerry McNamara single-handedly won the conference title for the Orange and rescued its NCAA Tournament lif)e. And we saw it again last week. There are a lot of good broadcasters out there, but to me, he is the best. Here is a sample of his work:
Speaking of the ‘Cuse, it is the opinion of this scribe that they have the tools necessary to make a deep run in the NCAA Tournament. As we saw last week, they can beat the best teams in the country. They have a fantastic point guard in Jonny Flynn, a fearless scorer in Eric Devendorf, a sharpshooter in Andy Rautins who, when he’s on, is absolutely lethal, a resilient Belgian forward who can fill up a stat sheet, two tough big men and a Hall of Fame Head Coach.
So even though the Great Danes will not be in the field of 65 this year, the tournament will provide many more memorable games such as the ones I described above. It’s inevitable. And if it doesn’t, well Opening Day is in three weeks!
- Tim Ambrose and the Great Danes will make another run next season.
