Only in Dreams...

I've witnessed a lot of amazing things in sports over the years. I've probably seen about 100 buzzer-beaters live either on TV or in person. But tonight's, was definitely my favorite.

With just over a second remaining, Austin Rivers finally went into his shooting motion. Swoosh! Game, Duke. The Blue Devils had erased a 10-point deficit by going on a 13-2 run in the last 2:10 to knock off North Carolina at Chapel Hill 85-84. I'm not sure if I woke up my roommate, but it certainly took all of my willpower to restrain myself from yelling. I had dreamed last night that Duke would win on a buzzer beater. But I've also seen the Blues hoist the Stanley Cup in my dreams, so I certainly didn't trust that vision. But here I am, having seen it with my own eyes, and I'm still having trouble believing it.

The Tar Heels dominated that game starting around 12 minutes into the first half and continued to do so until two and a half minutes remained in the second. Every time Duke would get a stop, they would turn the ball over, miss a three-point shot, or get to the free throw line just to miss one or both attempts. If the Blue Devils scored, Carolina would answer almost immediately. No matter what Duke seemed to do, they couldn't get the lead below seven points starting at the 17:35 mark of the second half. And then bang! In a 21-second span, Tyler Thornton and Seth Curry both knocked down treys and just like that, it was a two-possession game.

Duke then took a charge, Ryan Kelly bricked a three, but followed his shot just like we're all taught to do from age five and up, and got his own rebound. He faked a pass and nailed a jumper tow make a two point game out of it. Kelly hit another jumper on the next possession that followed a Tyler Zeller 1-2 free throw trip and cut it to one. Zeller got fouled again and repeated the previous trip, going 1-2, setting up Duke to tie it with a two or win it with a three after gathering the rebound. Rivers opted for the latter. With ice water in his veins and his dad, Doc Rivers looking on from the stands, he dribbled behind the three-point line for a couple of seconds and eventually took the biggest shot of his life over Zeller. Rivers with that shot created a three-way tie for first place in the ACC and a goat in Zeller.

From an objective stand point, it should be really difficult for UNC fans to be upset with Zeller. The guy is seven feet tall, so he's not exactly used to guarding out on the arc. He also posted a double-double with 23 points and 11 boards. So sure, he missed a pair of free throws down the stretch and gave up the winning shot, but Rivers was 6-10 from long range on Wednesday. As George McFly would say, making that shot was simply a part of River's density. At the end of the night, it was easy to see that North Carolina was the better team. If Duke had an off night shooting the three, the game would've been a blowout to begin the second half. The Blue Devils took 38 three-pointer shots tonight, making 14. UNC only shot six, making one. Threes are great and can change a game, but they're not nearly as reliable as taking the ball to the basket. Duke will need to work on their inside game if they hope to sweep the Heels on March 3rd when they meet at Cameron Indoor Stadium to close the regular season. But for tonight, they can enjoy a massive win over their arch rivals and Rivers can dream about it for the rest of his life.

SLU Update:
The Billikens embarked on their last tough road trip of the season on Wednesday night, beginning at St. Joseph's with a 72-60 win. SLU will remain in Philadelphia for their Saturday afternoon tilt with La Salle, who lost at Richmond on Wednesday, knocking them out of what would've been a four-way tie for second in the Atlantic-10 standings. That tie currently involves the Billikens, Xavier, and UMass, all of who are 7-3 in conference play, with Temple a half game ahead at 7-2. The game won't be an easy one for SLU, as the Explorers are undefeated at home this season, including non-conference games. However, just two weeks ago the Billikens became the first A-10 team to win at Xavier in six years, so nothing is impossible. A sweep in Philly would certainly set the Bills up nicely, though, as they would then roll home for a couple of home games against Richmond and Fordham respectively, who are a combined 4-18 on the road this year

Thanks to Duke Basketball on WhoSay for the photo.

Billikens Basketball is Back

On Wednesday night, the St. Louis University Billikens did something that no Atlantic-10 team had done in six years. They won at Xavier.

The little kid in me wanted to do what I did as an eighth grader when the Billikens won an NCAA tournament game against the University of Massachusetts. When SLU made it to the second round of the big dance, I had just gotten home from middle school and watched the last ten minutes or so of the game. After they won, I sprinted around my house yelling, slipped on the hardwood floor in the hallway and hit my knee, which hurt quite a bit. I then got up and continued running around the house in circles yelling. I was simply more cautious when I got in the hallway. I was at work, so I didn't do that, but I certainly wanted to run through the halls. SLU went on to lose to Kentucky in the second round and I hate them to this very day for that very reason. I at least got to have reverse revenge on the Wildcats through Duke, though.

What's reverse revenge? It's bragging rights that you didn't know about when you became a fan of a team. I became a fan of Duke because my dad liked them and because my Aunt Missy's father, Papa, was a basketball manager for them many years ago. What I later found out is that one of the most famous college basketball games of all time involved Duke beating Kentucky on a buzzer beater by Christian Laettner to advance to the Final Four. I have enjoyed reverse revenge on the Cowboys via the Steelers and the Brewers and many others via the Cardinals as well. It's not as good as seeing it happen and not needing Wikipedia or Youtube to pull it up, but it works well enough to shut up most people. But I digress.

I've added reasons to hate the Wildcats over the year, like how they ran a good man out of town in Tubby Smith and replaced him with a twice-proven cheater, in John Calipari. Maybe they'll run Calipari out of town if he gets a Final Four vacated there like he did at Memphis and UMass. Kentucky also seems to have a hand in keeping my brackets from winning every year. I still have placed high enough to make the money the last two years, but haven't won. And by money I mean play money because betting real money on such things isn't legal. Now, back to the Billikens!

SLU hasn't had an at-large berth to the NCAA tournament since the Larry Hughes season that Kentucky ended. They went on a crazy run to win the 2000 Conference USA tournament, allowing them to lose to current head coach Rick Majerus' Utah squad, but that was an automatic berth. Everything is coming full circle now for the Billikens. The man who knocked them out of their last tournament is trying to lead them back there and their next big test is on the road against the last team that they defeated in the NCAA tournament: You guessed it. Frank Stallone. No, just kidding, it's UMass like I said earlier. But how often do I get to make references to old SNL bits in a sports blog? I think it's allowed since it's from roughly the same time period as the NCAA tournament game I'm referencing.

SLU's RPI jumped nine spots up to 42 in the country after Wednesday's win over Xavier. If they can knock off the Minutemen on Saturday, SLU would take the tiebreaker against one of the four schools that they are currently tied with for the conference lead before coming home against a very beatable St. Bonaventure team. Due to the Xavier victory, UMass isn't a must-win, but it certainly would be nice for the Bills to keep their run going before coming back home to Chaifetz Arena, where they lose very rarely and springboard SLU's season towards an at-large NCAA tournament berth that they've been anticipating for over a decade.