“Catch a wave…”

About 8 hours before the Connecticut Huskies beat the Arizona Wildcats in the West Regional tonight, I watched the final 30 minutes of Arizona’s win over Duke from Thursday. I wanted to make sure I saw that incredible second half the Wildcats had, before tonight’s game tipped.



Out duked

 It was great, just like that last nice wave on a long day at the beach. It wasn’t the best half of Cat basketball I’ve ever seen, but for a team that wasn’t really supposed to be even playing in that game, it was very nice, just like that last great wave.

It was different from most of the games I’ve watched this tournament, not only the Arizona games, but most games. This game was filled with runs by each team, and I had it 3-3, and Arizona up by one, when the next run fell to Kemba and the Huskies, and the final run by the Wildcats wasn’t quite enough.

So it goes with our teams too often, but with this one it doesn’t feel that bad, because it was a group of kids that really weren’t supposed to be this good, or this lucky.

Before the Wildcats in-bounded the ball for the last possession of the game I said to Susan "One time I would like to be lucky enough to see my team hit a 3 pointer at the buzzer to win."

Then I said, "You know, maybe they’ve already used up all their luck?"

Yeah, weren’t they a little bit lucky in the Memphis State game, when they somehow held on due to a Derrick Williams blocked shot at the end, or how they had already lost the Texas game, when they got that 5-second call?

The game tonight had all these waves of good play by each team. I was thinking it was similar to sitting at a table in Las Vegas, playing "21," and how sometimes it doesn’t matter what your cards are. Sometimes the dealer keeps busting, and sometimes he hits 21 on his sixth card to beat you. The money comes and goes, just like the points in a game of basketball come and go. It’s like catching that last wave and riding for what seems like forever and a split second at the same time, and hoping it doesn’t slam the crap out of you when it breaks.



"and you're sittin' on top of the world"

 So, Derrick Williams will declare for the NBA, and Arizona will take on 4 top recruits and reload for 2011-12. The expectations that did not exist for this just past season will be there for the next. I can’t wait.

Surf’s up.