That Duke-UConn Game

I hope that you all were watching that Regional Final game between Duke and Connecticut on Sunday afternoon.  I was watching and I was rooting for the Blue Devils for two reasons: (1) I had a small ($3.00) on Duke, and more importantly (2) I really, really dislike UConn Coach Danny Hurley, and take great joy when he gets beat.

Throughout the first half when Duke led by as many at 19 points and took a 15 point lead into the locker room, it looked like was going to get my wish.  Then, the Huskies began their version of Aesop's Tortoise and the Hare fable and kept chipping into Duke's lead and turning what looked to be a rout into a game.  Still Duke led by five with 1:51 to play, and had a 72-70 lead and the ball with :10 to play after the UConn kid goes 1 for 2 on the free throw line.  All they had to do was inbound the ball, hold onto it, get fouled, and game over.  Instead, Duke attempts a pass across mid-court, it gets deflected and stolen by UConn, and then...

Freshman Braylon Mulllins sinks a shot from the logo, and UConn wins 73-72.

Michael Wilbon calls things like this a "shout-out-loud" moment when you see it, and that was certainly true as both Linda and I, well, shouted out loud as we watched it unfold.  As I often say, a game like this is why you follow sports.

Two other comments:

When you saw Braylon Mullins being interviewed post-game you realize what a kid he is.  I swear, he probably only has to shave once, maybe twice, a week.

Then there is the head coach.

In a profession - college head basketball coaches - that is filled with irritating and obnoxious people, Danny Hurley has to rank in the top five in those categories, but good God, it has to be conceded that he is one helluva coach.  He has already won two national championships at UConn, and on Sunday he was in a  situation after that first half where his team was getting its ass kicked all over the court, and had every reason to throw in the towel and go through the motions in the second half and say "wait 'til next year".  But they didn't, and Hurley had to be a combination of Knute Rockne, Vince Lombardi, John Wooden, and Bill Belichick to keep his team in that game and overcome what appeared to be an insurmountable obstacle. You gotta tip your hat to him, however begrudgingly.

In his Substack today, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar included this two minute clip, of the last two minutes of the game (minus commercials and time outs).  Kareem's comment was brief:

"It’s not over until it’s over. But when it’s over…wow, what’d I just see?"