Maybe it is that I am just getting old. Maybe I still haven’t recovered from traveling to Charlotte to watch Katie play in her first rugby games. Maybe I was just enjoying getting the chance to watch Charlie play goalie in a scrimmage game for his high school’s JV team tonight. I can make lots of excuses, but I am terribly behind with my ranting.

I found myself writing my normal intro email where I wanted to talk a little about Coach K’s final game, and I almost had to change my topic completely. This is because as I was writing that email last night to all of you to announce this year’s Stomp the Lunatic contest, I had my Python code in the background pulling the box scores that I was missing from the weekend, and had the Southern Conference championship playing in the background.

I looked up from my typing to watch Furman’s Mike Bothwell bring the ball up the court down three, and finally managed to get free from his defender with just 4 seconds to tie the game at 51 and send the game to overtime. At this point, my typing stopped as I was drawn in. Bothwell from Furman kept hitting shot after shot – looking like he was unstoppable. But Chattanooga kept coming back and tying the game, including a big three pointer by A.J. Caldwell with 27 seconds. But this meant the shot clock was off, and the ball was going back in the hands of Furman’s star. And as he did in regulation, Bothwell managed to drive to the basket and score what looked to be the winning basket with 4 seconds left.

And then, March happened. Chattanooga inbounded the ball into David Jean-Baptiste who charged up the court, barely crossed half-court to get to the Ingles logo on the court, jumped as two Furman players closed in on him, and buried the long three-pointer to send the Mocs to a 64-63 victory. His teammates follow him around the court until they tackle him in celebration – Chattanooga will get to go dancing next week!

And I found myself sitting there frozen. I had already written the first paragraph about Coach K. I spent another 20 minutes debating what to do. I still have to finish loading the box scores. I have to start thinking through my bracketology. So much to do, and so little time. And while I could not let the winningest coach in Division I men’s basketball retire and not give him the respect that he deserves for all he has done for the game, I kept thinking to myself that I should be writing about David Jean-Baptiste and Mike Bothwell, two amazing basketball players that might not even make it to the pros. But on Monday night, they put on the type of show that is what makes March so special.

So, while I am behind, I could not let it go unnoticed. Congratulations to the Chattanooga Mocs on being the Southern Conference tournament champs and earning their ticket to the dance.