I did get to catch the ending of one of the early games today – and it was incredible.<\/p>\n
With 2 minutes, Auburn had an 8 point lead and looked like they were going to move on.\u00a0 By this point, I had already started to tune out to the radio cast from March Madness Online as I focused on finishing a code I was working on.<\/p>\n
Then, with 50 seconds left in the game, A.J. Harris from New Mexico State made a layup to cut the lead to 5 points.\u00a0 Then, I hear the announcer go and say, the Aggies are going to need to foul to extend the game – wait a second, Jared Harper just travelled – it is New Mexico State’s ball.<\/p>\n
New Mexico State gets the ball into Johnny McCants who misses his shot but gets fouled – hitting one of his two free throws.\u00a0 Then, I hear the announcer yell – and Auburn has turned the ball over again.\u00a0 OK – now I can’t concentrate, I have to see what is happening.\u00a0 So, I switch over to the video.<\/p>\n
Sure enough, Trevelin Queen made a three pointer – and suddenly, with 29 seconds, it is a one point game.\u00a0 The Aggies try to trap Auburn into another turnover, but eventually have to foul – where Chuma Okeke from the Tigers hits two free throws to extend the lead to 3.<\/p>\n
Then, the unexpected happens.\u00a0 it is a known strategy that people will foul with less than 5 seconds left to ensure a team can’t hit a three pointer to tie a game.\u00a0 BUT THERE IS 14 seconds left when Jared Harper looks like he intentionally fouls AJ Harris in the backcourt.\u00a0 Not only does this let the Aggies try to get closer, but for the Auburn star, it was his 5th foul.\u00a0 Now, if New Mexico State sends the game to overtime, Auburn is going to be playing without their star.\u00a0 AJ Harris only hits one of the free throws, and so it is a 2 point game.<\/p>\n
Auburn is quickly fouled, and J’Von McCormick impressively hits both free throws, but the Aggies are going nowhere – JoJo Zamora hits a wide open 3 pointer to cut the lead back to one.\u00a0 The Auburn players looked loss – the one thing they couldn’t let happen was a made three pointer – and they left him wide open.<\/p>\n
The quick foul this time sends Samir Doughty to the line – where he promptly misses the first free throw.\u00a0 Now, the Aggies will get a chance to tie or win the game on their last shot.\u00a0 Doughty hits the second free throw to set the stage with a 2 point Tiger lead.<\/p>\n
AJ Harris drives by all the Auburn Tigers as if they were standing still watching him, and has a wide open layup to tie the game.\u00a0 And then everyone was shocked.\u00a0 Harris didn’t want the tie – he wanted to end the game right there.\u00a0 With nothing in his way to the basket, he kicks the ball out to Terrell Brown at the sideline for a game-winning three-point shot.\u00a0 Brown misses the shot with 1.6 seconds left but gets fouled by Bryce Brown.<\/p>\n
And so now, the Aggies can complete the comeback from the free throw line, as their leading scorer and a 78% free throw shooter has 3 shots to win the game.\u00a0 Except he misses the first FT.\u00a0 He hits the second one, but his third one hits the back of the rim, swirls around the rim and falls out.\u00a0 But the game is not over, because as Auburn and New Mexico State had players go up for the rebound, the ball is hit out of bounds by Auburn.\u00a0 That’s right, the Aggies have one more chance to win this game with 1.1 seconds left.<\/p>\n
And somehow, Auburn forgets to guard Trevelin Queen in the corner – and somehow, his non-contested wide open three pointer from the corner is a complete airball.\u00a0 Auburn wins 78-77 and Cinderella leaves the dance early.<\/p>\n
After the game, Auburn coach was quoted as saying, “Sometimes, it is better to be lucky than good.”\u00a0 No doubt about it.\u00a0 Auburn tried to hand this game over multiple times, and somehow, fate decided that they would survive to play again.<\/p>\n
And that is why I love March – you can not make this stuff up.\u00a0 Really, come back from 8 down, give up a wide open layup to send the game to overtime to win the game, get fouled, miss FTs, and get the ball back anyways to miss one more shot.\u00a0 JUST CRAZY!!!!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I did get to catch the ending of one of the early games today – and it was incredible. With 2 minutes, Auburn had an 8 point lead and looked like they were going to move on.\u00a0 By this point, I had already started to tune out to the radio cast from March Madness Online […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1515","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog2019"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.tehodgson.com\/stompthelunatic\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1515","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.tehodgson.com\/stompthelunatic\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.tehodgson.com\/stompthelunatic\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.tehodgson.com\/stompthelunatic\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.tehodgson.com\/stompthelunatic\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1515"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.tehodgson.com\/stompthelunatic\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1515\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1516,"href":"http:\/\/www.tehodgson.com\/stompthelunatic\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1515\/revisions\/1516"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.tehodgson.com\/stompthelunatic\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1515"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.tehodgson.com\/stompthelunatic\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1515"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.tehodgson.com\/stompthelunatic\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1515"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}