This evening I will have what can only be described as a basketballgasm.
My two favorite teams in my very favorite sport will meet in the NCAA College Basketball Championship.
That tiny Butler is playing mighty Duke is hard for me to believe. As evidence of this I offer my brackets, which had the Butler Bulldogs losing to Syracuse a couple weeks ago. I don't have Duke playing tonight either.
Full disclosure: my son, Grant, and my money go to Butler. But I would have liked this Butler team either way. For the same reason, in fact, that I like Duke.
Duke, to me, has always played team basketball. That phrase, "team basketball" is often used to describe a team without one or more star players. Team basketball is a way to play when individual talent won't win many games. But imagine, we purists say, if you got the best players in the country and had them play the best way, as a group? That's what Duke looks like to me. The best shooters, the best slashers, a 7-foot monster in the middle and two giant good-ol' boys named Miles and Mason Plumlee from Indiana who come off the bench and play almost as well as their 7-foot tall brother who will join the team next year.
Plenty of people like to hate Duke. Maybe it's like hating the Yankees. Maybe it's their coach, Mike Krizinski. Does Duke look like a bunch of spoiled superstar white and black kids who could stand to come down a notch? I never think about that. I think about how when the guards penetrate, they either score or kick it out to the perfectly positioned shooter. The big guys could score a lot more than they do, but their role on this team is to set picks, grab rebounds, play defense and be tall. And when that system is clicking, it looks so easy.
Not so much, Butler. They do many of the same things, but with shorter and less talented players. Their bench isn't as deep. They don't dunk like some of thoseÂ….dunking teams. When they walk on the floor, they look like a pretty good high school team. And when their coach was born, Krizinski was already coaching. And winning.
But Butler has not lost since before last Christmas! It's the longest streak in the country. It's been a true joy ride for us Butler fans as we racked up wins against Youngstown State and U-W Milwaukee. And Loyola, which would have beaten us if they made a putback in the last seconds of the game.
It's stuff like that – we play in the horizon league and the guys on ESPN don't really know much about the team – that creates skepticism about our chances. But here is one of the great truths about sports. Having a great amount of sports knowledge gives you very little advantage in predicting the outcome of the games.
So we weren't supposed to beat Syracuse and Kansas State and Michigan State. Well, I'm glad they get to play the games. We narrowly won all three. The key element in each of those games, and the 31 wins that preceded them, was composure. ( Not mine, mind you. I pace and pant and flail around the house watching. But here's a lesson those games can teach you: You want to sleigh a giant? You have to keep your calm while loading the rock. Butler coach Brad Stevens and his players are maddeningly unflappable. As if playing without expectation, they just do what we basketball fans like to see. They pass the ball around until they see a good shot. Usually that shot will be taken by their best shooters – a couple of future nba players named Gordon Heyward and Shelvin Mack. And then the lot of them will run back and play defense like that's the fun part.
My son sits next to Heyward in that now much written about Game Theory math class that Math Majors take. And the day after one of their huge tourney wins, Heyward was there, ready to study, though the professors on campus all want to talk basketball. Who could blame them?
Certainly not me. Saturday night I was SCREAMING at my TV. Not as I do during Cubs games. I was all out screaming in joy and excitement and incredulity – as the last seconds of the Butler / Michigan State game unfolded.
When the game was over I texted my son and blurted out I Love You. Enjoy this. What else do you say when you want to share and remember a moment? He texted back, I love you, too, pops. And enjoy this, too, if that's possible.
Well, thanks Grant, but it won't be easy. My two favorite teams will be playing my favorite sport and one of them will lose. I'll be rooting for Butler, of course. But I will be cheering on the game with the hope that all the boys will share the ball and the team that plays team ball the best will win.
My two favorite teams in my very favorite sport will meet in the NCAA College Basketball Championship.
That tiny Butler is playing mighty Duke is hard for me to believe. As evidence of this I offer my brackets, which had the Butler Bulldogs losing to Syracuse a couple weeks ago. I don't have Duke playing tonight either.
Full disclosure: my son, Grant, and my money go to Butler. But I would have liked this Butler team either way. For the same reason, in fact, that I like Duke.
Duke, to me, has always played team basketball. That phrase, "team basketball" is often used to describe a team without one or more star players. Team basketball is a way to play when individual talent won't win many games. But imagine, we purists say, if you got the best players in the country and had them play the best way, as a group? That's what Duke looks like to me. The best shooters, the best slashers, a 7-foot monster in the middle and two giant good-ol' boys named Miles and Mason Plumlee from Indiana who come off the bench and play almost as well as their 7-foot tall brother who will join the team next year.
Plenty of people like to hate Duke. Maybe it's like hating the Yankees. Maybe it's their coach, Mike Krizinski. Does Duke look like a bunch of spoiled superstar white and black kids who could stand to come down a notch? I never think about that. I think about how when the guards penetrate, they either score or kick it out to the perfectly positioned shooter. The big guys could score a lot more than they do, but their role on this team is to set picks, grab rebounds, play defense and be tall. And when that system is clicking, it looks so easy.
Not so much, Butler. They do many of the same things, but with shorter and less talented players. Their bench isn't as deep. They don't dunk like some of thoseÂ….dunking teams. When they walk on the floor, they look like a pretty good high school team. And when their coach was born, Krizinski was already coaching. And winning.
But Butler has not lost since before last Christmas! It's the longest streak in the country. It's been a true joy ride for us Butler fans as we racked up wins against Youngstown State and U-W Milwaukee. And Loyola, which would have beaten us if they made a putback in the last seconds of the game.
It's stuff like that – we play in the horizon league and the guys on ESPN don't really know much about the team – that creates skepticism about our chances. But here is one of the great truths about sports. Having a great amount of sports knowledge gives you very little advantage in predicting the outcome of the games.
So we weren't supposed to beat Syracuse and Kansas State and Michigan State. Well, I'm glad they get to play the games. We narrowly won all three. The key element in each of those games, and the 31 wins that preceded them, was composure. ( Not mine, mind you. I pace and pant and flail around the house watching. But here's a lesson those games can teach you: You want to sleigh a giant? You have to keep your calm while loading the rock. Butler coach Brad Stevens and his players are maddeningly unflappable. As if playing without expectation, they just do what we basketball fans like to see. They pass the ball around until they see a good shot. Usually that shot will be taken by their best shooters – a couple of future nba players named Gordon Heyward and Shelvin Mack. And then the lot of them will run back and play defense like that's the fun part.
My son sits next to Heyward in that now much written about Game Theory math class that Math Majors take. And the day after one of their huge tourney wins, Heyward was there, ready to study, though the professors on campus all want to talk basketball. Who could blame them?
Certainly not me. Saturday night I was SCREAMING at my TV. Not as I do during Cubs games. I was all out screaming in joy and excitement and incredulity – as the last seconds of the Butler / Michigan State game unfolded.
When the game was over I texted my son and blurted out I Love You. Enjoy this. What else do you say when you want to share and remember a moment? He texted back, I love you, too, pops. And enjoy this, too, if that's possible.
Well, thanks Grant, but it won't be easy. My two favorite teams will be playing my favorite sport and one of them will lose. I'll be rooting for Butler, of course. But I will be cheering on the game with the hope that all the boys will share the ball and the team that plays team ball the best will win.
