{"id":84603,"date":"2021-04-05T14:59:21","date_gmt":"2021-04-05T14:59:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sandbox.web.rcn.net\/rcntv\/?p=84603"},"modified":"2023-02-17T23:33:02","modified_gmt":"2023-02-17T23:33:02","slug":"basketball-best","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/basketball-best\/","title":{"rendered":"Basketball at Its Best"},"content":{"rendered":"

The views expressed in this blog are<\/em> those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of RCN or any other agency, organization, employer or company.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

I hope you had a chance to watch the Gonzaga<\/a>–UCLA<\/a> NCAA<\/a> March Madness semifinal game.\u00a0 It was simply basketball at its best.<\/p>\n

It featured what appeared on paper to be David vs. Goliath.\u00a0 UCLA came into the tournament seeded 11th<\/sup>, but they still had to play Michigan State<\/a> in the \u201cplay-in\u201d game just to get into the top 64 in the bracketing.\u00a0 They had lost their last four games of the regular season.\u00a0 No one had high expectations for the Bruins.\u00a0 They beat Michigan State in overtime.<\/p>\n

Then they needed to beat the #5 seed BYU<\/a> \u2013 they did that 73-62.\u00a0 They had no trouble in the second round knocking off Abilene Christian<\/a> by 20 points.\u00a0 But now the mountain to climb became very high.<\/p>\n

On to #2 seed Alabama<\/a> and another upset and overtime win 88-78.\u00a0 The Bruins scored 23 points in a five-minute overtime period.<\/p>\n

In the Regional final, they would face the #1 seed, Michigan.\u00a0 They won that one too \u2013 51-49 to get to the national semifinal.\u00a0 David didn\u2019t prevail over Goliath once; UCLA did it three times!<\/p>\n

The next Goliath, I mean Gonzaga, took a totally different route to the semis.\u00a0\u00a0 They won easily by an average of 24 points!\u00a0 Going into the semis they had won 30 straight games this season (34 in a row); been ranked #1 in the country the entire year and won every game but one by double digits.\u00a0 They appeared to be invincible and, in fact, had been all season.<\/p>\n

However, in sports, nothing is guaranteed.\u00a0 As the clich\u00e9 goes, \u201cThat\u2019s why you play the game\u201d.\u00a0 And play they did!\u00a0 UCLA vs. Gonzaga was a game no true fan who saw it will forget it.<\/p>\n

It was basketball at its best.\u00a0 The pace was almost incomprehensible.\u00a0 It appeared no one got tired.\u00a0 The skill level of both individuals and the teams as a unit was breathtaking.\u00a0 The game was close throughout and that\u2019s an understatement \u2013 there were 19 lead changes!\u00a0 UCLA had led by as many as six and Gonzaga by as many as seven.\u00a0 Yet it still could not be decided in the 40 minutes of allotted time.\u00a0 Justifiably, it had to go overtime.<\/p>\n

And that led to the shot!\u00a0 With 3.3 seconds on the clock and the game tied at 90-90, Gonzaga\u2019s Jalen Suggs dribbled past mid-court, shot the ball from 55 feet away, banked it off the glass as the buzzer sounded and the ball raced into the net, never touching the rim.\u00a0 93-90 Gonzaga over UCLA.\u00a0 It was the perfect finish (except for UCLA) to what was a perfect game.\u00a0 It was college basketball at its very, very best.<\/p>\n

And, yet, there is still the championship game to be played, which, in itself, is a perfect ending to an imperfect season – #1 Gonzaga vs. #2 Baylor<\/a>.\u00a0 It is the first time since 2005 the two top teams in the 68-team tournament face each other for the national championship.<\/p>\n

It will be hard to top the semifinal, but this one could be equally as good.<\/p>\n

So don\u2019t bother me on Monday night.\u00a0 I will be in front of the TV watching basketball, hopefully, again at its very best!<\/p>\n

ABOVE THE EARS (SOME MUSINGS)<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Finishing up with March Madness, let\u2019s not forget the Patriot League\u2019s<\/a> Colgate<\/a> Raiders, seeded #14 in the tournament, led Arkansas<\/a> for quite awhile in the first half. It was a good showing and the last game for League MVP Jordan Burns.\u00a0 Other PL teams will not miss him.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
      \n
    1. Notre Dame wrestler Brett Ungar (143-5) competed this past weekend at the Pittsburgh Wrestling Classic<\/a>. The 120-pounder took on the #1 ranked wrestler in the country, Richard Figuero (123-2).\u00a0 Ungar won 5-2. Ungar had recently won the PIAA<\/a> 2A title.\u00a0 He now can claim to be the best 120-pound wrestler in the country.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
        \n
      1. Are you aware that the 76ers<\/a> are 20-4 at home going into Sunday\u2019s game? They lead the Eastern Conference and have played 11 games without their star, Joel Embiid.\u00a0 Doc Rivers looks like the Coach of the Year to this point, but there is a long way to go.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
          \n
        1. I do not want to get too excited, but the Phillies<\/a> look like a much better team than last year.\u00a0 The most observable difference is their bullpen which was awful in 2020.\u00a0 So far, there has been excellent starting pitching, timely hitting, and outstanding relief pitching.\u00a0 That is a true formula for success.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
            \n
          1. Lafayette<\/a> finally gets to host Lehigh<\/a> this weekend as the two teams will play for the 156th<\/sup> time in college football\u2019s most played rivalry. The game was postponed from this past weekend due to Covid protocols on the Lafayette team.\u00a0 Both Lafayette and Lehigh will complete their shortened season having played three of the four games scheduled.\u00a0 Watch the game LIVE on RCN-TV this Saturday, April 10, starting at 12:30pm.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

            The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of RCN or any other agency, organization, employer or company. I hope you had a chance to watch the Gonzaga–UCLA NCAA March Madness semifinal game.\u00a0 It was simply basketball at its best. It featured…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"Yoast SEO Relevanssi index exclude","inline_featured_image":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-84603","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-behind-the-mic"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nBasketball at Its Best - ATVN<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Basketball at Its Best - ATVN\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of RCN or any other agency, organization, employer or company. 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