By Jim Coffman
Western Kentucky senior Ty Rogers dropped in one of the great shots in NCAA tournament history Friday. But then he choked.
Rogers’ buzzer-beating, Reggie-Miller-esque (some of those treys Miller used to hit for the Pacers, I swear he was no more than a tiny step inside the scorer’s table when he let them fly) three-pointer gave his team a pulsating 101-99 victory over Drake in a Friday afternoon first-rounder. It was the best game of the tournament so far by far. In fact, it was the best first- or second-round game from the last half-dozen tournaments.
And the shot, well, the shot was so good in part because of the distance (26 feet), in part because of the timing (the final horn sounded while it was in the air) and in part because of the stakes. Western Kentucky had squandered a 16-point lead in the second half, regained a small advantage in the final two minutes but then watched as Klay Korver, brother of noted NBA sharpshooter Kyle Korver (now of the Utah Jazz), drained a game-tying trifecta near the end of regulation. The teams went back and forth in overtime but a couple of free throws gave Drake a one-point lead with just over four seconds left.
The most dramatic shot in basketball is the one that goes up when a team trails by one with a second or two left. When it comes down the squad will either win or lose in an instant. The shot in question looked good right out of Rogers’ hand, arced high and then splashed down dead-center. It was as good as basketball gets.
Unfortunately, then the celebration began. After dropping the bomb that led all the highlight shows for the next 24 hours, Rogers turned and raced down the court with arms held high, stopping near the other end line. And that was certainly all well and good. Then he turned and found his teammates racing toward him. It was clearly time for the typically delirious group hug.
Except Rogers didn’t want a group anything, he determinedly pushed teammates away as he made his way back to midcourt, screaming something unintelligible and preening like a peacock. The cameras switched away for a few moments and then they were back on Rogers, at which point he again fought off several teammates and again stood alone.
* Rogers’ celebration was especially disappointing in light of some of his post-game comments. He noted that the final “play” (it wasn’t really complicated enough to qualify as a play) called for leading scorer and ball-handler Tyrone Brazelton (local guy alert – Brazelton was born in Chicago and graduated from south suburban Rich Central) to get the inbounds pass, dribble up the floor and get the best shot he could. As they left the timeout huddle and headed back onto the floor, Rogers pulled Brazelton aside and told him something along the lines of “don’t be afraid to pass me the ball if you have the chance.”
Sure enough, Brazelton brought the ball across half-court, drew two defenders to himself and then flipped the ball behind him to Rogers, who had just enough space to get his shot off.
So the first thing Rogers should have been doing after his initial mad dash down the floor was to turn around and look for Brazelton, the guy who absolutely made his heroics possible. Western Kentucky also wouldn’t have been anywhere near overtime without Brazelton’s 33 huge points, a total that lead both teams.
But it is tough for the photographers to get your good side if there’s one of those annoying teammates in the way.
* The good news for Rogers is that when this basketball thing ends (which it will shortly – Rogers, a senior, is a far cry from a pro prospect), he can always give the NFL a try. The hey-look-at-me, ‘I just made a moderately important tackle and I am clearly the greatest thing in sports history’ celebration that totally disdains any and all contributions made by teammates is huge in the NFL.
* Friday’s match-up (Drake versus Western Kentucky) itself was a great example of what drives fans crazy about the tournament’s Selection Committee. Ask anyone who watches the tournament for anything other than bracket bet fulfillment and they’ll tell you the best thing about it is when lesser-known schools make a run. But the selection committee still rigs the set-up to favor major-college interests (the teams from the ACC, Big East, Pac 10, etc. . . . I was about to say the Big 10 but our region’s primary conference barely qualifies as major anymore). The committee has traditionally done that by consistently under-seeding the teams, such as Gonzaga or last years’s sensation, George Mason, to make them have to get past tougher teams earlier to advance.
This year featured some of the typical under-seedings and a new twist. In a couple key instances, the committee pitted potential mid-major darlings against each other in the first round to make sure at least one was immediately eliminated. There were two especially irritating examples: the WKU-Drake battle and a Gonzaga-Davidson showdown later that day. Happily, the committee was foiled in both instances. San Diego shocked highly rated UConn to set up the unlikely San Diego vs. Western Kentucky second-round matchup that WKU won. And Davidson, after squeaking past always-strong Gonzaga, shocked Georgetown in the second round Sunday. So now Western Kentucky and Davidson will get all sorts of attention going into the Regional Semifinals and Finals next weekend.
And in a little bit of other news:
* Ladies and gentlemen, the next, great coach of the Chicago Bulls – Boston Celtics Assistant Tom Thibodeau. Thibodeau is the defensive mastermind behind many of the better defenses in the NBA the last two decades. Most of that work was done with former Knicks and Rockets head coach Jeff Van Gundy, but Thibodeau has proven with his great work with the league-leading Celtics this year (where he is specifically in charge of coaching the defense) that his principles travel well.
Don’t worry John Paxson, when you hire him I won’t charge you a finder’s fee.
* While I’m here, I have a quick question. Hey, Luol Deng, it has been months since you were officially slowed by injury. I understand that sometimes these sorts of things linger but, I mean, if your long-ago Achilles’ tendon tendonitis is still a factor, you might want to contact the Guinness Book of World Records. And I understand that leaving more than $50 million in guaranteed money (the rumored total value of the contract extension he declined to sign before the season) on the table can worry a man just a bit.
Anyway Luol, the reason I called . . . are you ever going to hunker down and battle your way back to what you were just last season, let alone take the next step up?
I was one of many Bulls fans who thought that even if you weren’t on your way to a major breakthrough at the end of a great season, you were right on the verge of being a very good player in the NBA. I patiently await your gracious reply. Sincerely, Jim.
* Deng scored 28 against the Pacers Saturday night, but when the Bulls needed big baskets down the stretch of the fourth quarter, he was nowhere to be found. Sigh.
–
Jim Coffman writes in this space every Monday. In the locker room, he’s known as a character guy.
Posted on March 24, 2008