TCU And Arizona State Gave Us Yet Another AWESOME Finish As The Horned Frogs Beat The Buzzer To Advance
The closing 120 seconds or so of this Round of 64 matchup between TCU and Arizona State had clutch shot-making, lockdown defense, a winning runner by the Horned Frogs' JaKobe Coles with less than two seconds remaining and a classic hindsight is 20/20 coaching decision.
In other words, the quintessence of March Madness packed into this infinitesimal, transient speck of space and time.
Everyone was hanging in suspense as TCU's Damion Baugh hoisted a corner three that caromed off the rim a few times before falling through to make it 67-all. When the Horned Frogs finally edged out in front, Sun Devils guard DJ Horne's trey to knot the score at 70 was the type of rebuttal you dream of when you're putting in all those hours of practice and dream up NCAA Tournament scenarios as a kid.
Just so happened that in this instance, TCU, for all intents and purposes, had the ball last. JaKobe Coles was a man possessed as he drove the lane for that nice little floater. Would be remiss not to mention how Horned Frogs guard Mike Miles Jr. was a force in this contest with 26 points, thanks in part to a stellar 12 of 14 effort from the free throw line.
AH, and we've arrived at the "hindsight is 20/20" coaching decision teased in the intro. Arizona State did still have a timeout where they could've advanced the ball. Instead, Bobby Hurley decided to let his guys play it out following Coles' decisive bucket. All that led to was a desperation heave from about 3/4 court that never remotely threatened to go in.
Not like you had a ton of time there. Still, I'd have liked to see Hurley give the Sun Devils a breather and see what he could scheme up on the mini whiteboard out of that final timeout. Alas, we shall never know.
Too bad for Arizona State. They beat Nevada's ass 98-73 in the First Four game and seemed to run out of gas near the end of this one. Also: Bobby Hurley, pride of Jersey City and Duke basketball? This dude has some serious oddball energy and I'm here for all of it. Guy is cracking me up in the wee hours of the morning.
As for the #BracketBuskers implications of it all, my condolences go out to Steve Cheah, Brandon Walker and Jersey Jerry for their Sun Devils squad not quite coming through. Talk about a fucking power trio who deserves better. Cheah was hanging by every moment Lifehouse-style as the end neared.
Do Cheah's soothing, considerately hushed baritone vocals set off your inner ASMR triggers or what? My guy doesn't even look like he's wearing a shirt.
"Waaay too deep into the lane…[whispers] Fuck."
Interesting plot twist for Jerry, who sold high on his multi-leg parlay that needed ASU's moneyline to fully hit. What a call to cash out. Turned out to be the correct play. Well done, sir. The man IS MARCH, after all.
On the betting side of things for yours truly, had a nice start yesterday at 4-0, took Xavier -13 like a total square, but hit Marquette's -4.5 first half spread to move to 5-1 for the Big Dance…
Hit some adversity with a rough buzzer-beating loss on the Kentucky-Providence first-half Under. Saw Memphis (-1.5) blow it late and lose by one point to Florida Atlantic. BUT THEN, it turns out, Megan Makin' Money lived up to her middle and surnames today. Tailed her on this parlay aaaaaaand: DIRECT HIT.
Now please go off in the comments about how insufferable I am for sharing my March Madness betting trajectory. Or, you know, talk about the game and how dope it was. Preferably the latter.