Have you ever been in a social situation where everyone is having a good time and then someone makes a comment that just kills the mood? Tonight, in the Kansas - North Carolina game, Billy Packer almost made himself the most hated man in Kansas.
Kansas opens up the game on a tear. They looked quicker and more efficient. Let's face it, they were dominating the game. It was probably the best 13 minutes of basketball played by any team this season.
As a side note, apparently Kansas doesn't need a great pre-game speech from their coach. Did you see that clip of Bill Self talking to his team, telling them to relax? Brandon Rush looked like he was about to fall asleep.
Back to the game. Rush hits a three to put Kansas up 36-12 with seven minutes to play in the first half. At that point, Billy Packer declares the game is over. Nantz even gave him a chance to draw it back, but Packer stuck with his statement.
At that point, I believe a record was set for most remote controls thrown in the state of Kansas at one time. We've all seen a team run up a huge early lead and then lose it because there was so much time left on the clock. As superstitious as sports fans are, they had to be cursing Billy Packer during North Carolina's run. That clip would have been played over and over again on SportsCenter and You Tube. Packer would have never been allowed in the state of Kansas again.
Fortunately for you Kansas fans, he actually said it a little too early. North Carolina ran out of gas trying to come back and the Packer mojo didn't stick.
Also, if you want to see how Kansas kept getting a one on one situation on the block, check this out.
While we're talking about Packer, can someone please tell him that the reason UCLA wasn't giving Kevin Love the ball in the post was because Memphis was double teaming him. And since UCLA didn't have an outside shooter that could make them pay for it, they did it all night. I wish once he would have pointed it out.
Secondly, Rose is the man. He's tailor made to run the point in the NBA. I knew the game was over with 15:00 left in the first half (though I didn't announce it to the world like Packer would have) when Rose blew by Westbrook like he was a high school guard. Westbrook, whom Packer would endlessly remind us, was the Pac-10 Defensive Player of the Year. Sure Beasley scored more points for K-State, but how in the world can you not say that Rose is the best freshman in basketball this year?
Third, let's end all the Love is a great player talk. I talked about this earlier this year. He's just not that athletic. Do you think the NBA players are going to be less athletic than Memphis?
Finally, they played some old Final Four games on ESPN Classic today. Doesn't this Memphis program remind you of the old UNLV programs? And I'm not talking about the cheating that aspect of UNLV's program. They're not from a storied program, like UNC, Kansas, or UCLA. They don't play in one of the "BCS" conferences. And they have a "bad boy" mentality about them.
1 comments:
I hate Billy Packer! HATE!!! But he had the guts to say it, then stick with it. And you know what, he was right. That game was over. Kansas backed off enough to let Carolina wear themselves out trying to catch up and then they ran away with it in the last 5 minutes. The game was never in doubt. Again, hard to believe CBS wasn't trying to influence this one a little to at least keep people watching. So tired of horridly inconsistent officiating.
Though you're right, people in Kansas were ready to strangle Packer about midway through the 2nd half.
Your prediction on the championship???
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