Beautiful kids!! Happiest of Birthdays to them, and here is to 100 more!My first life-long memory occurred on January 21, 1979, less than four months shy of my third birthday.
In the midst of a Super Bowl XIII party, a debate in the party broke out over my rooting interests in the game. While my mom’s biker boyfriend Randall lobbied for the Steelers, my mom was devout in her support of the Cowboys and would have none of it.
Ultimately, everyone in the party looked at me and when forced to make a decision, the forever-a-momma’s-boy side of me pushed me into the arms of America’s Team instead of Steelers Nation.
Thankfully, I have zero recollection of anything else from that day, which means every time the Jackie Smith drop has popped up on my television over the course of the last 30+ years, it impacts me as a Cowboys fan on a level that’s different than someone who might have been just a few years my senior.
A little less than three years later, I wasn’t so lucky. As it turns out, my first actual memory of events from a sporting event occurred on January 10, 1981, four months and a few days shy of my fifth birthday.
Yes, my first sports memory is The Catch.
I remember where I was. I remember who I was with. I remember the way everyone in the room felt when the Cowboys lost. I remember not wanting to watch Super Bowl XVI because I wasn’t quite over it all.
To this day, I have a visceral reaction to that play, which is only shown a few hundred times every year during the course of a football season. It’s one thing to have your sports fan’s heart ripped out of your chest and it’s quite another to be forced to relive it countless times because it becomes a historical artifact that comes to define the sport.
I’m not talking about ordinary heartbreak. I’m talking about the type of scarlet letter that the sports gods cackle over while smoking Cuban cigars, drinking brandy and torturing people from Cleveland.
Paul Jesperson didn’t just hit a half-court shot that ended Shaka Smart’s first season in Austin, he essentially created college basketball’s version of the Doug Flutie Hail Mary and the only thing worse than being on the losing end of one of those iconic plays is being forced to re-live it at any moment of any day in any month in any year.
A buddy of mine mentioned on Sunday that his hope was that some remaining player in the Tournament would do something before the Tournament ends that would overshadow Jesperson’s shot.
Yeah, I’m not sure my friend gets it … that shot will live on f-o-r-e-v-e-r. It’s the Bryce Drew shot on steroids. Every March from now until eternity will feature that sequence unfolding over and over and over again. Along with the Christian Laettner shot against Kentucky, the Lorenzo Charles dunk vs. Houston and the shot by Drew, it will forever serve as a future logo of the entire Tournament, which means you won’t even be able to turn the Tournament on for five minutes in future years without that damn thing popping up in a promo, commercial, montage or simple highlight package.
The only play in Tournament history that really matches up with Jesperson’s shot is the game-winner U.S. Reid hit for Arkansas back in 1981 in Austin to knock out a shocked and shaken Louisville squad, which means that this kind of loss occurs approximately once a generation. Of course, the difference between the two plays is that there weren’t a dozen cameras or high-definition coverage of Reid’s shot, which somewhat limited the ability to properly place it in the sport’s cannon of most memorable plays.
That wasn’t a problem on Friday night, as modern technology ensured that seemingly hundreds of different angles and different perspectives were available to torment Orangebloods everywhere who were so shaken and shocked they couldn’t turn away from it all.
In the 20+ years of covering Texas athletics, I’m pretty sure that the Vince Young game-winner vs. USC is the only other truly crossover iconic moment the school has been forced to live through. With all due respect to the Michael Crabtree touchdown in 2008, that’s not a moment in time that has become transcendent within the sport of college football. Same with the Colt McCoy injury against Alabama. Sure, you’ve never gotten over it, but it’s not like that play is on constant replay or in commercials every January.
When it’s all said and done, I’m going to venture that you’ll see Jesperson’s shot 1,000 more times in your lifetime than any other moment in UT athletics history when it felt like Bevo got kicked in the privates, which might just make Friday night the most iconic loss in the history of UT athletics.
You can disagree if you want, but I’m quite certain that over the course of the next decade, that shot will be replayed approximately 1,000,000 more times than the Crabtree catch.
Oh, and if you’re upset with me for bringing it up again coming out of the weekend, I only have one thing to say to you.
Get used to it.
No. 2 – A familiar fate for Texas hoops ...
In Shaka Smart’s first season in Austin, men’s basketball became fun once again.
In Smart’s second season in Austin, men’s basketball needs to win in the Tournament once again.
If someone needed me to sum up Smart’s first season in Austin in 30 words or less, those words would probably do just as well as any others.
There’s little question the Longhorns have a college basketball rock star on their hands in Smart, but once the suddenness of the loss on Friday night wore off, supporters of the program were left once again to chew on the fact that it’s been eight long years since the program last appeared in the Sweet 16, which just happens to have occurred immediately after a seven-year stretch of time (2002-08) that represents the Golden Age of men’s basketball at Texas.
Just like Charlie Strong isn’t responsible for every single disappointing season since 2010, but is nonetheless forced to feel the anxiety, frustration and anger that comes with steering the ship in year seven of the streak, Smart must own the same baggage that comes with this job.
To give you an idea of how long ago it has been since Texas was a participant in the Tournament’s second weekend, Barack Obama hadn’t yet won the nomination from the Democratic party over Hilary Clinton. That means Obama will have gone through his entire presidency without having the Longhorns advancing more than a round on any of his brackets.
To put it into other terms, the crap hadn’t even hit the fan in the 2008 financial crisis when Derrick Rose did young Derrick Rose things to the Longhorns down in Houston.
Oh, and Leona Lewis’ “Bleeding Love” was about to be the No. 1 song in the Billboard charts.
I mean ... Kevin Durant is about to finish his ninth season in the NBA.
This hug with mediocrity simply has to end and as Smart enters his second season, his challenge is getting this program to take a step forward next season. Winning 20 games or even 25 games won’t be enough in 2017 to make it a successful season. Fair or not, Smart’s progress will be judges by whether he can win two games in three days in the first weekend of next year’s Tournament.
I suppose this is my way of saying that I’m Team Shaka all the way, but the honeymoon is over.
It’s time to win in March.
No. 3 – The Isaiah Taylor conversation ...
Here’s the reality of the decision that awaits junior guard Isaiah Taylor.
Whether he declares early for the NBA draft in the coming weeks or not, he’s not currently viewed as a viable front-line NBA draft prospect, the kind that end up getting drafted and receiving guaranteed contracts. In the most recent DraftExpress rankings for the 2016 NBA Draft, Taylor ranks No. 68, which means there’s probably a better chance at this point of him not getting drafted at all than there is of him being selected in the two rounds that make up the NBA Draft.
Ultimately, Taylor’s decision matters less about the NBA and more about a life ideology.
Is Taylor ready to get paid to play basketball for a living? Or not.
If he’s simply ready to stop playing basketball for books, tuition, girls and his love for college because he’s ready to get paid for a living while existing in the real world, hey, there’s not much one can say except, “Goodbye and good luck.” Every guy has a different life story and different needs, so if the guy feels like he needs to leave for a variety of reasons, I get it. You just hope that he understands he might have to go overseas or cut his teeth in the D-League to fulfill his quest for getting paid to play a game.
Not every guy makes it. Not every guy lives without regrets in these types of decisions.
It basically comes down to two things. Does he prefer …
a. To return for his senior year, which would likely see him as a pre-season favorite for Big 12 Player of the Year, and finish up any unfinished business, both on the athletic and academic sides of college life.
b. Make the decision that it’s time to get paid and enter the real world.
Texas fan have to hope that the lure of the former will win the day against the temptations of the latter because Taylor’s return would go a long way towards this program possibly going to another Sweet 16 next year, but if he chooses not to, you really can’t begrudge him.
It’s his life and his decision. The ball is in his court. He needs to take as much time as he needs.
No. 4- Let’s the women’s Tournament begin ...
No offense to Alabama State, but the NCAA Tournament truly begins on Monday night when Texas takes on No. 10 Missouri in a battle between former Big 12 mates, with the winner headed to the Sweet 16 of the UConn region.
Given the reality of the seeding, it’s hard to expect more than an Elite Eight bid for the Longhorns, but that would represent quite an accomplishment for a program that went to the Sweet 16 a season ago for the first time since 2004.
Like Shaka Smart, you want to see continued forward progress under Karen Aston in her fourth season as a coach and thus far, her team’s have improved in each of the last two seasons.
With a two-seed to its credit, losing before a match-up with the Huskies would represent a big disappointment for a program that was hanging out near the top five in the polls for much of the season.
It’ll be fascinating to see this team try and handle the expectations that arrive with success. In a season that was without a lot of must-win games, Aston’s program finds itself in one on Monday.
No. 5 – Texas baseball this weekend in a gif ...
No. 6 – Random Texas football question ...
Is D’Onta Foreman the best player in the Texas program heading into the 2016 season?
I know he came into the program as a lowly two-star prospect (to be fair, I ranked him as a three-star prospect and a member of the LSR Top 100) who some believed was only offered because of his brother.
I know that I was slow to believe.
I know it will be tempting to nominate someone like Malik Jefferson, Connor Williams or Zach Shackelford.
Yet, on a team that has zero returning all-Big 12 first- or second-team members from a season ago, it might be time for everyone, including the national media, to acknowledge that he averaged 7.2 yards per carry with no quarterback, an average offensive line in front of him and uneven direction from the offensive coaching staff behind him.
To give you an idea of how good that 7.2 yards per carry number is, just consider that Ricky Williams never averaged more than 6.8 yards per carry in his illustrious career.
If forced to put my money on the table for a first-team all-Big 12 selection this season on the Texas roster, I’ll go ahead and go all-in on the former Texas City standout.
Who knows, he might even start this season ...
No. 7 – Scattershooting on the Longhorns ...
... Am I crazy for wondering about the timing of setting up spring workouts in a way where the team takes a one week break right after it gets into pads and into the swing of things after a week?
… I'm guessing Kai Locksley had a lot to think about during spring break.
... It feels like we should be paying more attention to the lack of play-makers and front-line players.I'm not sure I've heard one person really give anyone on the defensive line much love in the last two weeks? That's not to suggest guys like Bruce Cottrell haven't looked good in practice, but no one seems to think that has anything to do with anything other than the concerns along the offensive line.
... Other than the half-court shot that won Northern Iowa the game, it's hard not to spend at least 20 minutes thinking about the seven-point possession in the first half that went against the Longhorns. Yes, that actually happened.
... In retrospect, inserting Cam Ridley back into the line-up wasn't a benefit for the team. He just wasn't ready.
... If you'd have told me a few weeks ago that Tevin Mack would barely see game action in the opening first-round game of the Tournament, I wouldn't have believed you.
No. 8 – Buy or sell …
(As always, these are questions submitted by Orangebloods subscribers)
BUY or SELL: Texas, as a team, hits these statistical categories this season
a. QBR of 140.0 (or above)
b. Average ypc for our top 2 or 3 running backs at 5.0 ypc (or above)
c. Total rushing TD of top 2 or 3 backs at 26 (or above)
d. No back on the roster has to take more than 210 carries for the season.
(a. Sell. b. Buy. c. Sell. d. Buy) Texas has had one quarterback in the last six years touch a 140.0 rating and I’m not sure there’s anyone on the roster better than 2012 David Ash. This season will be a disaster if the top backs on this team aren’t averaging better than five yards per carry, so I think they’ll clear that number, but not the 26 touchdowns. Finally, I think if D’Onte Foreman stays healthy for 13 games, he’ll average more than 16 carries per game.
BUY or SELL: Collin Johnson is a Day One starter at WR?
(Buy) When you say day one, you mean day one at practice, right?
BUY or SELL: Dylan Haines and Jason Hall both start vs ND? One or both are replaced as starter by the end of the season (not due to injury)?
(Sell) At least one will be replaced in the line-up by the spring game at the latest. The other might not be far behind.
BUY or SELL: Tyrone Swoopes starts against ND and is riding the pine for Game 2?
(Sell) Whichever quarterback starts the opener, and I believe it’ll be Swoopes at this point, will get the second game as the starter as well. I mean … history can’t repeat itself completely, right?
Signed,
BYU in 2013.
BUY or SELL: Shane Buechele will start more than 8 games this year?
(Buy) Unless he’s injured, it’s hard for me to believe that any of the other quarterbacks will be able to hold him off by October, even if it is a total Hail Mary attempt.
BUY or SELL: There are 8 or more freshman in the 2 deep come Sept 1?
(Buy) Well, let’s count them. If we’re talking about more, that means we can’t count Colin Johnson or Zach Shackelford. In my mind, that’ll leave us with Shane Buechele, Denzel Okafor, Jean Delance, Andrew Fitzgerald, one or two defensive tackles, one of the freshmen linebackers and possibly Brandon Jones. It might be a little too much to expect that kind of immediate impact because the roster is stronger than a year ago, but it's very doable.
BUY or SELL: At this point, Jerrod Heard's inability to win the QB position at Texas is more one of the head than of the arm?
(Buy) I think it’s a lot of things and Anwar Richardson detailed much of it in his Sunday Pulpit this week. It’s not just the ability to consistently throw the ball well, as much as it’s that issue, along with decision-making, dedication in the film room and a bunch of other little things all rolled into one. It just hasn’t completely come together for him yet, but no one should give up because he’s a player who always projected as a three-year developmental prospect in my mind and this is year three.
BUY or SELL: Texas Basketball will make it to the second weekend of the tournament in 2017?
(Buy) I’m in.
BUY or SELL: Money actually does buy happiness?
(Sell) Life is so much more … dare I say … yes, I will … nuanced than that.
No. 9 – Eternal Randomness of the Spotty Sports Mind …
… Surely, I can’t be the only one that is rolling his eyes over the fuss being made over Adam Laroche taking his kid and going home? Dude, get your kid into school and bring him around on his summer break, but believing you’ve got the juice after a season posting a .634 OPS to demand that you have rules kept for you that few people on the planet would expect to receive is just as crazy as not having your kid in school for half of the year because you want him to enjoy a MLB clubhouse.
… The last time Golden State beat the Spurs in San Antonio, I still had a head mostly full of hair and Tim Duncan was one season removed from beating Texas in the NCAA Tournament and Reggie Freeman was leading Texas to a Sweet 16 under Tom Penders.
That seems pertinent come playoff time, no?
… So, Robert Griffin just can’t find a job. Yikes.
… RIP Tray Walker.
… Congrats on having twins, Chris Bosh. Your life is changed forever.
… Scattershooting on the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament:
a. The way Northern Iowa blew its game against Texas A&M was every bit as inexplicable as the way it beat Texas. How do you follow up the Joe Carter home run with the Bill Buckner finish? The 1992-93 Houston Oilers salute you.
b. Has Buddy Hield replaced Hollis Price as the best Oklahoma player of the 21st century or does he need to get them to a Final Four first?
c. It looks like the only thing that can keep Kansas out of the Final Four is Villanova, so write them in with ink to Houston.
d. From the moment Michigan State lost to Middle Tennessee State, I’ve given up on keeping up with my single completed bracket. I knew it was a dud from the moment I started filling it out.
e. All season long, Tom Crean has looked like a coach headed for the hangman’s noose, but a win over Kentucky to land in the Sweet 16 has a way of buying a guy at least another year.
f. I’m going to miss Wichita State’s Ron Baker. That dude was fun to watch.
g. The winner of the Virginia/Iowa State will never get a better look at the Final Four than playing the winner of Syracuse/Gonzaga.
h. In the end, I thought every team outside of the No.1 seeds would be vulnerable in the Tournament and the up is down/down is up nature of the weekend pretty much proved that thesis to be true.
… Scattershooting on the British Premier League weekend.
a. Leicester City just never stops being just good enough, a trait that has long been dismissed as somewhere in the fluky scale, as it’s been essentially the same team all season. Very few teams have been able to impose their will on the Foxes and while they might not be the most talented team in the top four, this team has the guts, guile and determination of Tottenham, Arsenal and Man City combined.
b. Unless Tottenham finds a way to catch Leicester City and Harry Kane forces himself into late consideration, the Player of the Year is Riyad Mahrez. Done deal.
c. All you need to know about the Liverpool loss to Southampton is the following:
d. It felt dirty to root for Chelsea on Saturday, but I appreciate Cesc Fàbregas keeping a full three points out of West Ham’s hands.
e. Man City might be done. D-o-n-e.
f. Is Marcus Rashford a flash in the pan or is he United’s next great player?
… Scattershooting on the MLS weekend.
a. It’s hard to tell just how good Houston is as a team, but that group is all kinds of fun to watch. In its first three games, Houston has scored 11 times and conceded seven times. No MLS team has ever scored as many goals through three games.
b. Nice bounce back game, Dallas. Mauro Diaz will remain a fixture on my fantasy team.
c. I love me some Cyle Larin. It’s early in my MLS fandom, but he’s fun.
d. Tim Howard is headed back to the MLS after the announcement that he would leave Everton after the season. In the process, it would appear that the goalie wage scale was just broken.
No. 10 - And finally ...
Haven and Hendrix turned two last Monday. No more counting by the months, as years gets to be the metric used for identification from here on out.
If they are anything like their father, sports misery awaits them in less than four years.
Ketch's 10 Thoughts From the Weekend (When forever really means forever)
- Thread starter Ketchum
- Start date
I like you Ketch, but go home you are drunk... Not that I don't agree with you....
Defense needs more than Tyler back. Still a step slow and the cover in midfield is not very consistent......but they can score......need balance......
Lol it was an 11 seed beating a 6.... And that 11 seed beat the 1 seed earlier this year. It wasn't THAT big of a deal lol.
shots like that happen all the time. Losing in the 2nd round pretty much means that the shot will be a cool highlight for them, but nothing more.
Nominating Zach Shackelford as maybe the best player on the entire roster before playing a down?....... :/
Shane, Heard, Merrick, Lorenzo..... SOMEONE needs to stop Swoopes from starting against ND. I can't go into another big game knowing we have 0 chance of winning.
The coaches should be fired the second the blowout ends, if Swoopes starts.
The coaches should be fired the second the blowout ends, if Swoopes starts.
Then we go with Buechele. We know Swoopes gives us a 0% chance to win a big game (3rd and 4th string qb Baylor aside).
If Buechele gives us a 2% chance. That's greater than 0%. If Heard gives us a 1% chance, that's greater than 0%.
Awesome 10th thought @Ketchum...
Also, the NIU mid-court shot to end the game isn't iconic for two reasons: 1) Next to nobody actually saw it happen and 2) well, it's Basketball at a university that really doesn't care all that much about Basketball. We care in so much as it's a nice way to pass 2-3 months of a long offseason between a bowl game and the next football season.
Hook'em
Also, the NIU mid-court shot to end the game isn't iconic for two reasons: 1) Next to nobody actually saw it happen and 2) well, it's Basketball at a university that really doesn't care all that much about Basketball. We care in so much as it's a nice way to pass 2-3 months of a long offseason between a bowl game and the next football season.
Hook'em
Mostly disagree more with the idea of this shot haunting UT for years to come...First off it broke a tie. It's still entirely possible we'd've lost anyway. And the Aggie comeback today trumps it big time (unfortunately). Outside of Aggieland, the shot is already mostly forgotten--but I reckon our Aggie freinds will be rubbing our noses in it for quite a while. What really bites is that we played a much better overall game against them than the Aggies did, but still lost...
How can any team be ahead by 12 points with 44 seconds to go LOSE?
Have Gonzaga going to the final 4 in all my brackets - Gonzaga advanced to Elite 8 last year and this years team will go further. The twin towers will dominate Syracuse.
Lived in San Jose CA for over 17 years...was at that game in Candlestick Park. Hugh 49'er fan and the best team definitely won that game.
Best owner - DeBartolo & Best Coach - Walsh
Have Gonzaga going to the final 4 in all my brackets - Gonzaga advanced to Elite 8 last year and this years team will go further. The twin towers will dominate Syracuse.
Lived in San Jose CA for over 17 years...was at that game in Candlestick Park. Hugh 49'er fan and the best team definitely won that game.
Best owner - DeBartolo & Best Coach - Walsh
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Am I the only one who wasn't that torn up about the ending of the game? Yeah it sucked but it happens. It's March madness and behind every unlikely game-winning shot there is the team that goes home because of it. I mean, we were a 6 seed... if we had been a 2 seed losing to a 15 or a 3 losing to a 14 maybe it would have been more crushing. But it's not like we were expecting to make a deep run. Or at least if you were you haven't been watching the team much lately.
I expect to see the shot 1000 more times in my lifetime but it's not going to bother me and I don't see why you think it will bother us. I really don't get comparing it to a play like the Catch or Laetner's bucket against Kentucky. Stakes were completely different.
I expect to see the shot 1000 more times in my lifetime but it's not going to bother me and I don't see why you think it will bother us. I really don't get comparing it to a play like the Catch or Laetner's bucket against Kentucky. Stakes were completely different.
I feel compelled to respond with a little reason in response to your made up percentages, but I know it wouldn't make a difference.
Instead I'll just say, please for the love of God quit saying the same thing over and over again, and trust the coaches to find the best option.
I'm a die-hard Horns fan who spent childhood in Cincy and grew up watching Cincinnati basketball. Friday flat our sucked. In a matter of a minute, I watch a half-court shot banked in to beat the Horns and a dunk not allowed by .01 seconds for Cincy for a loss. March Madness can be both exciting and cruel
No comments from OBers about the series loss to Tulane your baseball team gif. Pretty telling. Apathy is worse than frustration and anger.
Add me to the list of not putting a loss by a last second half court shot in the first round in the same category of NFC Championship game, Super Bowl, National championship game, and the Final Four examples of big plays.
I don't doubt that it will be shown a lot but surely no one thought that shot prevented us from winning the title. To act like we will be eternally heartbroken because we lost a round or two earlier than most thought is silly.
I don't doubt that it will be shown a lot but surely no one thought that shot prevented us from winning the title. To act like we will be eternally heartbroken because we lost a round or two earlier than most thought is silly.
I remember this night as well. My stepdad who was hated by me and my sister, had Super Bowl squares and was about to win $500 until the catch was made.Here are a couple different angles ketch
They have an autograph picture too
Until the day they divorced we walked around the house singing. Joe Montaaaaaa-na, Joe Montaaaaana, doing the cha-cha while singing.
Boo to you! What an evil and vile thing to post on a Monday morning. If it wasn't bad enough having to read the painful details of this terrible day, (no thanks to Ketch). No, you have to give visualization to one of the worst sports memories I have. You sir a bad person.Here are a couple different angles ketch
They have an autograph picture too
- The Isaiah Taylor decision will be interesting. D- League vs. Campus Hero. If I'm Taylor, I look at Buddy Hield and come back, but I can't fault him if he wants to get paid.
- Hield is the best player in college basketball. If Ben Simmons played like Hield, I would have more faith in him being the second coming of ... (insert cliche here).
- If Buechele plays in eight games, does that mean Swoopes was benched after bad performances?
- I think Kyle Porter has a chance to play this year.
- RGIII might be a part of the second wave of free agency after the draft. Talk about a fall from grace.
- Hield is the best player in college basketball. If Ben Simmons played like Hield, I would have more faith in him being the second coming of ... (insert cliche here).
- If Buechele plays in eight games, does that mean Swoopes was benched after bad performances?
- I think Kyle Porter has a chance to play this year.
- RGIII might be a part of the second wave of free agency after the draft. Talk about a fall from grace.
Hell I was thinking at the end of the N. Iowa collapse just throw it all the way down the other end of the court and let a guy touch it and at least make them go the length of the court to score! Just unbelievable that happened. Never seen that before and doubt we will see it again. The no timeouts just killed them.
Shaka has to get at least 2 quality bigs to play next year and Allen doesn't count as not sure he will be ready to play big minutes inside. Their only big right now is Cleare! That is scary right there. Very good guards and swing players. Maybe a knock down shooter also. That staff will earn their $$ in April this year for sure. Hope Taylor comes back for another year. If he can knock down mid range jumpers he is pretty much unstoppable in college the way it is called now.
Shaka has to get at least 2 quality bigs to play next year and Allen doesn't count as not sure he will be ready to play big minutes inside. Their only big right now is Cleare! That is scary right there. Very good guards and swing players. Maybe a knock down shooter also. That staff will earn their $$ in April this year for sure. Hope Taylor comes back for another year. If he can knock down mid range jumpers he is pretty much unstoppable in college the way it is called now.
Maybe it's because I've been beaten down so far over the past 6 seasons of Texas sports,
or maybe it's because I just don't care as much about basketball but did anyone else get over that loss in less than a day? I also don't think that shot will live on for as long as you think it will @Ketchum due to the fact that it was in the first round and UNI lost the next game.
or maybe it's because I just don't care as much about basketball but did anyone else get over that loss in less than a day? I also don't think that shot will live on for as long as you think it will @Ketchum due to the fact that it was in the first round and UNI lost the next game.
Well if Taylor is in the D league he sure isn't making much $$ there. Maybe $50,000 or $60,000 I think. Better to come back and everything paid for and a little Pell Grant $$ also.
If Simmons played like Hield his team would still be playing. Everyone blaming that coach but hell some of the blame has to go to Simmons also.
I mean.....I'm willing to admit that I might be in the minority, but isn't this historical, shot for the ages being overblown just a tad? You're talking about the first round of the tournament, a unknown NIU team, and a pretty average Texas team with no stars or anyone in whom you'd really get emotionally invested. Texas isn't a Duke, UNC, Michigan State, etc. I guess I just don't understand why it's such a big deal to some. This isn't even in the same universe as Colt going down against Bama, FSU wide rights, VY vs USC (from USC's perspective), Ohio State vs The U (from Miami's perspective), etc.
Texas would have likely been waxed in Round 2 and the team that beat Texas was beaten. I just don't see how anyone is putting this on some Christian Laettner, Chris Webber, Jimmy V level. It's the first Monday after it happened and I wouldn't be surprised if only a relative few people remember or even care about the shot. Again, perhaps I'm in the minority.
Texas would have likely been waxed in Round 2 and the team that beat Texas was beaten. I just don't see how anyone is putting this on some Christian Laettner, Chris Webber, Jimmy V level. It's the first Monday after it happened and I wouldn't be surprised if only a relative few people remember or even care about the shot. Again, perhaps I'm in the minority.
It will never be the Crabtree catch. It will always be the Gideon drop. Once that happened, the next play seemed foreordained.
Nobody will remember that shot outside Texas/NI fans with the way Northern Iowa choked against aggy in the very next game. Biggest choke job I've ever seen outside the '92-'93 Oilers. Their unfathomable meltdown is a much bigger story.
He's been on a super hot seat all year and there was talk of him getting bounced, even with the regular season he had.
lulz.
You left out the part where Texas lost on a half-court heave that hadn't been seen in 35 years. The 11-seed over a 6-seed has little to do with it.
At least you can say he's the future or there is a future, not sure the other options give you those kind of optics.
