The Little Dance
The culmination of the NCAA Basketball season is the NCAA Tournament, or, The Big Dance. March Madness is filled with conference tournaments and title games and the opening rounds of the most coveted tournament in college sports. I had the chance to cover Ohio University in the NCAA Tournament last year, in Providence and see them upset #3 seeded Georgetown first hand. This year, The University of Evansville was my only shot at covering The Big Dance again, and sadly they could only muster a bid to the College Basketball Invitational (CBI) a tournament in which teams actually pay $50,000 to host a game and could be considered the third tier of the post-season behind the National Invitational Tournament (NIT).
If the NCAA Tournament is The Big Dance, NCAA Division II Tournament is probably The Little Dance. While 64 Division II basketball programs are given a chance for their division’s title just like their big brothers in Division I, the pomp and circumstance around the tournament can’t hold a candle to Division I’s flame. The tournament is broken into eight brackets instead of four with the #1 seed in each region hosting the games. I wish I had known this before I drove out to Louisville to cover the University of Southern Indiana (USI) in their title bid. I had no idea that Bellarmine, the #1 seed in the region, was hosting the tournament and showed up at Louisville’s new arena, The KFC Yum! Center only to have 50 Lady Gaga fans alert me it was on the other side of town. While the Yum! Center features brand new amenities, roughly 22,000 seats and what I can only imagine is great lighting. Bellarmine plays in a gym that also features a stage and may hold 3,000 people. It’s saving grace was a bay of windows that let natural light pour in on one side and a bunch of recessed lights that created spotlights of light on the court.
Anyway, back to USI.
USI won the national title in 2009 and as a #2 seed were poised to make another run. The Screaming Eagles, who only had five losses coming into the tournament, would have to get through teams that handed them 80% of their losses on the season if they wanted to do it though. Bellarmine had beaten the Eagles each of the three times they faced them this season and would meat up with USI in the regional final if they each made it that far. Kentucky Wesleyan, USI’s arch rival, had split a series with them for another loss, and could take Bellarmine’s place in the regional final if they got past the Knights.
USI first had to get past Drury, a team they had already beaten by double digits early in the season and the regions #7 seed. What looked like an easy game when USI quickly drained a deep three for the first points, quickly looked like an upset no one predicted when Drury went on a 14-0 run to make the score 14-3 just five minutes into the game. USI battled back, but looked sloppy and without rhythm for most of the game. They somehow grabbed a lead in the second half with about six minutes to go and held it until the final seconds, which were the oddest final seconds of any game I’ve ever seen.
With 10 seconds remaining and the score tied at 63, Drury needed to inbound the ball and score with just four seconds on the shot clock. Some how they got a shot off and in as the shot clock expired to take a 65-63 lead. But then the shot clock buzzer went off, the clock stopped at 6.5 seconds, USI inbounded the ball, the buzzer went off again for a still unexplained reason and they had gotten the ball past mid court before the clock started again. USI worked the ball around and Brandon Hogg drove to the basket and put up a shot when he fouled as the buzzer sounded again. Confusion was rampant. Why had the buzzer sounded twice on the inbound? Why didn’t the clock start? Was Hogg fouled and was it in regulation?
The referees determined Hogg was fouled and would be allowed to shoot two free-throws with no time left on the clock. At this point, I figured the game was over. The pressure on Hogg to tie the game had to be immense, and he had to hit both shots. To my surprise, he drained the first, and I began to think this game might not be over. Typically in this situation, if a player hits the first, the confidence boost almost guarantees the second one is it, but Hogg sent it long off the back of the rim and Drury stormed the court in celebration.
Here’s a link to the story and one to the gallery:
USI forward Nick Duncheon leaps for a rebound in the second half of USI's 65-64 loss to Drury in the first round of the NCAA Division II Tournament held at Bellarmine University in Louisville, Kentucky on Saturday, March 12, 2011.
