For Jon Teitel’s interview with Hall of Famer Terry Dischinger – CLICK HERE
For Jon Teitel’s interview with Hall of Famer Teresa Weatherspoon – CLICK HERE
Tonight’s NCAA Championship Game features a pair of first-timers for Monday Night – the Virginia Cavaliers pulled off another improbable win out of the blue against Auburn on Saturday night. It initially looked like the Cavs were going to win a relatively painless game after they took a 10-point lead against Auburn with 5 minutes remaining. But Ty Jerome’s fourth foul meant that Auburn had a window to mount a comeback, and they did score 14 unanswered points to take a 4-point lead with under a minute remaining. Virginia finally answered with a three of their own, and Auburn made one of two free throws on the next sequence. What happened next would be the talk of the Final Four weekend – first Auburn committed a foul to slow down Virginia since it was only their fifth foul of the half. Next, Auburn nearly forced a turnover when Virginia appeared to pick up their dribble and then commit a double-dribble that wasn’t called before being fouled for team foul #6. With one more in-bound play, Kyle Guy was fouled with under a second left as he was trying to hit a game-winning 3-point shot. He did hit all three free throws and gave Virginia a 63-62 victory.
In the nightcap, Texas Tech was up by 2 at halftime after surviving a rock fight in the first half against Michigan State. In the 2nd half, they overcame an injury to Tariq Owens and ended the game with a 9-0 run after the Spartans got within a point with 2:55 remaining in the game. Jarrett Culver only had 10 points on the night, but he had 7 of the Red Raiders’ 9 final points, and his 3-point shot with a minute remaining effectively ended the competitive phase of the game. Matt Mooney led Texas Tech with 22 points.
Elsewhere, there were a couple of coaching vacancies that were filled yesterday. One was Arkansas – after they appeared to initially be spurned by Eric Musselman, they were able to make a successful counter offer and Musselman will be the Razorbacks’ next head coach. Virginia Tech will also hire longtime head coach Mike Young; he had led Wofford to the 2nd round this year that included a win against Seton Hall and a near-miss against Kentucky.
NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP
(3) TEXAS TECH VS (1) VIRGINIA (9:20 PM, CBS) – Texas Tech is vying for their first national championship in a major sport since Sheryl Swoopes led Texas Tech to the women’s NCAA basketball title in 1993; she almost singlehandedly led Tech to that title with a 47-point performance against Ohio State. With a pair of defensively oriented teams like Tech and Virginia, it is not inconceivable that one of these teams could WIN the title by scoring only 47 points. Nonetheless, Virginia has to believe they are a team of destiny after overcoming their first-round demons from last year AND pulling off back-to-back comeback wins against Purdue and Auburn.
After tonight, we will have one final Hoops HD Report podcast for the season where we recap the Final Four as well as other postseason action and any other coaching news that may develop.