Sunday, March 26, 2006

Washington Was The Best Team In The Tourny

Washington caught a strong gust of ill-tasting fate against UConn, this last which also benefitted from some poor calls and unexplainable good luck, or otherwise a strong current of fate, but of a decidedly sweeter constitution. But that sweet taste has turned sour for UConn, for whom the Fates have woven a rough thread as well. Unfortunately, even as we may enjoy watching the big dog fall, we will not be able to watch Roy spin his own works of magic any longer, nor will we be able to appreciate such a defensive and well-oiled machine as was Team Washington. Washington made everybody look bad, forcing turnovers left, right, and up and down the court. We first saw this when they opened against the Mid-Major Utah State University, a team that has consistently performed well, but never well enough. A tough contender, USU can't quite surmount its image as, well, a tough contender that no one plays around with, and yet no one expects to lose to. USU averaged around 12 turnovers a game during the regular season in the Western Athletic Conference. By the end of the game against Washington they had something like 24. Most people chalked it up to Mid-Major jitters; some even said USU was unworthy of receiving a bid. But what has not been mentioned is the fact that Washington made every team it played look nervous, even the mighty Huskies. Turnovers abounded, team played flourished, stardom shined... and the bigger talking heads were infatuated with Florida's team play, UCLA's defense, UConn's stars, and George Mason's sure-to-come-to-an-end Cinderella run. We'll, one may say that the bigger talking heads were right to pass up on talk about Washington. They're out after all. But the heads were wrong about UConn, wrong about George Mason, and they'll be wrong about UCLA and Florida too. These last are good teams, no doubt. But if I were a betting man I'd put money on Villanova and LSU, because so few are doing it.

What about George Mason, you ask? Well, they've had a nice run haven't they.

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