Since last weekend, there have been some wild games; most notably the double overtime thriller where Xavier and Kansas State put on a three-ball clinic.
K-State’s Jacob Pullen ended up being the hero, scoring 28 points on 50 per cent shooting from beyond the arc.
Even though they lost, Xavier’s Jordan Crawford proved to the world that he was more than just “the dunk” by scoring 32 points with clutch shot after clutch shot (the most ridiculous of which was a 37 foot three-pointer).
With Kansas and Kentucky losing Saturday in the Elite 8, let’s look back at some of my favorite players no longer in the tournament.
Wake Forest’s Al-Farouq Aminu: the most fun name of the tournament.
Kentucky’s John Wall and Demarcus Cousins: the most NBA-ready teammates.
Saint Mary’s University’s Omar Samhan: easily the best low-post scorer in the tournament.
Syracuse’s Andy Rautins and Kris Joseph: the two best Canadian teammates in the tourney.
Georgia Tech’s Derrick Favors: one of the best freshmen in the country.
Ohio State’s Evan Turner and Mark Titus: the best player in the tournament and best blogger in the country respectively.
Houston’s Aubery Coleman and the weird goiter on his neck (oh yeah, and he also led the country in scoring.)
Ali Farokhmanesh: The biggest balls in the tournament (see last week;s article).
Finally, Kansas’s Sherron Collins and Xavier Henry: the biggest choke job in the tournament.
All of these names may not mean anything to a casual fan, but to the ones who followed the tournament, they mean everything.
These are the guys that helped captivate the continent for a full two weeks of games.
These guys made the magic happen. That has to be my favorite part about these two weeks every year, magic is in the air.
And we may never hear from these guys again, but for a fourteen-day period, they owned it.
Now there are six teams left. Who will join the list? Who will be forgotten? Only time will tell. Since the darkest dark horse was eliminated Saturday, I’ll be cheering for the Baylor Bears: Beat Coach K and those sniveling Blue Devils!
I’ll see y’all next week in Indianapolis for the final four.
