More tournament observations

Posted: Thursday, March 18, 2010 by Travis Cody in
3

One of the fashionable picks for an early round upset was 13 seed Murray State. The Racers gave 4 seed Vanderbilt all they wanted and then some before Vandy made a couple of free throws with 12.7 left to take a one point lead. And order was restored, right?

NO!

Murray State hit a tough, contested jumper at the buzzer to pull off the upset!

So that would make the Racers a bit more than fashion because that was Murray State's 31st win of the season against only 4 losses. Well done gentlemen!

Remember that hunch I had about 3 seed Baylor? Well 14 seed Sam Houston State used a triangle and 2 gimmick defense to keep the Bears out of rhythm all game long. The Bearkats were scrappy, but got a little sloppy at the end of the game with four straight turnovers. Baylor capitalized and finally took control.

I want to call out a player for Sam Houston State...junior Gilberto Clavell. I watched this young man play hard inside for the entire game. He took some hard hits and gave some. Most of the time the Baylor player was the one that ended up on the floor. And every time, Mr Clavell went over and made sure the player was alright, and often helped him up. That's a young man who has his priorities in order.

The margin of victory doesn't tell the story of how close this game was. Congratulations to Baylor for gutting out a tough win, and to Sam Houston State for playing the game with sportsmanship and dignity.

3 comments:

  1. Anonymous says:

    so are you gonna win the big money pool on this?

  1. Lois: Nah. I don't gamble on it. I just have fun with it.

  1. Anonymous says:

    Loved Clavell yesterday. Great player and even better sportsmanship. You can be strong and not act like a thug.