NCAA Title Game

Last night's game was a great one but it wasn't among the all-time best. Illinois wasn't in it during the last 10 minutes of the first half or the all-important last 3 minutes of the game and that made all the difference.

If I'm a fan of Illinois then I'm upset at these lapses. I'd be upset at the coach for not calling a timeout to make sure the players refocused or got rested - just something to stem the tide of the North Carolina onslaught. Finally, I'm upset at the referees for calling five ticky-tack fouls on James Augustine.

If I'm an Illinois fan - there's no way I'm happy about last nights game.

Sure Illinois showed great heart coming back from that huge deficit but it has to be remembered that they helped cause that deficit to begin with.

Having said all the above - North Carolina was the better team both on paper and in the final score / analysis. I'll admit that part of me was wishing that Roy Williams would never win a National Championship but in the end I guess I'm happy for him. Wait a minute - no I'm not. Sorry, but something about Williams just strikes me as completely phony.

The story of last night's game though was Sean May. Do people call him Baby Shaq? That should be his nickname. He's only 6'9" and I'm curious how he'll do in the NBA. He can bull players and he has soft hands and a soft touch on his shot but he's only 6'9" and he doesn't seem to have much "ups". I'm pulling for him though because if you replace the 6'9" with 6'1" we have similar games (similar in the sense that my baseball swing is also similar to Manny Ramirez's).

One final note - last night was the first time I ever saw the "Shining Moment" song / montage. Every year prior to this I either watched the game out at a bar or would turn off the game because I'm not big on trophy presentations partly because I hate the fact that immediately after every sort of championship these days the players immediately have to don championship hats and shirts whose sole purpose is to get people to buy those same shirts and hats. Anyway, I watched "Shining Moment" and I really don't understand the big deal. Seriously. Its a highlight reel set to a cheesy song.

Sorry - I know that to some people "Shining Moment" is the highlight of the tournament but I doubt I'll stay up to watch it again.