If every national championship game were this good, they'd quit all the hype about the Final Four and focus instead on the Terrific Two. North Carolina and Villanova played a basketball game for the ages last night in Houston, and the final seconds featured two of the most thrilling three-point buckets you'll ever see with time winding down, but it was Villanova's that went in at the Buzzer to give the Wildcats bragging rights as the best collegiate mens' basketball team in the country.
It so easily could have been the Tar Heels' night, though, thanks to a three-pointer by Marcus Paige with just under five seconds left in the game, and Villanova leading 74-71. Paige collected a bounce pass beyond the three-point arc that was nearly picked off by a diving defender, then squared up to the basket, jumped, and double-pumped the ball while in mid-air, heaving his long-distance desperation shot toward the basket, where it rattled in to tie the game at 74. It was an amazing shot and with just 4.7 seconds left to go, overtime seemed likely, but Kris Jenkins of Villanova had a much different outcome in mind.
On the ensuing possession after a time-out, the Wildcats worked a set play with a pick near the top of the arc, the ball was flipped to Jenkins, and the junior forward lofted a nothing-but-net trey that just beat the final buzzer, just as casually as if he were playing a game of pick-up on the driveway instead of hoisting a game-winner in front of an arena full of thousands and millions more watching live around the country. Final score Villanova 77, North Carolina 74, and the Wildcats celebrate their first national championship since 1985, one that would make former coach Jimmy Valvano proud and madly scrambling around the court once again looking for someone to hug.
Don't expect the same kind of drama from the womens' final tonight when Syracuse takes on mighty UConn. I hope I'm wrong and the Orange can make a game of it, and perhaps even win, but we're talking true David and Goliath stuff here. UConn is charging towards an unprecedented 4th straight national title, and Syracuse looks to be little more than a speed bump on that road, but stranger things have happened and it would be an upset of legendary proportions if the Orange Women can pull off a victory.
To Major League baseball and the Boston Red Sox will try again in Cleveland to play the first game of their 2016 season today, mother nature not cooperating at all yesterday, with rain and cold marring the proceedings. Guess it's not any more spring-like in Cleveland than it is here in Vermont right now. And maybe the league's schedule makers should reconsider the whole northeast, upper midwest thing before putting these games on the docket in early April anyway since the NY Yankees and Houston Astros were also postponed at the Stadium for their first game of 2016. Couldn't those two teams have played at Houston instead of New York to start the season? I'm no Mark Breen, but I could have told you that the Bronx in early April is less conducive to favorable conditions for playing the national pastime than Houston is. At any rate, David Price will try again this afternoon to make his official Boston Red Sox regular season debut and Masahiro Tanaka will give it another try for the Yankees.
In the NHL, the NY Rangers have clinched a playoff spot with a 4-2 win over the Columbus Blue jackets last night, and the Boston Bruins are back home for the final three games of the regular season with the Carolina Hurricanes coming to town tonight. The Bruins have put themselves in an unenviable position of having to win all three of their final games to get into the playoffs, the margin for error is paper thin, and well, it's all on them to start playing better hockey than they've shown over this horrid stretch of losing seven of their last nine games.
And congratulations to the Vermont Shamrocks girls hockey team that won the USA Hockey Tier II girls U-19 national championship at Cairns Arena in thrilling fashion last night, beating Connecticut 2-1 on an overtime goal by Riley Yandow, marking the second national title for the Shamrocks program, which captured the U-16 championship three years ago. The U-19 select team has a roster of players from across Vermont and northern New York. Vika Simons of Essex had a huge game in goal for the Shamrocks, making 19 saves in the win.
