LSU vs. Duke

I'm sure that there's an age when a man's body and mind go through a change, and that change causes the first thought in the morning to be about the need to urinate, rather than "I'm horny." I don't know when that happens, but I'll let you know when I get there.

I mention this, because I had an unusual first thought this morning. "What a basketball game." In case you missed it, or if you're looking back at this post from years in the future, last night LSU's basketball team beat top seeded Duke to move on to the Elite Eight.

I don't think I complained here about Tennessee getting a 2 seed in the tournament. LSU won the conference outright, and we beat them outright during the regular season. Also, LSU went to the semifinals of the conference tournament. I don't remember when Tennessee got eliminated, but it was much earlier. ESPN was with Tennessee during the days before the selection, and the coach and team talked about hoping for a 4 seed over a five. How they got a 2 is anyone's guess, but it was good to see them lose to Wichita State in the second round.

LSU looked like an extremely good team last night. Duke Senior J. J. Redick might have been removed from the "player of the year" debate, as he was held to 2-11 shooting from the field by LSU freshman Garrett Temple. Freshman Tyrus Thomas as credited with 13 rebounds and 5 blocks, but his shot blocking threat kept all of Duke's shots tentative while he was in the game.

I would have never thought that Thomas and Glen Davis could combine for 52 minutes because of foul trouble, and LSU still be in the game.

(Can you tell that I've had a chance to study the box score?)

Best moments from the final minute of the game:

1. Tyrus Thomas dribbles the ball right past a pressing Duke defense for an uncontested tomahawk jam.
2. Seconds later, Thomas is in the paint on the other end of the floor, and swats a Duke shot right back over the head of the shooter.
3. Big Baby is at the free throw line with a handful of seconds left. He could sink both free throws to put the game where Duke would need two scores in order to win. He hits the first. LSU pulls everyone off the lane and back on defense in case he misses the second. Clank goes the ball, but the only purple shirt in the TV picture -- the shooter -- jumps between the entire Duke team to get his own rebound.

But my absolute favorite part of the game -- and I'm going to reveal a bit about my evil inner nature here -- was watching Redick cry at the end. I wrote this a couple of hours before posting it, just to give myself a chance to find a picture of Redick crying. I didn't have as much time as I would have liked to search, but I couldn't find one on the main sports sites Friday morning. The Duke sports site didn't help me out either. If I find one later, I'll post it somewhere around here.

Two last things to mention. First, I saw this article about the games from this years' tournament being available for video ipod. I'm certainly willing to pay $2 for the ipod version of this game. I searched the itunes store this morning, but I guess the games aren't out yet.

(2024 update: The link to the article does not work, but I did purchase the game, and I still have an mp4 of it on a hard drive somewhere. I don't believe I've ever watched it.)

Finally, a note of warning to anyone who happens to be with me Saturday, or in other games if LSU happens to win on Saturday. I happened to be wearing a new pair of shamrock pajama pants during the game. So if we're at a bar during a game during the rest of this too-short season, I'm going to look like a fool.