Recap of the Thrilling 32

It was sad to see George Mason lose. Ohio State just made everything. Mason left the three point shooters open early; they made it. Later, Mason was pasted to the Buckeye shooters; they still made it. Mason got off to the good start with a 11-2 lead. But Ohio State got a few lucky breaks, like the fasted 5 second call in the history of basketball, and never looked back. The loss of Luke Hancock may not have been the difference, but it didn't help. Mason has a young team though. Look for them to be back.

In the meantime, I want to send best wishes to Cam Long and Isaiah Tate. If you look at Long's face, you couldn't tell if he's in heaven or if the place is burning down around him; he exudes calm and composure. It's a wonder to behold. I really hated Tate's game when he first came to Mason. But he has improved every year. This season, whenever he entered the game, I always let out a sigh of relief, "Whew, Isaiah's in. Everything will be alright." He turned into a guy with one of the highest basketball IQs I've seen. It was a truly remarkable transformation. Good luck to both men.

The referees did the right thing in calling two fouls in the last 1.4 seconds of the Butler-Pitt game. The refs haven't done much right during the tournament. There's been more bad officiating than I can remember. But both plays were obvious fouls that needed to be called. The real story was the unbelievably stupid plays made by Shelvin Mack and Nasir Robinson. Both made legendarily dumb plays and all within a second of game time! I did like that Mack asked Gilbert Brown, "Where you from?" before Brown shot the free throws.

It looked like UNC's John Henson tipped Isaiah Thomas's last second shot, which would've been goaltending. Of course, Thomas shot a two instead of a three, so the point is moot. However, potentially rivaling the above paragraph for the two stupid plays in such quick succession award, Venoy Overton hurled a last second shot before it was the last second. Henson tried to catch the ball for some reason, but missed, and the ball rolled out of bounds.

Let's not forget that Scoop Jardin inexplicably jacked up a quick shot at the end of the first half against Marquette, instead of holding for the last shot. Jardine missed and Marquette cam down and scored. Another play involving Jardine occurred at the end of the game. With the contest tied, Dion Waiters threw the ball to Jardine, who caught it in the front court as his foot glided on to the halfcourt line for a backcourt violation with the game tied. Marquette won by 4.

Read the last three paragraphs and then try to tell me the college game is better than the NBA. It's not a purer kind of basketball. The issue is, in the NBA, the players are so good, it can become predictable. College basketball has the element of utter stupidity that gives you some excitement from sheer unpredictability. See above for examples. But the NBA is a purer game. The players know what they're doing. It's also a better game.