If you are like me and ready to get excited about college
basketball, this past Sunday was the start.
If you are like me and ready to get excited about college basketball, this past Sunday was the start.
It was UCLA and Stanford, and it went just about how one might expect – until the second half. The Bruins, who entered the game ranked No. 2 in the country, were ahead 37-20 late in the first half. Even when the Cardinal scored the last five points before the break, it was no big deal.
What happened in the second half was a big deal.
Lawrence Hill took over the game when he put together a personal seven-point run including a bank-shot trey (no word whether he called it) as Stanford made an incredible comeback to hand UCLA its second loss of the season.
A game like that is why college basketball is so exciting. Those of us who follow the game are wondering who this year’s George Mason will be. Granted, Stanford is a bigger name than George Mason or Northwestern State or Winthrop or those other darlings of the last couple of seasons.
And yet it’s hard not to root for Stanford. After all, this is not a university you attend based on your basketball ability alone. Besides, minus the tatoos that are so prevalent today the Cardinal doesn’t even look that “tough.”
But Trent Johnson, who was so successful at University of Nevada-Reno before accepting the challenge at Stanford, is getting a lot out of a team picked to finish seventh in the Pac-10. The Cardinal even surfaced at No. 23 in the latest Associated Press poll.
So maybe Stanford will be one of the feel-good stories this season. It could also be Washington State, whose basketball program has been much lower than the Cardinal’s but who has been hanging around the Top 25 for the past several weeks.
It could be Virginia Tech, which walloped former No. 2 North Carolina on national television a couple of weeks ago. It could be New Mexico State, which upended Nevada-Reno last week. Or Brigham Young, which beat former No. 13 Air Force over the weekend.
And these are just the “name” schools that are looking like major players as the countdown to March Madness begins.
Who knows who will be this year’s George Mason? Could be Virginia Commonwealth or Marist or Akron or Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
That’s the beauty of college basketball. There is always an unknown hovering under the radar that will beat some unsuspecting big-name school. Happens every year.
The race to Selection Sunday is under way and Stanford has stamped itself as a player. There will be others before Selection Sunday who make a case as well.
So sit back and enjoy the ride.
