Get your one puns ready. Tons of ones, Top ones, Onederful, final ones, etc. So we have the first ever Final Four of all top seeds. I actually think that in the long run, that will be good for the game. There have been too many amazing David beating Goliath games in recent memory. We fall for it every time, but just off the top of my head, here is a list of some underdogs winning an improbable championship or run for the ages or playoff series vs. an unbeatable opponent:
Giants beat undefeated best team ever Pats. (Cue goofy smile)
Houston Rockets come from nowhere to win 22 in a row.
Colorado Rockies come from nowhere to win do or die play-in game, then sweep NL playoffs.
Cleveland Cavaliers down 0-2, beat superior Pistons four straight, highlighted by one of the great individual playoff games of all-time.
Golden State Warriors as a sloppy #8 seed knock out the #1 seed Dallas Mavericks, which is never supposed to happen.
GEORGE MASON
Florida is a huge underdog to Ohio State in football, blows them out in BCS championship game.
Florida wins the NCAA basketball tourney out of nowhere, Joakim Noah comes from out of nowhere to play like Bill Russell.
The St. Louis Cardinals collapse at the end of the regular season, hold on, somehow make it to the World Series and win it all.
The Detroit Tigers beat the heavily favored Yankees as Kenny Rogers mysteriously turns into Koufax. The mystery of the brown shmutz on his hand goes unsolved.
Vince Young leads Texas by himself over the USC unbeatable dynasty.
The Red Sox come from three games behind to beat the Yankees, kind of a big deal.
The Pistons beat the Lakers team of four hall of famers and hall of fame head coach.
The scrappy Pats with rookie QB beat the greatest show on turf in the Super Bowl.
You see what I mean? David or Cinderella, the underdog, whatever you want to call it… has had a nice run. But if they keep winning, it becomes less of a big deal when they do. So, it’s a good thing in the long run for the favorites to re-establish themselves. You gotta have villains if you want to have heroes. Congrats to Memphis, UCLA, UNC, and Kansas.
Of course the story of the tourney that everyone will remember 2008 by is STEPHEN CURRY and Davidson. They were more than just a one-man show, but that one-man show was… I have never stood up screaming pumping fist as much for a team, player, or game that had absolutely no impact on me. Curry wasn’t just nailing every open shot, he was weaving through traffic and throwing up wild scoop layups that kept going in. The combination of Gus Johnson’s calls and Curry’s performance was the real March Madness. Granted, the Kansas game wasn’t just the Curry show, it had the hot shooting of someone Gus kept calling “THE WHITE LOBSTER!!! AHHHHHHHH!” Seriously, this Davidson run was tailor made for Gus. Every time Curry lined up a shot, you could almost feel Gus leaning through your TV, just aching to go way over the top. Can you blame him? Usually when he’s talking about Steph Curry, it’s two Knicks that have… let’s just leave it at underachieved this season.
Now you get the Billy Packer/Jim Nantz/same old one seeds. But hey, go get that championship.
Curry should have taken the last shot, but Kansas was all over him, and I guess he did the right thing finding the open man. Still, you wanted to see the guy who made the whole tournament be the one to take that shot.
Thank you Davidson for bringing us all along for the ride.
