2011 NCAA women thread ... better late than never?

Texas A&M wins 76-70.

 

Didn't watch much of the game beforehand, but the last 7-8 minutes were great. Good for Gary Blair.

 

For the second straight night, an upstart Indiana teams loses to the oldest coach to even win an NCAA basketball title. Except that tonight's game was worth watching.

 

Really good game. Crapload of lead changes in the second half. Would've been nice to see ND at least get off a decent shot in the last minute, but Aggies' perimeter D lived up to its billing when it counted.

Blair utterly gracious and classy.

 

That's the thing about this tourney - ND finally beat UConn but it is meaningless now.

And I'm happy for Texas AM coach Gary Blair who is one of the best guys in the business and one of the best guys I've covered

 

Not sure what you mean by "meaningless." Because they didn't follow it up by winning the whole thing, the win over UConn was a fluke or something?

 

The first event I ever covered in this business was an Arkansas women's game in the mid-'90s. Blair was always easy to deal with as I covered the team for my hometown paper for most of the season. Early on, when I had only a handful of stringer clips to my resume, he gave me a sitdown interview in the stands at Walton Arena. Great guy. Nice to see him win a title.

 

Judging from his post-game interview, your story is easy to picture. He seems like the model of decency.

 

Meaningless because no one will remember it. It will go down as just a footnote in history.

Say NC State hadn't won the title after ending UCLA's title streak in the '74 semis. Would have been the same thing.

FWIW, this is why I think Carlton Fisk's home run to win Game 6 of the '75 World Series is badly overrated as a baseball moment. It just postponed yet another Red Sox near-miss by 24 hours.

 

It was also refreshing to see the A&M players wandering around hugging each other, instead of seeking out cameras and clowning. Half the team was crying ... and they won.

Anybody notice the dude in the stands near the end of the game with the green t-shirt and hat? Now we know what happened to the star of all those Leprechaun movies.

 

The 1981 San Diego Chargers agree. Nobody remembers that moderately interesting game they played in Miami because they lost the next week in Cincinnati.

And you are saying something is meaningless because nobody will remember it and Carlton Fisk's home run is the example that leaps to mind?

 

I see your point. And I'm not a Red Sox fan, so I'm one of the dopes who needs to be reminded that the Carlton Fisk homer didn't actually lead to a series victory.