City of Basketball Love

Stephen Pianovich (@SPianovich)
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Friday was one of the best days the NCAA Tournament has seen in recent memory. It had everything that draws people to the tournament: Upsets, buzzer-beaters, half-court heaves – and Northern Iowa even rolled all of those things into one.

But there are two sides that come with the exhilaration of the tournament and Saint Joseph’s and Temple learned about both in different ways on Friday (and early Saturday morning). The Hawks and the Owls had their first-round games decided by finger tips above the rim with less than a second left.

St. Joe’s survived. When officials reviewed Octavius Ellis’ potential-game-tying dunk, they saw the Cincinnati forward still had his fingers on the ball when the clock struck 0.0.

Temple wasn’t that lucky.

Adam Woodbury, Iowa’s 7-foot-1 big man, tipped in a miss with less than a second left in overtime and pushed the Hawkeyes to the second round. Temple fans clamored for a call for a shove before the bucket, but to no avail.

The Owls left the court stunned and with no games until next November.

Philadelphia basketball fans who made the wise decision to watch both games saw both sides of the dramatic March Madness coin. There was the charge felt by the Hawks when Ellis’ bucket was waved off and the anguish experienced by the Owls when they realized Woodbury’s bucket counted and there was nothing they could do.

Both games – including the Hawks’ contest which finished after midnight eastern time – were classics. They’ll be remembered by both fan bases for a long while, evoking different feelings for both.

Phil Martelli, who has coached 675 games, knows each sensation.

“I can't even like process where it fits in terms of game,” the 21st-year St. Joe's head coach said. “And in terms of stage. If you know what I mean. Like so when at some point in time and I don't know what else was going on in the country, but at some point in time everybody in the country was watching this game. So, for that stage, for the two teams to play under 10 turnovers, for the ebb and the flow, we go to the basket that maybe does the knock out. Miss a layup. They come rushing back. They block a shot, they throw the ball down to dunk it. A freshman gets 26 for them. Look, the freshman, our freshman, five points on a three, on a knock down.”

“Look, I'm not clichéish, but if that isn't everything that this tournament's about, including, including the agony,” he added. “I know that's from Wide World Of Sports, but this is the ecstasy and the agony that happened to kids 18 to 22 a long way from home.”