Sorry for the delay in posting the game recap. After that heart-breaker, I took a page out of Crash Mathews book and followed my own rendition of the GU Blues. I started with number 9 (no chick flick though, just a good ol' fashioned cry), I followed that up with number 10 (drink...a lot), done immediately following the cry and into the deep hours of the night. After drinking, I added a new number to the list: #11, I went into hibernation. Hibernation consists of denial, refusal to talk about the game, and lots and lots of sleep. Finally (similar to the 5 stages of grief), I started to accept the loss and moved forward to work on number 7: thinking about the next game, and the next GU victory. Only 3 more days to wait!
I had the fortune (misfortune, perhaps?) of attending this game, and it was definitely one for the ages. It caused a myriad of emotions: hope, elation, devastation, dismay, excitement, frustration, belief, and finally, disbelief, sadness, and shock...and that was all in the final 4.6 seconds of play. It was a series of improbable events. Gonzaga was up by 1 with 4.6 seconds left, Butler got the ball back, had trouble inbounding and was forced to take a timeout. It didn't help, as the second they inbounded, they were called for a travel and turned the ball over to GU with 3.5 seconds left. At that point, the Butler fans around me were quiet - shocked, upset, and sad...but then the place erupted. All Gonzaga had to do to seal the deal was inbound the ball and waste the final 3.5 seconds. Instead, the lob from David Stockton to Kelly Olynyk resulted in a steal, a run down the court, and a last second buzzer beater, awkward shot by Roosevelt Jones. Gonzaga lost. Just like that, the arena erupted. The crowd rushed the court, the fans around me were screaming with jubilation, and simultaneously telling me it was a good game. I had trouble responding, my heart was pounding, my eyes were welling with tears, and my jaw had dropped. It was an improbable loss, one that has been since shown over and over and over again as the top Sports Center play. It is a play that will likely never happen again, a veteran David Stockton unable to connect with the solid Kelly Olynyk. It was a mistake, one that I am not going to fixate on, nor am I going to place blame. It was just a sad ending to a classic game. Had GU not been involved, it easily would have been one of the best games I had ever attended. But that is the curse of a college basketball fan, we CARE about our teams. Our moods are swayed by a win or a loss, and that one HURT. If you can make it through this ramble, then please read on for more about the experience of Hinkle Fieldhouse.