Southwell throws himself a Sweet 16!Nearly outscores entire pud Bama-Huntsville squad by himself. The crowd enjoyed itself, oscar sent waves of good vibe pizzas for the assembled scores of slightly more students than last night. During the game, the crowd was never angry or aggrieved. Nary an insult or boo was hurled. Light-hearted banter, enthusiastic positivity, casual conversation and the occasional percussive clapping. A few revelers attempted a "7 Nation Army" chant late in the game. I encourage these brave souls to try and try again. That would be really great if we could warm that up for conference play. An authentic crowd-generated chant! How nice! An "ole-ole" chant went up at the end too. If this could be coordinated with passing when we are up by 50 points it would've been really something. But was that all the crowd had in store for me? NO! There's more!
Because it was a late start, they filled out the Wildcat Kids Slam Jam with adults. Four students and an old guy. First guy went between the legs and dunked it. Second guy tried to go off the backboard, but flubbed it. Third guy went between the legs left handed (probably deserved the win!). Fourth student did something forgettable (or didn't exist). Old guy tried to go backboard or something and flubbed it. Pretty great.
Unfortunately because this is an NIT game there were some restrictions. No intro videos/announcements. Partisan Dave Lewis had to pretend that he didn't love his cats as much as we all know he does. He did his best Little Apple Honda/Toyota Crime Stoppers voice. He's so good at this he pulled it off without anyone except for my astute ear catching the difference.
Also, no tunnel dance. So instead, in the 2nd half a middle aged man set out to change things, to set the ledger even. There was a top 40 dance hit playing and I was chit-chatting about the game when a murmur turned to elation. I peered up at the jumbo-tron to find this sweatered hero absolutely dancing his ass off. This performance was not to be taken lightly. It was a kinesthetic masterpiece. It involved arms, hands, wrists, legs, chest, belly, and yes, hips. Sometimes life's incredible moments have a most cruel expiration date for those not participating. But for those with clear eyes and full hearts, they will never lose the lolz.
Shane made me smile. He was on fire. 9 rebounds! Good for you Shane. Good for you.
Angel was a delightJO had the dunk of the year for kstate. Sick.McGruder is still fighting through this slumpThe Fresh Prince of JoCo! looked really, really good. It is like watching a guy that is normal and reasonably good looking get completely trashed by a girl. He loses all his confidence, he makes things worse for himself, she roasts him openly and he just goes along because he's in a beta feedback loop. Well, stunner and yla got a hold of Will and he's got himself a great gal with a great personality. He's back. He needs to continue to build upon this confidence and every indication is that oscar will be there with opportunities and Martavious is totally cool with Will taking all of his playing time and starts. Glad we are all on the same page.
DJamer and Nino BOTH looked really good Then Nino got injured. Shoulder? Collar bone? He stayed on the bench so I would guess he is ok, but he didn't re-enter the game. DJamer looked even more like Gip from last year. Really, really strong finishes at the hoop. Took down a couple rebounds and tough passes and went strong for the finish.
Gip Gipped, hopefully he does this against good teamsCriesDiaz looked terrible. It isn't really fair that he just happens to be the other 7 footer playing next to JO, but he's significantly worse than him. The gap between them is growing and it isn't because JO is All-Big 12 1st team worthy all of a sudden. He's still limited in his skill set. Diaz just looks lost and on a different emotional plane than everyone else. Everyone is getting more confident, scoring at will dominating and he looks unsure, scared, like Frank is going to call him names. Look AD, oscar is going to hug the crap out of you win, lose or injury. Loosen up!
