I’m a Providence College Friar, and today I feel frustrated. Really, really frustrated. Because I know, deep down in my heart, that my teammates and I could be in New Orleans for the Final Four tonight, not getting ready to watch Duke, North Carolina, Villanova and Kansas on television like the rest of you.
I mean, we were so close, you know? If only we had played a little better, say 50 percent of what we can do, in the first half of that Sweet 16 game against Kansas. Only 50 percent! We would have won. I know it.
And I know that we would have taken care of Miami in the Elite Eight. No doubt about that, which would have put us in the Final Four and right up there in PC basketball history with Dave Gavitt’s 1973 team of Ernie DiGregorio, Marvin Barnes, and Kevin Stacom, and Rick Pitino’s 1987 crew led by Billy Donovan. Can you believe he’s coaching the Bulls now?
Instead, what’d we do? Played some of our worst ball of the season. I mean, 17 points in the first half? Less than a point a minute? 20 percent shooting? I still can’t believe it. And it’s not like Kansas was blowin’ us out. What’d they have, 26 points?
We took 35 shots in the first half and made only seven. Seven! Can you believe it? We put it up 13 times from three-point range and hit one. ONE!
I knew we would play better in the second half, knew we couldn’t stink out the place for another 20 minutes. What’s that? Oh, what about Marquette and that 32-point blowout loss right after the holidays? Yeah, that was a bad one. And Creighton in the Big East Tournament semifinals, a 28-point blowout? All right, we did have the potential to stink for 40 minutes.
But we didn’t. We came back, right? We wiped out that 13-point Kansas lead and actually went ahead, 48-47, with 5:49 left in the game. Okay, all right, it was only a one-point lead, but it was still a lead.
Then they hit us with a 7-0 run, and that was the ball game. We didn’t quit, but we couldn’t find one little run of our own, so we lost, 66-61.
Damn! We could have had it. All we needed was four or five more baskets in the first half. If we had played the first half like we did the second, we’d be in New Orleans right now. I know it.
Still, we had a good season. No, a great season. 27-6. We proved we were tough by winning 16 games by single digits. How about those overtime wins over DePaul and Butler? And will you ever forget that triple-overtime thriller against Xavier at the Dunk? Crazy!
We won 14 straight home games until Villanova came in and beat us by five in mid-February. They beat us at their place by two in the last game of the regular season, but we already had clinched the Big East regular-season championship.
So, it was a great season. Some people are calling it a season for the ages. I don’t know about that. We didn’t win the Big East Tournament. Villanova did. And we lost to Kansas in the NCAA Sweet 16. Like I said, if we had played halfway decent in the first half and beaten Kansas, and then taken care of business against Miami, we’d be in New Orleans playing Villanova in the Final Four and watching Duke and North Carolina in the other Final Four game, possibly Coach K’s last.
I would have liked our chances against ‘Nova. They beat us twice by a total of seven points, and how often have you heard that beating a team three times in a season is really hard?
But we’re home, just like you. And that’s why I’m feeling frustrated today. Really frustrated. If only . . .