Welcome back to the last March Madness episode of Dumping Them Out of the season.
Last night was the Final Four.
Where Duke made a conscious decision to lose to the Houston Cougars.
Well, I guess they haven’t literally “decided to lose”.
But they’ve refused to trigger the guaranteed 2 points play.
I’m sure you’ve seen it happen.
It kinda happens all the time.
It’s almost never done intentionally.
But it absolutely could be.
But at this moment right now, it’s free points.
I’m obviously talking about the fake airball alley-oop.
It was right there.
Against Houston, no less.
A university proven to be susceptible to the air-oop.
But instead, Duke drew up this bullshit.
I do not say this in jest.
I don’t know any fancy basketball play lingo (aside from the acronym BLOB).
But before that possession, I’d have simply told the team.
Coach Scheyer had a family emergency.
Cooper Flag you’re inbounding the ball.
Give it to whoever, it doesn’t matter.
They’re giving it right back to you.
Take it one-on-one from the the top of the arch.
Size up the defender.
He’ll think you’re going to drive.
But pull the trigger from deep with 6 seconds left.
Miss it a foot or two to the left.
Where’s the tall gentleman from South Sudan?
You start in the corner.
When he shoots, go catch it and score.
Blue Devils on three."
Houston suffers another heartbreaking loss on the airball alley-oops play.
The two plays are shown side-by-side for the rest of eternity.
It’s so easy.
I’ve thrown out a lot of dumb sports ideas in my day.
But I genuinely believe in this one.
It’s probably the most right I’ve been about anything in my life.
If you start watching for it, you’ll see it happen all the time.
Their minds think rebound.
The air ball is never ever considered.
They even did it on the shot Cooper Flagg settled for last night.
I’d imagine Duke being eliminated is a bit of a ratings nightmare for CBS.
Maybe “nightmare” is a little too far.
But Duke surely brings more eyeballs that Houston.
Which is probably the best storyline heading into Monday.
My favorite play from the Florida-Auburn game last night came late in the second.
Walter Clayton Jr. was on fire.
Florida’s Thomas Hough got the ball at the top of the arc.
He’s a 35% three-point shooter.
He’s completely wide open.
But Walter Clayton is so hot, Hough doesn’t even consider shooting.
Nobody even comes to guard him.
He just runs around in circles for a while.
Just waiting for Walter Clayton Jr. to pop open so he can instantly chuck.
Worked like a charm.
Great play call Todd Golden.
Way to put your Gators in a position to succeed.
I’m watching the Women’s National Championship right now.
It’s unfair what Caitlin Clark did to my perception of all other women’s basketball players.
Which I know isn’t true.
She’s an incredible player.
But she is barely playing the same sport at Caitlin Clark.
And I’ll be especially unimpressed if they’re playing for a team like UConn.
For all the young aspiring girls basketball players reading this, don’t go to UConn.
Go somewhere different and stand out.
Even Paige Bueckers right now is getting overshadowed by her teammates.
