Mar 26th, 2009 by Alan Siegel
Fields is the hero, again. Pitt wins 60-55.
Tom Herrion is a happy guy.
“In my (bleepin’) town!” he screamed with a smile on his face.
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Mar 26th, 2009 by Alan Siegel
Where did that come from? Levance Fields, who’s been struggling from the um, field, just nailed a three to give Pitt a 55-54 lead with 47 seconds left. Here we go…
Fields just hit a layup. 57-54 Pitt with 23 seconds on the clock.
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Mar 26th, 2009 by Alan Siegel
Man, Boston’s a pro sports town. Anyone else sick of hearing that? The Boston fan has been stereotyped as a college-sports-hating, provincial snob. (OK many of the other stereotypes are true, but come on, some really do like college sports.)
Anyway, the Garden is at near capacity. Only a handful of empty seats up in the nosebleeds, but that’s it.
So much for no interest in NCAA hoops.
The Pitt faithful is livid right now. Derrick Brown’s shot, that put Xavier up 47-46 with about 7 minutes left, looked like it was released after the shot clock hit zero. I have no clue if that’s actually the case. It was VERY close though.
Another Pitt timeout with 6:19 left. This one’s going down to the wire.
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Mar 26th, 2009 by Alan Siegel
This game has gotten tight. Xavier leads 41-40 with 11:43 left.
Pitt has really cracked down, outscoring the Muskies 11-4 in this half. Be back in a few.
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Mar 26th, 2009 by Alan Siegel
DeJuan Blair just led a 6-0 run with a pair of layups. Sam Young’s jumper made it 37-35 Xavier.
Blair just flexed his arms and screamed “LET’S GO.” I don’t think I’d want to get in his way right now.
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Mar 26th, 2009 by Alan Siegel
Xavier is on fire. The Musketeers just closed the half on a 10-2 run to go up 37-29. This dude behind me — a Pitt fan — keeps yelling “ARE YOU SERIOUS” on every single possession. Xavier (pronounced Zavier, not Eggzavier) is doing a hell of a job on big DeJuan Blair. He only has two points.
Derrick Brown (10 points) and B.J. Raymond (9 points) have been absolutely outstanding.
Upsets in this tourney have been rarer than a sportswriter who hasn’t partaken in the gut-busting buffet here at the Garden. (Sidenote, they have chocolate covered pink Snowballs and chocolate covered Twinkies on sticks.)
ANYWAY, good for the X-Men for sprinting out to a lead. Pitt is tougher than an Applebee’s steak though. The Panthers, I hope, will be on a mission after the break.
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Mar 26th, 2009 by Alan Siegel
Couple thoughts here:
Pitt’s Sam Young (9 points) looks damn good out there, drilling jumpers (he’s 4 of 7 from the field). Too bad the Celtics are full of guys like him (he’s 6-6). He’s going to be a late first round/early second round pick in June.
Pitt coach Jamie Dixon just broke a molar or two clenching his teeth so hard. he’s not too excited.
Xavier is playing tough. Three straight dunks on successive possessions. The pace of this one is actually pretty fast. Not what I expected from a pair of grind-it-out teams. Xavier’s B.J. Raymond, by the way, just nailed a three. It’s 23-19 Xavier with 7:44 remaining.
The building’s filling up, but I’d say it’s at about 2/3 capacity. Come on guys, this is a great take. Can’t brave the rain to get here?
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Mar 26th, 2009 by Alan Siegel
Xavier is rolling early. The Musketeers have a 9-4 lead at the first timeout (15:46). The Pitt faithful behind me is pretty frustrated at the moment.
DeJuan Blair has one bucket so far.
Former Merrimack assistant Tom Herrion turned red during the timeout.
“THEY HAVE FIVE OFFENSIVE REBOUNDS! FIVE!”
Maybe that’ll wake the Panthers up.
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Mar 26th, 2009 by Alan Siegel
I wouldn’t say the place is rocking yet. Although I did nearly just get impaled by a trombone in use by one of the Pitt band members. The upper deck is pretty empty. And so is the loge really. The teams just took to the court. There are some interesting faces in the house.
John Thompson is here. So are Bill Raftery and Verne Lundquist are calling the game for CBS. Mr. Onions is looking pretty good for 92. I mean 65. The guy still cracks me up though. The same can’t be said for Vitale…
And whatever you do, don’t bring a can of Coke onto the floor. Coca-Cola is not an official sponsor of the NCAA Tournament. Only Vitamin Water. No Coke. You’ll get that thing snatched from your hand.
So what’s the deal for tonight?
I’m going with Xavier over Pitt, 72-65 in Game 1.
In Game 2, it’s gonna be Duke over Villanova 81-76.
Any thoughts?
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Mar 25th, 2009 by Alan Siegel
It’s been a while, but we’re back in action.
It’s relatively empty at TD Banknorth Garden, where the four teams in town for the NCAA regional are practicing. It’s pretty strange actually.
The parquet floor has been replaced by a plain old court, which by the way, has been touched up by a coat of paint. It SMELLS pretty strong. A fellow reporter jokingly said he felt like he was going to pass out.
Another strange touch that I think the players might get annoyed with if they notice. The banners are gone! They must be in storage somewhere for the next few days. Aren’t they part of the allure of this otherwise homogenized building? Yikes.
Xavier’s on the court now. We’ll check in soon.
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