One Ugly Weekend For Lone Star State
All three representatives of the state fell this weekend at the NCAA Tournament.
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The Duke and Texas match-up was possibly more heartbreaking than the Aggies' loss to UConn.
Coming into the weekend, things looked promising for Texas basketball fans.
On Thursday, in the regional openers, the Texas A&M Aggies and the Texas Longhorns crushed their respective opponents by a combined 27 points.
The heroes of those teams acted as such, as Bryan Davis had 21 points and nine rebounds for the Aggies, and A.J. Abrams put up 27 for the Longhorns in their win over Minnesota.
On Friday, of course, the Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks were thoroughly (and predictably) beaten by Syracuse, but then, no one really expected much out of the Southland Conference champions.
It should have been an afterthought, a simple case of a big-budget, perennial Big Dance contenders beating on a small program running on little more than fiery emotion. Instead, it served as somewhat of a dark harbinger for the Lone Star State.
On Saturday, the big boys were back on the court, but not for long.
Texas A&M were whipped like curs from the outset by a more talented UConn squad in the early game. The Aggies had played Jekyll and Hyde all season, and it finally caught up with them as they were steamrolled to the tune of a 92-66 final.
It was an ugly and ignominious tournament death.
The Duke and Texas match-up was less ugly and, possibly, more heartbreaking. The Blue Devils maintained a comfortable lead throughout most of the game. Texas came back from down 10 late, tying the game twice in the final two minutes.
The Longhorns might have won had they not been playing a Duke squad that bordered on perfect with respect to the so-called "little things." The Blue Devils camped on the perimeter, as they always do, hitting 50 percent from three-point land. They forced 15 turnovers that effectively nullified the Longhorns’ hot hands. Basically, they did everything right, advancing to a Sweet Sixteen with a 74-69 win.
And that’s the story of how the entire state of Texas’ college basketball hopes and dreams were crushed in a single, fell weekend. It’s a bummer of a story; one that, hopefully, will be soon forgotten.
But it’s far too pretty of a day to dwell on this ugliness.
It’s baseball season now, and USA Today has both the Longhorns and the Aggies in the top 10.
Book your flights to Omaha today.
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Posted Friday, Jul 17, 2009 - 12:18 AM CST
