Greatest Game Ever

Its March 1 and that means it is my favorite time of the year. "March Madness" is officially on. My obsession began with the greatest college basketball starting five of all time - that was Michigan's "Fab 5". The Wolverines were loaded with Jalen Rose, Jimmy King, Ray Jackson, Juwan Howard and C-Webb. I was so attached to that team and thier two runs to the national championship that it's embarrassing. Something about their baggy shorts, black shoes, play-ground skills and their bad ass attitude was mesmerising to me.

The great thing about college basketball is that it doesn't stop with one team. Every year there is a new team to claim as your own. I loved Keith Van Horn and Utah, Mike Bibby's Arizona wildcats, D-Wade and Marquette, Juan Dixon's Maryland Terps, Duany Duany's Cinderella Wisconsin Badgers.

College basketball's NCAA tournament memories stick with you forever. I remember being in study hall in high school and watching Bryce Drew drain a half court 3 pointer to win a game, and being in a bar with my parents (I was like 10 - no I'm not 40 years old) and watching Christian Laettner crush my dad with a turn around half-court jumper. Don't lie, everyone ran to the nearest basketball court and tried Drew's halfcourter and Laettner's turn-around jumper. I am writing this entire piece with a giant smile on my face, because I can't hide my building excitement for the impending March Madness.

So with all that excitement I stroll into The Burrow to do OWL TV's broadcast for the FAU vs. FIU tournament basketball game. These two teams are rivals, and earlier this season De Andre Rice of FAU nailed a jumper with little time left in the game to give the Owls the victory down in Miami. Obviously FIU is not thrilled with FAU, and the Owls had a calmness about them that you can only get by beating a team two times in the same season.

From the tip off this game was intense, with Carlos Monroe being the coolest head for the Owls. If you've been to any games you know that Monroe is cooler than a polar bear's toenails, and he has a John Wayne strut every time he goes to the free throw line. So as the Owls struggled with their nerves, it was Monroe - who nearly registered a double double in the frist half - who kept them in the game.

When the second half began the game was on. After De Andre Rice hit a beautiful layup with about 12 minutes to go, super sub Derreck Simmons fouled out of the game on one of the most questionable calls ever made against FAU. With Simmons out the FIU Panthers nailed consecutive 3 pointers to give them a 10 point lead. Matters only got worse after De Andre Rice was mugged on the way to the basket by a FIU player. No foul was called, and the Panthers took off in the other direction. Well Carlos Monroe wanted FIU to know that they couldn't come into our house and push us around, so he hog-tied a FIU player which started a small brawl on the court.

The Owls had two choices: go out like punks or rise up and show the Panthers who the class of the Sun Belt was. The Owls chose the later. The senior star Rice put the Owls on his shoulders and scored on consecutive AND 1 drives to the basket. After senior guard Brent Crews fouled out after getting 11 assist, Sean Alarcon put on his Superman cape and made two monumental steals, one late in regulation and one in overtime that he converted the layup on and gave the owls a 1 point lead. Monroe and Parmer sealed the game with some key rebounds, and Rice knocked down all his free throws in the second half and overtime to seal the greatest game I've seen in person.