Photo: Robert Deutsch/USA Today Sports
As big of a following UCLA has, CBS and NCAA did not want to see the Bruins play the Baylor Bears for the national championship game on Monday night. It would be a buzzkill. It may have caused the causal basketball fans and even diehard college basketball fans to not bother watching if Gonzaga did not play Baylor.
College basketball junkies yearned for a matchup between Baylor and Gonzaga, the two best teams in college basketball all season. Baylor did its part by dispatching Houston 78-59 on Saturday night to complete the first portion of the national semifinals.
Now it was up to Gonzaga to do its job by beating UCLA. For a while, it appeared it may not happen with UCLA frustrating Gonzaga offensively, especially Jalen Suggs and Corey Kispert. UCLA found ways to make shots time after time to keep pace with Gonzaga. At times, Gonzaga played catch-up. Gonzaga knew it was fighting for its survival starting late in the first half.
Even when Gonzaga had a comfortable lead in overtime, UCLA made shots to come back to tie it. In fact, UCLA’s Johnny Juzang rebounded from his missed jumper and he atoned for it by making a layup to tie the game that would have went to double overtime. Then, Suggs hit a desperate heave-ho that went in to deny UCLA double overtime.
Suggs immediately ran towards the press row table and stood upon it to celebrate Gonzaga’s 93-90 victory against UCLA in overtime. No doubt CBS executives and the NCAA establishment breathe a sigh of relief. College basketball fans and causal fans expressed their jubilation at sports bars, homes and on Twitter.
Since sports fans love to live in the moment and even the media, everyone will say this was the best college basketball game ever. There could be arguments made for that in a sense Gonzaga was making history and UCLA gave the Bulldogs a game that they did not think would be this hard. Gonzaga and UCLA trading blow by blow to make this a heavyweight game. So many great moments of twists and turns. It came down to a great ending, which turned out to be fitting in what was a great game.
We mentioned last week the return of March Madness should be the “One Shining Moment”, and nothing else. But that’s the beauty of sports. It creates its own reality show by making moments of its own at any time. It’s never scripted. This was as beautiful as it gets when Juzang tied the game at 90 with the idea this was going to double overtime until Suggs hit the dagger to give Gonzaga the win. This will be the shining moment of the tournament.
The final play by Juzang and Suggs will be ingrained in our conscience forever. We will remember the vivid image of this play in our minds. We will watch it on YouTube anytime we want. You can bet CBS Sports will always show that highlight during the NCAA Tournament and Final Fours forever.
But let’s not lose sight of something here. It wasn’t the final play that defined the game. It was Gonzaga displaying grit against a tenacious UCLA team. It’s what makes them much different than past Gonzaga teams that would flame out when it came to Elite Eight, Final Four and championship game.
The Gonzaga Bulldogs were known more for their scoring prowess during their successful run. But their lack of toughness hindered their chances of getting to that elusive championship. When adversity struck, the Bulldogs imploded. See their game against UCLA on March 23, 2006 in the NCAA Tournament, which featured Gonzaga’s Adam Morrison bawling on the court after the loss.
The UCLA Bruins were no different in Saturday night’s game than it was when they came back to beat Gonzaga that year. The Bruins mucked up the game by playing ferocious defense and making Gonzaga play halfcourt offense often. They made the Bulldogs earn their shots often.
This time, the Bulldogs showed UCLA it would be different this time around. Drew Timme set the tone when it came to toughness. He found a way to patrol the paint and get his points. He pushed through UCLA defenders to get his shots. He took charges often. He put himself in a position to be in the free-throw line and make free throws.
We can talk about Suggs’ shot, but he does not put himself in that position if Timme did not make his presence felt in this game. There’s a good chance we would be talking about UCLA denying Gonzaga perfection if not for Timme’s play. Timme’s type of toughness and grit that Gonzaga lacked for a long time was what the team needed to get by adversity.
It was also Timme’s toughness that helped him set the tone to score Gonzaga’s first six points in overtime that would give an 87-83 lead over UCLA. His ability to rise to the occasion and his will to lead Gonzaga made this possible for Gonzaga to survive, and Suggs followed his example by making his own shots despite struggling at times in this game. When it counted, the Gonzaga point guard made the shot of the tournament and the best shot in school history.
UCLA found out the hard way this was not the Gonzaga team it was used to seeing.
This should give Baylor a reason to pause. If Gonzaga can survive a tough challenge against UCLA, exactly how the Bears can survive their opponent on Monday night for the championship?
This explains why college basketball fans, CBS and the NCAA are elated in a sense everyone will find out for themselves.
