Call it an episode of “Miami Vise.” The Hurricanes put a late squeeze on Texas to keep the Longhorns from reaching their first Final Four in two decades. Up 13 with 13 minutes left, Texas couldn’t close the deal in the face of a “perfect” performance by Miami guard Jordan Miller, who hit all seven of his field goal attempts and went 13-13 from the line to finish with 27 points. Miami killed Texas softly. The Hurricanes nailed 28 of their 32 free throw attempts, including Miami’s final 13 points of the game.
It was a crushing disappointment for the ‘Horns, who led by eight at halftime and often appeared to be headed to Houston until their offense stalled. Now we await word on Rodney Terry’s future at Texas. Terry did a magnificent job as interim head coach after taking over in mid-season from the fired Chris Beard. While it’s easy to assume that Terry will get the “permanent” position, this could be a more complex decision for Texas A.D. Chris Del Conte than we may think.
Me? I’m pulling for Terry.
I don’t understand what’s “controversial” about the ending of Sunday’s other Elite Eight game between San Diego State and Creighton. That was a foul, and it had to be called. I have friends who have rightly observed on social media that the call reminded them of that defensive holding flag against the Eagles that allowed the Chiefs to close out the Super Bowl. Yes. It was similar. And also similar in that the officials got that one right, too. Sorry. That was a foul Sunday in Louisville. With the score tied at 56 with 1.2 showing, the Aztecs’ Darrion Trammell had beaten Creighton’s Ryan Nembhard in the lane. Nembhard contacted Trammell on his hip, and he turned Trammell slightly as his hand closed on Trammell’s jersey. It was a foul. Trammell then hit the second of two free throws, and the fifth-seeded Aztecs were bound for Houston, where they will face Florida Atlantic in the national semis.
Speaking of seedings The Final Four features a four-seed (Connecticut), two five-seeds (Miami and San Diego State) and a nine-seed (Florida Atlantic). No ones. No twos. No threes. Understand, I love it. But I’ll betchya a cheeseburger that the Final Four tv ratings will be relatively low. We Americans say we love underdogs. Not when it comes to our viewing habits, we don’t.
I’m guilty. Sunday case in point? I was all fired up about watching Scheffler and McIlroy duke it out in the finals of the match play golf championship in Austin. Then they both lost in the morning semis. Never mind. Who them other dudes?
