Thursday Night NCAA Basketball.

Two amazing games. Texas vs. West Virginia. UCLA vs. Gonzaga. Both games went to the very end. The VERY end. Like last seconds.

WV drills a three-pointer with less than 10 seconds left to tie the game. WV, who was trailing Texas for the majority of the game, breathed a sigh of relief (along with a burst of celebration) to have a chance in overtime to move on to the Elite Eight. However, Texas inbounds the ball, moves down the court to a scrambling WV defense, and feeds the ball to a player about 6 feet from the three-point arch. The unlikely shot goes up and in. Unreal.

Having trailed Gonzaga then entire game and still being 9 points shy with under 3 minutes left, UCLA pulls it together. The 'Zags led at one point was 17 points. The 2nd half was all UCLA. Farmar brings UCLA within 1 point. As the 'Zags inbound the ball to a full court pressing UCLA defense, the whole arena must have felt the intensity. UCLA strips the ball and scores a quick 2 points to take the lead for the first time the game with about 10 seconds left! UCLA recovers a bad pass / loose ball to seal the game for UCLA. 'Zags got a quick shot off at the end, but couldn't connect.

Judging from the adrenaline rush, I felt like I was playing. I mean, my basketball career at St. Robert Bellarmine was quite amazing. I had 3-points-- 1 free throw and 1 bucket-- in four years. Hey, that's a points per game average of 0.0625. UCLA recruited me (i.e. answered my begging and pleading with an offer of admission) for my physics abilities. But I told them, "Hey, I'm not all scientist, baby." Yea, that's right.