Well, that was pretty entertaining.
Washington University advances in women and men. Last two remaining participants in last year’s women’s final four eliminated, ending the careers of some great players (Mellody and Matt at Scranton, Marbles at Southern Maine). And 59 points for the All American Ben Strong in a triple overtime thriller. No, we haven’t named All Americans yet but, at least for tonight, I’m removing the “candidate” suffix for him.
There’s no way I can do justice to everything that happened, so let me try to give you a taste of the regional here at Luther.
Props to the Blue Crew: Luther fans packed the Regents Center and created a fantastic atmosphere. Their chants were creative (“tie-your-shoe-tie-your-shoe” as a Wash U player bent down to do so) and at one point even altered the game. In the first half, Wash U had the ball when the Blue Crew started counting down the shot clock. “5-4-3-2…”
Wash U forward Jaimie McFarlin fired up and missed a shot to beat the “shot clock” – with 3 seconds still remaining on the actual shot clock. Score one for the Blue Crew.
Future so bright: The players who took over the game for Wash U down the stretch were Zoe Unruh and Jaimie McFarlin. Unruh has a great first step and silky smooth jumper. McFarlin is tenacious on the glass with good quickness that creates open looks off offensive rebounds. And the scary thing here is Unruh is only a freshman and McFarlin a sophomore. Write these names down because they will be coming to D3hoops press releases near you for several seasons.
The Spirit of D3: Frequently the best, most striking moments happen aside from the games themselves. Tonight with a near empty gym one of the Luther players was sharing a moment with her family and friends. They shared words of encouragement with the player on the great season that just ended. Then her family turned to leave and she headed toward a separate door as the clock neared 10:30 pm local time on a Friday night.
Before leaving she looked over her shoulder and called back, “anyone wanna go to the library with me?”
That, friends, is what makes this special. Great games on the court and great kids off it.