Two seconds over San Antonio

The all-KU crowd at Kincade's on Armitage was getting quiet. Memphis was up by nine with only a few minutes left in the game. The Jayhawks had switched to a zone defense after a string of unanswered points, botched rebounds and poor shooting. Our little group started clearing out the tab, ready to skulk back home.

The gimmie games against out-of-conference teams were all over. UNC went home, as did Davidson. The whole game had been a back-and-forth and Kansas was only in it by dint of near-flawless free throw shooting.

But you know that.

As the margin began to collapse and the clock wound down, everyone in the bar had their hands on their heads or their were rubbing them together in an incredible buildup of nervous energy.

A missed Memphis three - joy!
A missed rebound from that three - agony!
Missed Memphis free throws - relief, the dint of hope!

The clock goes down, half the bar is doing the pogo. People are screaming at the TVs. All of a sudden, the bartenders have nothing to do. The entire kitchen staff has come out to watch the end of the game. Not a finger in the room was uncrossed.

Ten seconds to score three points - torture!
Off-balance pass to Mario Chalmers - the beginning of an "oh shi...."

But before anyone could get off any comment, Super Mario tosses one up. With two seconds, it was close to being a throw-away - a little closer to the basket than the pointless half-court end-of-game toss, but not much better. KU hadn't been hitting threes all night, getting most of their points in the paint.

The three was necessary, but there was no chance of getting a proper setup.
There was no chance to get off another pass, perhaps back to Arthur, to make a proper attempt.

Was it better than the Superbowl? No, Eli Manning's epic scramble followed by David Tyree's helmet catch wins on the technical level. We had far more nailbiting time and far more comebacks from hopelessness during that final Giants drive. The Patriots were prohibitive favorites.

But try to tell that to anyone at Kincade's last night.