Revisiting the U.C.L.A. Sweet 16 NiGhTmArE

it says san francisco but it doens’t look like the USF gym to me

and didn’t. Morrison missed, Raivio missed, no one could finish it off.

Man, that game was fucked up. Going to puke now, thanks gaz.

was due to missed shots, phantom fouls and most importantly…the coaching staff playing not to lose. You can’t play cover 2 in basketball! ;)

This game……………you know, I’m in Charlotte, NC, so we didn’t get this whole game, but I’m keeping an eye on it in that little score bug up in the corner of the screen throughout the whole West Va/Texas game I believe it was (Pittsnogle ties it, Paulino buzzer beater to win) and as soon as that games ends, they switch over to UCLA/Gonzaga. So I’m like, “Sweet, get to see us win this game!” First thing I see is Erroll Knight foul out, and I think to myself, “Uh oh. That’s our defensive stopper, been doing the job on Farmar and Afflalo the whole night.” But whatever, the game goes on, keeps going on, and finally we have the Bautista “foul” on Ryan Hollins. And I even remember Len Elmore saying “I don’t see a foul there” and I don’t remember seeing one either. But even still, Hollins was like what, a 54% FT shooter (I didn’t watch the video link where I’m sure it says) so I’m not terribly worried, plus we had a decided rebound advantage because Hollins is shooting them, and he’s their center. So of course, he makes them both, making it look about as easy as Raivio used to, so they’re down one. Now, I get extremely nervous. So, of course, they inbound to Morrison, he gets trapped in the corner. And I remember saying out loud “GIVE IT TO RAIVIO! UNDER THE BASKET, NO ONE NEAR HIM, 95% FREE THROW SHOOTER!”, but instead he decides to throw a wild cross court pass to Batista, which I thought would be stolen, but yet, gets to him. And here again, Raivio is standing wide open under the basket, while Batista is trapped for about 3 or 4 seconds holding the ball, he looks AT RAIVIO, the 95% free throw shooter, and doesn’t pass it to him. Then of course, it gets knocked away, passed to Mbah a Moute, layup, they have the lead. I’m in shock. But I don’t get to experience that shock for very long, because they immediately inbound to Raivio, who wildly weaves his way down the court like he’s some great ball handler, and the ball gets knocked away right around the time Gus Johnson is saying “Last chance to dance!” and the possession arrow gives it to UCLA. I collapse in my living room. Each time Len Elmore says “Unbelievable” or “Are You Kidding Me?” or “Holy Mackerel” is like a dagger being driven into my chest. There was nothing I could say. There was nothing I could hope for. Despite the fact that there was time left, I knew it was over. So they inbound, and Afflalo is fouled, he makes one of two. It’s gotta be a long heave, a Laettner type play to bring it back for us. Pendergraft throws the long pass, Batista catches it. Now, this is not the guy I want taking a jump shot, so I’m hoping he gets rid of it immediately, and about this time I see Raivio peel away to the 3 point line and put his hands out to receive the pass, this is with about 1 full second left, plenty of time to catch and shoot, especially for Raivio with his quick release. So, I keep my eye on Raivio expecting Batista to pass it, but all the sudden, the buzzer goes off. Apparently, Batista’s shot missed. I bury my head into a pillow on my couch for about 10 minutes. Complete silence. I didn’t even know Morrison had cried until the ESPN highlights later on. I couldn’t talk. I was alone in my house, so there was no one to talk to. I was in shock, face buried in my pillow. I didn’t cry, because I wasn’t sad, I was completely and utterly in shock. Then, after lifting my face up from the pillow, the shock turned to anger. I slammed my pillow on the floor, and said, “WHAT THE FUCK WAS BATISTA DOING?!?!?! RAIVIO WAS RIGHT THERE!” This statement could apply to either the play where it’s stolen from Batista, or the last play of the game. There were no fouls by UCLA, I don’t blame the refs. What we could have done better is make a basket in the final few minutes. Figure out how to break that full court pass. GIVE THE BALL TO RAIVIO, BATISTA!!! GIVE IT TO HIM!!!!! Or perhaps, have Errol Knight not foul out.

I’m actually glad you put this up, this is something that took me a while to get over, especially since the people where I work know I’m a Gonzaga fan and of course once I went back to work they were all giving me shit about it, especially Morrison crying, doing the whole fake crying thing to me whenever they saw me. I think it’s about time we all put this past us, and be able to discuss what went wrong, and how we felt and what we saw during the time this game took place. Thank Gaz.

I remember this game sending me into a downward spiral that night. Brutal memories of this game. I had it blocked out until now. Thanks!

All seriousness though, we should have won, but didnt, and I have watched Gonzaga (and well any team really) do this, and games like this always hurt the worst. IE Zags vs UConn Battle in Seattle just a few years ago.

I live close to Oakland so I had tickets, must have been the only Zag fan in my section. UCLA fans were telling me to sit down, I was on my feet the whole game. I still remember them showing Bill Walton on the jumbotron as the Zags had a double digit second half lead. Then all of the sudden the UCLA defense put us on lockdown, we couldn’t get an easy shot the last 5 minutes of the game. I don’t really remember anything else, but lets just say those tickets were the worst birthday present I ever received

this loss did not bother me very much (wonder why). I think there were some awful calls that went UCLA’s way, the coaching staff did not make the required adjustments, but the players choked it away too. I remember thinking there was no way the Bruins could come back and also that the Zags had never lost a game that season after being up at half time. It was very surprising to us that they did not advance.

Rently tweeted by DeMarquise, when asked about his decision:

“without saying the school name, what factors influenced your decision the most?”

And, Q’s answer:

“the coachin staff nd they sold there pitch good nd got me to buy in”

**Doesn’t really give any clues that I can see about what his decision will be….or does it? Did the Zag coaches get him to “buy in”?