Jones Goes to the Oakland Regionals

This Thursday I hopped on an early morning Southwest flight and headed up north to check out the Oakland Regionals. I was excited because this would be my first time seeing Adam Morrison play live. As well, one of my childhood friends, Jordan Farmar, now plays for UCLA, so getting to see him play this deep in the NCAA tournament was another thing I was definitely excited about. Once I arrived at the airport terminal at LAX, I knew that I was about to experience something special. Everyone waiting for my plane was also going up to see the games. There were tons of UCLA fans, as well as a few fans from other schools. I also saw a few scouts on the plane including the Lakers former assistant coach Bill Bertka.

On Thursday, there were two games. Memphis v. Bradley was the early game, and Gonzaga v. UCLA was the late game. I really didn’t care to see Memphis and Bradley, other than to check out the potential NBA prospects that each squad had (Memphis with Rodney Carney, Darius Washington Jr., and Shawne Williams, and Bradley with Patrick O’Bryant).

Bradley came out looking like they might be ripe to upset the number one seeded Tigers. However in the second half, Memphis quickly crushed all of the first half momentum Bradley had, leaving no hope for a come back. All the scouts keep talking about Patrick O’Bryant, but in this game he really didn’t do much for his Bradley team. I’m sure he’ll still be a high pick in the draft. I mean, isn’t every big man with half a pulse drafted in the first round?

The UCLA v. Gonzaga game was amazing. Prior to tip-off, I said that I thought UCLA would win by a couple of points. I thought that Adam Morrison would get his, but that the tough team defense of the UCLA Bruins would eventually prevail over the Bulldogs. Prior to the game, I made the mistake of saying that no one could stop Adam Morrison, including Aaron Aflalo... Aaron Aflalo’s dad! I had no clue who he was. I thought I was just talking to some random UCLA fans, and because of it ended up sticking my foot in my mouth. I told him that Aaron is one of the better defenders in the country, but that statistics show that even in Gonzaga loses, Adam Morrison averages over 30 ppg. Let’s just say Mr. Aflalo wasn’t too happy with what I had to say.

When the game started, UCLA just looked flat out scared. Could it be that they were intimidated by Morrison’s toughness and his dirty stache? It sure seemed like it, because they were missing everything. I don’t think UCLA scored a field goal until about 10 minutes into the first half. Everything seemed to be going Gonzaga’s way. Gonzaga played a zone defense, and UCLA sometimes has trouble with their zone offense, so I wasn’t totally surprised to see the Bruins a little bit off of their game. Adam Morrison looked like his normal self for most of the game. He was scoring on a variety of moves, from step back jumpers to aggressive drives to the basket. He’s definitely worth all of the hype.

By halftime, it looked like the Bruins had no chance to come back. But from watching the NCAA tournament over the years, I know that teams usually are able to comeback from large deficits in the second half. Watching the game during the second half, I kept saying to myself that the game felt some what like the Illinois v. Arizona regional final game from the 2005 NCAAs. In that game, Arizona was completely dominating the Illini for almost the entire game. That is until about three minutes left in the second half when the Illini decided to throw a full court press on the Wildcats and make one of the most impressive comebacks in NCAA history. Little did I know, this comparison would be more right on that I could even imagine.

With the Bruins playing listlessly for almost the entire second half, UCLA coach Ben Howland made one final push by throwing a full court press on the Zags. Predictably, the Zags didn’t handle the pressure well. They rushed shots, and stopped going to Adam Morrison. Mr. Momentum had definitely switched jerseys. But still it looked like the Zags would hold on. That is until Jordan Farmar stole the ball from JP Batista and passed it under to Luc Richard Mbah a Moute for the game winning lay up. All Batista had to do was hold on to the damn ball, but instead he made an ill advised cross court pass that UCLA was savvy enough to capitalize on. UCLA played the absolute worst basketball game, yet still won. It’s almost unfair. Gonzaga played awesome the entire game until the last minute. Yet because of that they are now sitting at home while UCLA is on their way to the Final Four.

After the final horn Adam Morrison collapsed to the floor in a complete emotional breakdown. I gained even more respect for Morrison at that moment. That image of him on the floor showed me how much he loved ball. You could tell that Morrison doesn’t play ball for the money aspect. He plays ball because he is a competitor and absolutely loves the game. Knowing that was probably his last amateur basketball game probably hit him pretty hard. Only people who truly love the game could understand what he was dealing with. Aaron Aflalo proved how much of a class act he was by helping Morrison off of the floor and letting him know that he was still a champion in his eyes. What a game! It’s something that I will never forget for the rest of my life.

Random Sightings at the Tournament:

Jaleel “Don’t Call Me Steve Urkel” White
Jerry Tarkanian
Chris Mullin
Ed O’Bannon
Bill Walton
Mitch Richmond