Go Demons

Now that we've got that other stuff out of the way, let's talk about the important thing:

The Mighty Demons of NSU are going to the NCAA tournament. We beat Sam Houston State today to claim the Southland Conference Tournament title and the automatic bid that comes with it. We played a tough nonconference schedule early in the season. We beat Oregon State, Oklahoma State, and Mississippi State from "BCS" conferences, to use a football term in a basketall environment.

We play ten guys at least ten minutes a game. Ten different players have led the team in scoring. In the first half, Mike McConathy substitutes five guys at a time. We press and try to wear the other guy down. It's ugly sometimes, but it's fun. And it's really worked for us this year. This may be the best season in the history of NSU basketball. A few years ago we won the play-in game for the right to get stomped by Illinois, but that's okay. Making the tournament is usually good enough for our fans. We'll probably get a 13 or 14 seed and face somebody like BC, Florida, or UCLA. It would be really sweet if we ended up playing in the DC region so I could go.

The great joy besides making the tournament, of course, is that the game today was on ESPN2, so I could look for my family in the stands. My dad, cousins, and uncle were two rows behind the scorers table, so I was able to see my dad when the Demons went on a big run in the first half and had a key steal at the end to seal the game. He looks good.