As far as I’m concerned, this year’s edition of the Madness of March just got officially underway, and it happened in Ogden, Utah. In the Big Sky Championship Game, #1-seed Weber State was up 40-20 at the half, playing on their home floor, against Montana.
At that point, Montana senior guard Anthony Johnson apparently decided that he wasn’t ready for his career to end, and he wanted to play in the Dance for the first time. He scored 34 second-half points and ended up with 42 of Montana’s 66 points. I flipped over from the Louisville-Cincy game when I saw Montana was coming back. Johnson just couldn’t be stopped. Weber St. started denying him the ball, so they moved him from 2-guard and had him start bringing the ball up the court himself for the last couple of minutes. He didn’t let anyone else on his team touch the ball much from there on out. Even though Weber St. absolutely knew he was going to be taking the shot every time down the floor, he just kept banging them in. He made three shots at the end that put them back in the lead, including the game-winner that gave them the 66-65 win. Pure madness.
Meanwhile, Cincy was engineering a comeback from a 12-point 2nd-half deficit over Louisville at the Garden. An incredibly sloppy 2nd-half by the Cardinals leaves them with some big questions heading into the tourney. The Madness has begun. Enjoy it everybody.
funny you mention this, doogan. when johnson hit the shot that put them ahead (which was just absurd), i jumped up and yelled “MADNESS!” i think i scared the crap out of ina, but it was amazing. honestly, it looked like some 16-year old playing on the playground with 13-year olds with money on the line. he did absolutely everything. it was one of those performances that i will remember for a very long time…and it was a montana grizzly who will be lucky to have an overseas career. that’s what is so amazing about this month. wow, MADNESS
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