Perspective: Sorry we doubted you, March Madness. Your latest was a masterpiece.
By Sally Jenkins Sally Jenkins Sports columnist Email Bio Columnist March 31 at 7:40 PM KANSAS CITY, Mo. — What it sounded like when impossible underling Auburn took down the last of three historic teams in a row, beating Kentucky on Sunday in overtime, 77-71, to reach its first men’s basketball Final Four, was a kind of shook-foil thunder.
It was a fool’s errand the Tigers were on, really, trying to defeat the winningest team in college basketball annals, one that beat them twice in the regular season, and to do it while shorthanded, too. You kept waiting for the superior Wildcats to punch a hole in the scoreboard, especially after they led by 11 in the first half.On top of everything, the Tigers were without their best player, the versatile 6-foot-8 Chuma Okeke, lost to a ruined knee against Carolina, a sickening turn.
“When you may not be quite as talented, you have to have some things up your sleeve,” Pearl said. “I’ve played a lot of cards. I don’t know how many more cards we have to play. But these guys believe.”
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