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| The behemoth match up between Zion and Tacko at the most pivotal moment of the game! (Photo cred: USA Today video still) |
The Duke-UCF game.
The behemoth match-up between Tacko and Zion. 7-foot-6 Tacko said he wouldn’t let Zion dunk on him. Then there was Coach K coaching against former top assistant, UCF Head Coach and Duke legend, Johnny Dawkins.
This was the first great Madness of the tourney!
UCF kept within striking distance for the 1st half and early into the 2nd half, Insanity Report Board Member and Gonzaga Correspondent, Marc Paulsen and I agreed that there seemed no real mojo in UCF to actually win the game.
But just like Apollo Creed’s trainer, Duke trying to talk Apollo out of a rematch with Rocky in Rocky II, UCF just kept…comin’…after Duke!!!! (the Blue Devils that is, not Duke the boxing trainer)
Coach Dawkins’ son, Aubrey Dawkins had the game of his life making shot after shot on his way to a 32 point, 12 for 19 from the field performance. He was unconscious. Tacko was doing what Tacko does. His presence had to be acknowledged at all times on his way to 15 points and 7 boards. UCF Guard, BJ Taylor brought it with timely hoops. As Boxing Manager Duke told Apollo, “UCF just kept coming after us!!! Now we don’t need that kinda (team) in our life!”
Fast forward to the final 2 minutes. UCF had the momentum with the 74-70 lead. They had a 2 on 1 break and Dawkins tried to finish the lob pass for an allep-oop dunk instead of a simple finish. Duke dribbled the ball down off of the Dawkins miss and 10 seconds later Cam Reddish dribbled around a screen to hit a huge trey for the 5-point turnaround! UCF only up 74-73 now.
Everyone in the Insanity Report Board Room knew that the Reddish trey was going to fall after the Dawkins miss. Dawkins saw the flash of the moment to put UCF up by 6, and it cost him the hoop. It was the Basketball gods that put that Reddish trey through the hoop to get Duke within 1 point, due to what seemed like the perceived search for glory by Dawkins.
After BJ Taylor hit 2 FT’s to go up 3 with 45 seconds left in the game, Duke dribbled down the court and seemed like they wanted the trey to tie it up all in one bunch. Zion shot that trey attempt as it seemed forced, but Javin DeLaurier grabbed the offensive rebound…..
Enter the behemoth match up.
The ball got to Zion and the other 4 Dukies cleared out. It was as if Zion was the only player in a Duke jersey on the TV screen.
He jab stepped, with his body language seeming like he was saying, “f%$* it!” Zion reverse dribbled and burnt BJ Taylor one on one to jump straight into Tacko…..here it was.
At the most pivotal moment of the game was the anticipated behemoth match-up like Andre The Giant staring down Hulk Hogan. Zion did not dunk on Tacko. He put a two foot stop and went up strong to the hoop……
And-1!!!!!!!
Duke down 76-75 with 14.4 seconds left. Zion missed his free throw and RJ Barrett was able to get the offensive rebound for the put back. Duke up one, 77-76.
RJ’s rebound could have been a missed push-from-behind foul onto Dawkins. Dawkins was pleading to the ref about the push and Insanity Report Board Member and Coaching Correspondent, J-Dawg was hat throwing and breaking clipboards in the Insanity Board Room about what he thought was a missed call by the stripes.
What do you think? Did RJ push Dawkins from behind too hard? Foul or no foul? Whatever you think, what is fact is that the freaking roar of the crowd after Barrett’s put back was insane.
It was March Madness InSaNitY!!!!!
UCF had one more chance with 8.1 seconds to win the game. BJ Taylor had a solid drive to the hoop and the ball bounced off the rim into a trailing Dawkins hand for the tip-bound.
That freaking basketball trickled inside the cylinder for a microsecond only to have it roll out.
Ball game. Duke wins.
42 of the 91 Inmates in the Insanity Pool who picked Duke as their Madness champion had a collective, straight jacket tearing sigh of relief!
Folks, take the hype train about Zion outta your brain for a second! Honestly, this hype train trivializes what he brings to the court and brings to his Dukie team! Zion is way more than an explosive jumper who weighs 285 lbs. We get it. We knew this back in November. Can we move on to what Zion has done on the court other then his highlight dunks? There is his defense, his developing jumper, his potential as a superstar.
Folks, Zion is great! Period.
Duke is a polarizing program all across North America. Millions love Duke and millions hate Duke. There are few Insanity inmates that don’t have an opinion on Duke. (D$, there is a Commissioner’s ransom for you for keeping any incriminating photos under wraps by the way) That is why March Madness is always more interesting when Duke is a powerhouse. It’s more entertaining. It tells a story of the “evil empire” or “us vs. everybody else”.
Duke makes the Madness more enjoyable. It just plain does.
There’s only 1 or 2 more weeks that we will see Zion in a Duke uniform…in the NCAA.
Whether you hate Duke or you love Duke, Zion is great. From his physical attributes. From his hustle. From his genuine support for and from his teammates. From the greatness of that last drive. It was one that again, was genuine. It wasn’t a forced attempt to get instant accolades or to “get his shots”. It was a drive with a determination to win.
To win and advance.
That is the creedo of every team in the single elimination tournament to determine the best team out of 353 teams.
Folks enjoy Zion. And folks, keep cheering for and against Duke.
Enjoy the Madness!
Yours in Insanity,
Commissioner Adolph
The behemoth match-up between Tacko and Zion. 7-foot-6 Tacko said he wouldn’t let Zion dunk on him. Then there was Coach K coaching against former top assistant, UCF Head Coach and Duke legend, Johnny Dawkins.
This was the first great Madness of the tourney!
UCF kept within striking distance for the 1st half and early into the 2nd half, Insanity Report Board Member and Gonzaga Correspondent, Marc Paulsen and I agreed that there seemed no real mojo in UCF to actually win the game.
But just like Apollo Creed’s trainer, Duke trying to talk Apollo out of a rematch with Rocky in Rocky II, UCF just kept…comin’…after Duke!!!! (the Blue Devils that is, not Duke the boxing trainer)
Coach Dawkins’ son, Aubrey Dawkins had the game of his life making shot after shot on his way to a 32 point, 12 for 19 from the field performance. He was unconscious. Tacko was doing what Tacko does. His presence had to be acknowledged at all times on his way to 15 points and 7 boards. UCF Guard, BJ Taylor brought it with timely hoops. As Boxing Manager Duke told Apollo, “UCF just kept coming after us!!! Now we don’t need that kinda (team) in our life!”
Fast forward to the final 2 minutes. UCF had the momentum with the 74-70 lead. They had a 2 on 1 break and Dawkins tried to finish the lob pass for an allep-oop dunk instead of a simple finish. Duke dribbled the ball down off of the Dawkins miss and 10 seconds later Cam Reddish dribbled around a screen to hit a huge trey for the 5-point turnaround! UCF only up 74-73 now.
Everyone in the Insanity Report Board Room knew that the Reddish trey was going to fall after the Dawkins miss. Dawkins saw the flash of the moment to put UCF up by 6, and it cost him the hoop. It was the Basketball gods that put that Reddish trey through the hoop to get Duke within 1 point, due to what seemed like the perceived search for glory by Dawkins.
After BJ Taylor hit 2 FT’s to go up 3 with 45 seconds left in the game, Duke dribbled down the court and seemed like they wanted the trey to tie it up all in one bunch. Zion shot that trey attempt as it seemed forced, but Javin DeLaurier grabbed the offensive rebound…..
Enter the behemoth match up.
The ball got to Zion and the other 4 Dukies cleared out. It was as if Zion was the only player in a Duke jersey on the TV screen.
He jab stepped, with his body language seeming like he was saying, “f%$* it!” Zion reverse dribbled and burnt BJ Taylor one on one to jump straight into Tacko…..here it was.
At the most pivotal moment of the game was the anticipated behemoth match-up like Andre The Giant staring down Hulk Hogan. Zion did not dunk on Tacko. He put a two foot stop and went up strong to the hoop……
And-1!!!!!!!
Duke down 76-75 with 14.4 seconds left. Zion missed his free throw and RJ Barrett was able to get the offensive rebound for the put back. Duke up one, 77-76.
RJ’s rebound could have been a missed push-from-behind foul onto Dawkins. Dawkins was pleading to the ref about the push and Insanity Report Board Member and Coaching Correspondent, J-Dawg was hat throwing and breaking clipboards in the Insanity Board Room about what he thought was a missed call by the stripes.
What do you think? Did RJ push Dawkins from behind too hard? Foul or no foul? Whatever you think, what is fact is that the freaking roar of the crowd after Barrett’s put back was insane.
It was March Madness InSaNitY!!!!!
UCF had one more chance with 8.1 seconds to win the game. BJ Taylor had a solid drive to the hoop and the ball bounced off the rim into a trailing Dawkins hand for the tip-bound.
That freaking basketball trickled inside the cylinder for a microsecond only to have it roll out.
Ball game. Duke wins.
42 of the 91 Inmates in the Insanity Pool who picked Duke as their Madness champion had a collective, straight jacket tearing sigh of relief!
Folks, take the hype train about Zion outta your brain for a second! Honestly, this hype train trivializes what he brings to the court and brings to his Dukie team! Zion is way more than an explosive jumper who weighs 285 lbs. We get it. We knew this back in November. Can we move on to what Zion has done on the court other then his highlight dunks? There is his defense, his developing jumper, his potential as a superstar.
Folks, Zion is great! Period.
Duke is a polarizing program all across North America. Millions love Duke and millions hate Duke. There are few Insanity inmates that don’t have an opinion on Duke. (D$, there is a Commissioner’s ransom for you for keeping any incriminating photos under wraps by the way) That is why March Madness is always more interesting when Duke is a powerhouse. It’s more entertaining. It tells a story of the “evil empire” or “us vs. everybody else”.
Duke makes the Madness more enjoyable. It just plain does.
There’s only 1 or 2 more weeks that we will see Zion in a Duke uniform…in the NCAA.
Whether you hate Duke or you love Duke, Zion is great. From his physical attributes. From his hustle. From his genuine support for and from his teammates. From the greatness of that last drive. It was one that again, was genuine. It wasn’t a forced attempt to get instant accolades or to “get his shots”. It was a drive with a determination to win.
To win and advance.
That is the creedo of every team in the single elimination tournament to determine the best team out of 353 teams.
Folks enjoy Zion. And folks, keep cheering for and against Duke.
Enjoy the Madness!
Yours in Insanity,
Commissioner Adolph
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