Kansas State-Xavier: The Sweetest of the Sweet 16

I do not think we are going to see a game with this many twists and turns in any sport for the rest of the year.  

Kansas State versus Xavier was a game for the ages, and if you missed it, you may not see another one like it for a while.  Although, the tournament still has a long way to go so who knows.

Kansas State prevailed in double overtime 101–96, but that is really the least exciting part of the whole game. 

How they arrived at that final score is what was so intriguing, and had me and I am sure countless others on the edge of our seats.

The stars of the game—Denis Clemente and Jacob Pullen were the stars for Kansas State, while Jordan Crawford and Terrell Holloway were the stars for Xavier; between these four players, 110 of the points were scored.

This was your typical good NCAA tournament game going down to the wire, but at the end of the game Kansas State went up by three points and they were instructed by their coach to foul the Xavier player. 

This would have put him on the line for two free throws thus giving Kansas State another possession, and seemingly a way to close out the game.

Well, Denis Clemente fouled Terrell Holloway on his way up the court, but the referee standing right behind the play did not call it.  Another Kansas State player came over and fouled while Holloway flailed like he was in the act of shooting and a foul was called.

Holloway drained all three free throws, and Kansas State missed a subsequent three-pointer by Clemente to send the game into overtime. 

Over the next five minutes in the first overtime, Kansas State built a three-point lead off of great plays by Clemente. Although Pullen was off of his game, they were able to keep the lead most of the overtime.

Kansas State got into serious foul trouble, having two players fouling out, which resulted in inexperienced players coming into the game for K-State. 

With Kansas State up by two points and Chris Merriewether at the free throw line looking to put the game away by sinking both shots, he misses one of them.

Xavier takes it down the floor and Jordan Crawford takes an NBA three-pointer and drains it to tie the game up, sending it into the second overtime. 

At this point you can see the wear on the players as fatigue starts to set in, but Jacob Pullen seemed to have his legs under him as he woke up and hit two big three-pointers in the second overtime.

One of the shots had to be one of the biggest clutch shots I have ever witnessed; the score was tied with under a minute to go and time is ticking.  Xavier is playing tight defense and K-State can get nothing inside and Pullen fakes a drive to the basket to create space and pulls up for three. 

He drains the shot, and Xavier could not answer.

Pullen hit the free throws along with Clemente down the stretch to put the game away and preserve a Wildcat victory. 

This game should have been over in regulation, and I am glad the Wildcats still won the game, but now they have a big challenge.

They are going to have to face Butler after playing an extended, hard fought game. 

Butler is going to be the fresher team, so Kansas State is going to have to find a way to prevail.  This game exemplifies what the NCAA tournament is all about—it is too bad a team had to lose.

This tournament has been great so far; maybe even the best one ever. 

My bracket has long been busted, but at this point it really doesn’t matter.