Real Final Comes One Game Too Soon

So they played The Semifinal That Should’ve Been The Final in San Antonio on Saturday, and for about eight minutes -- the last eight minutes of Duke’s season -- the game almost lived up to the hype.

Duke was in control until it ran out of ways to stop Emeka Okafor, which were, in no particular order of importance:

a) Keep Okafor on the bench with foul trouble.

b) Have Shelden Williams foul Okafor.

c) Have Shavlik Randolph foul Okafor.

d) Pray for another shoulder stinger.

The fouls only worked for so long. Eventually, Williams picked up his fifth. Randolph too. Duke’s inside defense evaporated before Coach Mike Krzyzewski’s disbelieving eyes, along with Duke’s second-half lead, with Okafor emphatically reasserting himself as college basketball’s biggest impact player.

Three quick stat lines said it all:

With Okafor in the game in the first half, Connecticut opened a 15-4 lead.

With Okafor sidelined with two first-half fouls, Duke went on a 32-11 run.

With Okafor scoring 18 points in the second half after managing zero in the first, Connecticut rallied from an 11-point second-half deficit to win, 79-78.

But in the end, The Semifinal That Should’ve Been The Final was still a semifinal.

Duke’s going home, but there’s still one more game to play.

And guess what?

It could be a pretty good one.

Not wanting the Atlantic Coast Conference to leave San Antonio empty-handed, Georgia Tech decided to stick around until Monday, do another news conference, maybe get in a couple more shoot-arounds. The Yellow Jackets realize they have overstayed their welcome; as Georgia Tech’s Jarrett Jack told reporters Friday, “We know a lot of people are saying this is a three-team Final Four.”

But they can’t help themselves. They’ve become addicted to the routine -- you win a close game, you get to play another. What a concept. What a system. Do it five times and you find yourselves with only one team left to beat, in prime-time, with everybody in the country suddenly asking themselves, “What’s the deal with Luke Schenscher’s hair?”

Georgia Tech is in the NCAA final. The Yellow Jackets should have done this years ago. And in Atlanta, that has been more of a complaint than a suggestion.

Kenny Anderson never played in the NCAA final. Stephon Marbury never played in the NCAA final. In fact, you could win an NCAA final with all the former Georgia Tech players who never played in the NCAA final -- Dennis Scott, Tom Hammonds, Travis Best, John Salley and Mark Price among them.

Look at those names, then look at the names that defeated Oklahoma State, 67-65, to send Georgia Tech to its first NCAA championship game.

How did this happen?

Answer: Those old Georgia Tech squads should have recruited more players from Hope Forest, in south Australia.

That is where Schenscher, Georgia Tech’s 7-foot-1 junior center, calls home, which is probably the deal with his hair, sometimes referred to as That ‘70s ‘Do, sometimes referred to as The Big Bird Look. South Australia can be particularly resistant to modern fashion trends.

Schenscher scored 19 points and collected 12 rebounds in Georgia Tech’s first Final Four triumph, which spoiled Eddie Sutton’s latest sentimental journey, and ought to give Connecticut’s Jim Calhoun something to mull for the next 48 hours. Schenscher versus Okafor might not be Sampson versus Ewing, but it is the kind of big-man matchup the Final Four once was known for -- even if one of them plays for Georgia Tech, which, as you may have heard, shouldn’t still be playing.

Worth noting: Schenscher might be the underdog Monday night, but a couple years ago as a member of the Australian national team, he played against Yao Ming during a swing through China.

Worth noting II: Georgia Tech has already defeated Connecticut this season, in November, in the Preseason NIT, by 16 points.

Worth noting III: Georgia Tech is the only team in the country to have defeated Duke and Connecticut this season.

Unlike Connecticut, Georgia Tech took the hard road to the final. Until Saturday’s comeback against Duke, the Huskies hadn’t won a tournament game by fewer than 16 points. The Yellow Jackets, meanwhile, held off Northern Iowa by five points, edged Boston College by three, turned back Nevada by five, squeezed past Kansas by seven in overtime and needed a last-second drive by reserve guard Will Bynum to get past Oklahoma State.

They are more track relay team than basketball juggernaut, with one hot hand passing the baton to another just in the nick of time. B.J. Elder carried the scoring load until the third round, when he rolled an ankle. Then Marvin Lewis scored 23 points against Nevada, and Jack scored 29 against Kansas, and Lewis scored 15 in the first half against Oklahoma State before going scoreless in the second, when Schenscher and Bynum picked up the slack.

There’s still a game to be played after The Semifinal That Should’ve Been The Final. And Georgia Tech deserves to be there.