Just Follow the Bouncing Ball

How long did Patrick Sparks’ regulation-ending three-pointer hang on the rim Sunday?

Giving it a rough estimate, Michigan State Coach Tom Izzo went with “forever.” Not a bad guess, but after an extensive replay review, officials determined that opinion to be a slight exaggeration.

However, it was long enough for a college basketball viewer to engage in some introspection about the mind-blowing events of the NCAA Tournament Fourth Round That Almost Refused To End.

Sparks’ desperation shot bangs the front of the rim

Can you believe Illinois came back from 15 down with four minutes left in regulation?

... and caroms off the heel of the basket ...

How about Louisville overcoming a 20-point deficit against West Virginia?

... and bounces once off the side of the rim ...

I mean, have you ever seen anyone shoot threes better than West Virginia?

... and bounces a second time off the side of the rim ...

North Carolina beats Wisconsin by six points, and that’s the rout of the weekend.

... and bounces once more off the back of the rim before finally falling through the hoop, pulling Kentucky even with Michigan State with 0:00 left on the game clock.

Can you believe a third regional final is headed for overtime?

It took several minutes just to comprehend it all, but that was OK. Everybody watching Sunday’s Austin Regional final had time to think things over after Sparks appeared to scuff the three-point stripe with his right foot, requiring officials to scrutinize replays before eventually concurring that, yes, the shot was indeed a legal three-pointer, just enough to prolong Izzo’s agony another five minutes.

And another five minutes after that.

Saturday, Illinois and Louisville staggered into the Final Four with a pair of incredible overtime victories, and the consensus was: “How is anybody ever going to top that?”

Sunday, Michigan State and Kentucky did the best they could, pushing their regional final through a pair of overtimes before the Spartans could secure a 94-88 triumph.

Four regional finals, four periods of overtime.

The final lap of the “March to the Arch” nearly took everyone into April.

St. Louis, once very excited to play host to this year’s Final Four, now is faced with the task of making sure college basketball’s biggest showcase of 2005 isn’t remembered as merely 120 minutes of anticlimax. And, well, good luck on that.

You didn’t have to run out of the room with Dick Vitale screaming at you to realize this was a special weekend in the history of the NCAA tournament.

North Carolina, with a one-point victory over Villanova on Friday and an 88-82 triumph over Wisconsin on Sunday, squeezed through the last two rounds of the Syracuse Regional by a combined seven points, tying the 1987 Indiana Hoosiers for the lowest cumulative margin of victory in a regional semifinal and final.

Pretty intense stuff ... until you consider that the other three regional finals went overtime, an NCAA tournament first.

It made for great theater, and not half-bad TV ratings. CBS reported that Saturday’s victories by Illinois and Louisville drew an overnight rating of 8.1 with a 15 share -- the network’s highest-rated regional finals since 1995.

Sunday’s numbers could be even better. While officials huddled over a replay monitor to see whether Sparks’ last-second launch was indeed worth three points, CBS’ cameras caught fans in the stands on mobile phones, calling friends watching on TV for their own replay descriptions -- or telling them to turn on the TV already, you won’t believe what you’re missing.

Yet, after you totaled up all of the overtimes and the other-worldly story lines, the Final Four field that ultimately emerged was actually fairly ... predictable.

Illinois made it. So did North Carolina. How about that -- the two top-ranked teams made it to the national semifinals. You didn’t need a copy of “Bracketology for Dummies” in order to scribble in “Illinois” and “North Carolina” four times on your office pool entry.

Michigan State also reached the Final Four. That’s four times in the last seven years for the Spartans.

Louisville fills out the semifinal field. Since seeding began in 1979, seven schools have won the NCAA tournament more than once. Louisville, with titles in 1980 and 1986, is one. North Carolina (1982, 1993) is another. Michigan State (1979, 2000) is another.

Let’s see: Izzo and Roy Williams and Rick Pitino will be coaching in this Final Four. Pretty familiar group, that one. Counting St. Louis, this threesome will have combined to coach in 14 Final Fours, Pitino becoming the first coach to get there with three schools.

After such an outrageous regional final weekend, does this tournament have anything left that can possibly surprise us?

Well, there is Williams and his tortured quest to win an NCAA championship. Yeah, there’s always that. We’ve been here before. We know what to expect from this point on.

Then again, if it’s ever going to happen for Williams, maybe this is the year. Because, you know, a lot of crazy stuff has happened in this tournament.