Chronicowls, MMX, Post8

Though Tim signed off a week back, Chronicowls breathes a final regular season gasp, brought to you by he (being me) who goes as, just, Tall. A deal's a deal. Complimentary ticket to the Owlfinale…no charge for Chronicowls. Fair’nuff.

Where to start? With Owltoids, of course:

·         Viva Rafael DeLeon. Forget the !5 Minutes of Fame guarantee. Rafa, one of three departing seniors (plus Brooks and Guzman), got his 15 minute moment compressed into less than four on this day of days. Doubtless with family, neighbors and Aunt Minnie looking on, Dunphy gave the reserve (operative word) forward Career Start #1. Not a moment too soon, it lasted till he drew a charge (his only stat). Which was about all the charging in the first half.

·         What an ugly 20-min. frame it was. Balls slamming all the wrong things. Errant passes. Execution and grace nowhere. Almost dead on our feet awaiting the first home bucket. Down 6-5 at the first 5 min. mark, even steven 13, then 20 at the next two and, finally, the day’s first lead at the buzzer, 30-29 on a shot, had it been subjected to replay, that may well have failed to fall.  The Colonials could’ve cried foul, but couldn’t as proceedings weren’t being televised. As the Inky would have it, the “Owls got off to an uneven start.” Yup, they got off alright. “Uneven” put it kindly.

·         What a week, though. Beat the Explorers to snag the Big Five title, going 4-0 in the City Series for the first time since ’87-’88. That, of course, with a win over dem Wildcats, who, by the way, dropped four of their final six, and better hope they don’t  pass the Owls going down. Then Wed., beat the Billikens, holding their leading scorer to just 7 pts. And now GW (to lead that series 49-16), to share the A-10 title with Xavier (both 14-2, before tiebreaker the Owls’ way), and to earn top seed in the tourney with a 1^st round bye, opening Fri. vs. the Duquesne-St. Bonaventure winner. Oh, and, even should they go up in early flames, presumably a Big Dance at-large bid.

·         Not to mention, what a finish. Final seven games, seven W’s, by 87 aggregate points, or nearly 12.5 per game. To finish at 26-5 (same as Duke, it should be noted), when, you’ll remember, the Cousounian Algorithm had forecasted the aggressive possibility of 25 W’s. With, by the damn way, John Chaney and 35 “former Owls” (many looking emphatically “former”) joining AD Kahuna Bill Bradshaw on court for halftime hugging. And yes, one of the 35 was indeed the Owl Without a Vowel, as in, “Where are you now, (Bill) Mlkvy?”

·         How ‘bout Vegas and the spreads, huh? You know, someone’s been harping on this, ever full of wonderment at how the cosmic “they” can consistently play it so close. Well, sports fans, Sat. morning found two teams nationally suiting up at 13 ½ points.

     Utah St.lorded it over New Mexico St.by 18, so all was cool there. The Owls? Well, those Owls trimmed GW by, are you sitting, 13. Somewhere, some high roller lost big on that one, given that Temple was in no hurry to up the ante over the final 1:15.

·         So, how ‘bout the second half? Glad you asked. Different story. We’re talking, pick it up, surge, play inspired ball, get serious,  pour in 10 pts. more than the first half. Finish with 19 assists (vs. 9), 27 rebounds (vs. 30…whoops), and only 9 turnovers (vs. 14). Oh, and Lavoy Allen became the 46^th Owl to bag 1,000 pts. (1,001, to be specific), which is not to be Rafa’s legacy, after all.

·         So who was at the Liacouras Center? More to the point, who wasn’t there, besides Tim, who was all about palliative care issues up in Boston. Sure, we, all 6,356 of “us,” needed some palliative care in the first half. But we rose in unison down the stretch with a gusty, gutsy rendition of “I believe that we have won” (though not in unison on the indecorous “You suck” routine, which is beyond pitiful.) So North Broad St. fared better than a distant venue quaintly described earlier in the week as “sparsely filled.” But not as well as the Carrier Dome Sat. a week back, where 34,616 saw Syracuse destroy ‘Nova by 20. And certainly not as well as Nebraska, which has already sold 57,700 tix to its, get this, spring football scrimmage. 

·         And who won the 50-50 drawing? Glad you asked. Said to be reliably drawn, and announced, during the first interminable time-out following halftime, it remains a mystery. Never happened, pure’n’simple. The Stulzman (not to be confused with the Statzman) is still holding a fistful of prospective winners, but…well, is a winner in fact a winner when it’s never called? 

So that’s it for the regular season. We’re talking .8387096 winning ball here. Impressive. Or, as one might put it, extra-oorrrrrrdinary. With a beer following at Pub Webb, just because.

And if you like this edition of Chronicowls, be sure to visit www.ContentRazor.com early and often. Your friends, family, colleagues, neighbors, teammates, Funky Friday cronies, suppliers, bosses and clients will appreciate knowing about it as well. (Again, www.ContentRazor.com. Where else can you get such a deal on words?)