2010 NCAA Basketball Tournament: Xavier vs Kansas State

It's hard enough to capture everything that goes on in a basketball game with 500 words. With 5,000 words, it would be difficult to adequately portray what a spellbound nation just watched late Thursday night in Salt Lake City.

One hates to be cliché in moments like this, but this is March Madness. This is what college basketball is all about. This is why the Bowl Championship Series in college football should go the way of my bracket, and the brackets of most Americans who have seen their pre-tourney predictions turn into unrecognizable seas of red ink and cross-outs.

Kansas State beat Xavier tonight in what will surely go down as one of the great NCAA Tournament games of all time. If anyone could relay the number of clutch shots hit in this game, they would, but even Bill Raftery would have run out of 'Onions' tonight; the saute pan for the acclaimed CBS analyst must have run on empty when this game hit the second overtime.

Kansas State jumped out to a big, early lead in this one. Eight minutes into the game, the Wildcats were up 19-4, capping a 17-0 run with a tip-in from Wally Judge, looking like they were ready to runaway with a trip to the Elite 8. However, Xavier would come storming back, outscoring K-State 28-12 over the final 12 minutes to take a 32-31 lead into halftime.

The Wildcats came out surging in the second half as well to open up a 56-49 lead, but once again, the Muskies were ready with a counterpunch, using a 10-2 run to retake the lead.

From that point on, this game was a classic. The two backcourts - Jacob Pullen and Denis Clemente for K-State; Terrell Holloway, Dante Jackson, and Jordan Crawford for Xavier - would seemingly trade buckets the rest of the way. A four-point play from Clemente gave K-State a 64-61 lead, but two Xavier threes gave "X" the lead back. After Pullen hit a three with 28 seconds left to break a tie, Holloway was fouled shooting a three, making all three free throws to force overtime. Replays indicated Holloway had been fouled a few seconds before the three, in a non-shooting position, but the officials missed the call.

In the first overtime, Kansas State opened up a four-point lead, but Xavier eventually tied the score on a three by Holloway with 50 seconds left. K-State answered with three straight points, but a missed free throw from Chris Merriweather left the door open, and Jordan Crawford answered, knocking down a ridiculous 30-footer with five seconds left to force a second overtime and clean out Mr. Raftery's supply of onions.

The second overtime was Jacob Pullen time. After Xavier took a 93-91 lead with 1:26 left, Pullen buried a three - coming off a triple screen (yes, triple!) - to give K-State the lead back. After Jason Love tied the game for Xavier, Pullen hit another three with 35 seconds left for a three-point advantage. After two Holloway free throws, Pullen hit two of his own, setting up the same situation as the end of regulation and the first overtime.

This time, however, Jackson - who was wide open from the left wing - missed a three. Clemente knocked down two free throws after a rebound, and that was that.

Xavier should walk off the court in Salt Lake City with heads held high.

Kansas State should rest up on Friday. The Wildcats will have to play the early regional final on Saturday afternoon.

What's Next: Kansas State advances to face a Butler team fresh off of an upset of No. 1 seed Syracuse. As mentioned above, the game will be the early regional final (not the late one) on Saturday, with a tip time of 4:40 p.m. Eastern time, 2:40 p.m. local time in Salt Lake. Kansas State will need to regroup after this taxing tussle. Butler had to like the fact that KSU expended so much energy to ultimately advance.

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