Tulsa: The Letdown

Well ... the brackets have been set.  The NCAA tournament field of 65 is decided, and the University of Memphis Tigers are not going to be a part of it.  Entering the conference tournament it seemed Memphis would need to win at least 2 games and advance to the CUSA championship game in order to give themselves a chance to play in the big dance.  That did not happen.  Sadly, Memphis lost in the second round to the University of Houston.  I was in attendance.  I was disappointed.

I went to Tulsa on Thursday expecting to see Memphis play themselves into the NCAA tournament.  I was sad when that did not happen.  However, there were some good things that came from the weekend.  When I arrived on Thursday, I went and sat at a local bar and grill called McNellie's to have lunch and wait for Luke to get off work.  While waiting, I saw my uncle Shawn who had traveled from Memphis to watch the game as well.  We spent the whole afternoon catching up.

After hanging with my uncle all afternoon, I was able to catch up with Luke who just proposed to Ashley last weekend! Unfortunately I was unable to see the ring since it was being sized, but I did get to watch the proposal video.  It was awesome.  Luke proposed in Colorado near Pike's Peak.  It was an awesome setting, and I am very happy for them.  Luke and I spent most of the evening playing FIFA 2010 on the XBOX.  I know that sounds lame, but don't knock it until you try it.  That game was addictive!!!

I woke up Thursday and went to the pre-game pep rally at the Tulsa Convention Center.  The crowd was intense, and excitement filled the air.  The band was playing.  The cheerleaders were cheering.  The Tigers had come to play ... so we thought.  Here are some pics of the pep rally.

After the pep rally, I walked to the BOK Center to watch the game.  Memphis was playing Houston (the eventual conference champions), and I thought we would surely move on to the semifinals.  I was wrong.  Houston led the whole game, and Memphis only began to play when the game was almost too far out of reach.  With little time left, Memphis made a late rally to steal a 1 point lead with seconds to play.  But, sure enough Houston drove down the court with less than 15 seconds left to play, and scored on a last second shot to win the game by one.  We left so disappointed.  Check out the pics I took while at the game.

Entrance to the BOK Center

Pre Game Warmups

More Warmups

Elliot Williams at the Free Throw Line

Well, as you can tell by reading this post, my team didn't make it to the big dance.  Actually, neither of my teams made it (Arkansas also lost and was not selected).  But, I guess there's always next year.  If your team made it, good luck.