I didn't mean to be such a cheerleader, just trying to give you an idea of the environment here if you don't know what it's like.
So, last night I'm closing at work, and getting ready to walk out the door when I catch the tail end of the South Carolina/Tennessee basketball game on TV: 6.4 seconds left, unranked South Carolina down by 2 points at home to #23 Tennessee. Tennessee has possession and is taking the ball out of bounds. Tennessee inbounds and is immediately fouled (1.8 seconds ticks off the clock), so they take it to the foul line where the player misses his first shot but hits the second, making it a 3 point lead. Inbound South Carolina, who make it to half court then is fouled by Tennessee. Not so stupid, they still weren't in bonus yet and made South Carolina have to inbounds again with less than 2 seconds left on the clock at half court. They setup a beautiful screen, inbound, the guy stops, pops, and drops in a nuthin' but net 26-foot 3 pointer at the buzzer sending it into overtime.
This is what basketball is all about and what makes the upcoming NCAA tournament so much fun - kids who have spent the last four months coming together as a team, learning to work together and (hopefully) now playing at their highest possible level of talent, passion, heart, and soul.
South Carolina eventually lost it, in another buzzer beater play (however not as spectacular, a missed inbounds lob under the basket) at the end of overtime, but it's that kind of atmosphere, where the underdog can jump up and bite a ranked team on the ass. Where a team can eradicate a 12 point deficit in the last 4 minutes against the odds-on favorite for the championship (Kentucky Vs. Duke, 1998 [sorry, there i go cheerleading again]).
In the words of General Patton: "God help me, I do love it so"
