Saturday, April 5, 2008

Showdown at the Alamo - A heart breaker

Dedicated to my friends in Kansas:

The Showdown at the Alamo was truly a heart breaker here in North Carolina. As the big game came to a close - and after I got up off the floor - I went to my Internet home page and read the report by Eddie Pells posted on the Associated Press site. Here is an excerpt from that article:

SAN ANTONIO (AP) By EDDIE PELLS

What Roy Williams needed was a comeback for the ages. What he got was a disappointing dose of payback - a chance to see what it feels like when Kansas breaks his heart.
The Jayhawks left their old coach in the dust Saturday night, getting 25 points and seven rebounds from Brandon Rush to stave off a ferocious comeback by North Carolina for an 84-66 victory in the national semifinals.

Trailing 40-12 late in the first half, Tyler Hansbrough, Wayne Ellington and the Tar Heels made a valiant rally, getting as close as five points with nine minutes left, but ran out of steam in their effort to pull off the biggest Final Four comeback ever.

Kansas moved within a win of its first national championship since 1988, the year before Williams began his storied 15-year tenure in Lawrence - one that ended when he jilted Kansas for his alma mater.

The Jayhawks will play Memphis, an earlier 78-63 winner over UCLA, in the title game Monday.
Williams stood stoically as the clock ticked down, arms folded, nothing much left he could do. Tears usually come pretty quickly after the final buzzer of the season for him, and this season ended one game short of where many thought it might.

Still, at game's end he walked to the Kansas bench and shook every player's hand, hugging many of them.

It was Bill Self who replaced Williams after the coach famously bolted for North Carolina, and this was the first chance to see them go against each other with their new teams - and on the game's biggest stage.

The Jayhawks shot 53 percent from the floor and held the nation's second-leading offense to 35 percent. They had nine more rebounds, 10 more assists, six more blocks.

All that may have helped prove Williams' theory, as he tried to deflect all the talk of himself this week: That the game would be decided by the players.

The Jayhawks were simply better.

To read the entire article click HERE.

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE KANSAS JAYHAWKS!
Now I view the clock and realize that Saturday has ended - not only is the game over - and North Carolina's season over - but now the day has ended and a new day has begun. This evening we greeted our first overnight guest in our new home except for family. Missionaries Terry and Joan Read. They will be sharing about the work of the Church of the Nazarene in the Sudan. I am looking forward to a great day in the Lord.
I plan to begin our service with these words from Psalm 95:
Come, let's shout praises to God, raise the roof for the Rock who saved us! Let's march into his presence singing praises, lifting the rafters with our hymns! And why? Because God is the best, High King over all the gods. In one hand he holds deep caves and caverns, in the other hand grasps the high mountains. He made Ocean—he owns it! His hands sculpted Earth! So come, let us worship: bow before him, on your knees before God, who made us! Oh yes, he's our God,and we're the people he pastures, the flock he feeds.
These my friends are truly trustworthy sayings..........

1 comment:

  1. Hmm, Terry Read? That name sounds really familiar. Did he ever teach at NTS in Kansas City? It seems like I took a class from him.

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