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Steve Victory JOURNAL – Sweet Sixteen 2019
Coach Victory checks the score from the Mississippi State-College of Charleston game on his way back to the bench for the second half of Alabama’s contest against Kansas. This just in: MSU gets past the Cinderella Cougars 69-58. Charleston fell behind by 18 in the first half but clawed back to make it respectable. Victory gives his buddies at CoC a quick salute for playing the Bulldogs solid and then heads onto the floor for what stands to be possibly the biggest 20 minutes of his career.
Kansas is beating his Alabama Crimson Tide 45-39. ‘Bama’s post players are struggling big time – only a few points to go around for Loren Tracy, Travis McQuay and Darrell Wynn.
“Guards, pick us up,” Victory says. “We can win this thing. Keep believing.”
Mark Bell and Marco Bartow heed their coach’s advice and take the game over. Since the interior guys can’t get off a good shot, they start launching from the outside. The result – the Tide scratches back for an 84-81 victory!! Bell finishes with 19 points. Bartow gets 20. SF Traves Pearce adds 12. The three players make a combined 10 three-pointers. Bell is 3-for-4 from behind the stripe, with some big ones late.
Elite Eight, baby!! Coach Victory looks about 35 years old instead of 46 at the post-game press conference. He smiles like a kid who just got exactly what he wanted on Christmas Day.
“We’re on a roll right now,” he says. “I can’t explain it, but these guys are on a mission. These seniors and juniors don’t want their college careers to end just yet. Neither do I.”
So far, the Tide’s hit list is pretty impressive – Temple, Marquette (the #2 seed) and Kansas (the #3). Of course, an even bigger battle looms next – #1 Oklahoma State. The Cowboys are 32-5 and ranked fourth in the nation. They slammed LSU in the second round 86-65 and drubbed Purdue in their Sweet 16 bout 77-55. The ‘Boys beat Kansas 86-46 back during the regular season. Yikes!
Other teams in the Elite Eight: Virginia (which knocked off #1 seeded Syracuse in the East), Missouri, Mississippi State, Louisville, Maryland and Arizona State. Three #1 seeds, three #3 seeds, a #4 seed and a #7 seed (that would be Alabama). On paper at least, the Crimson Tide are now in over their heads. Will they sink or ride the wave all the way to a national championship? Stay tuned…
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