I don’t know about you, but after the last few weeks I’ve decided I’m changing my name to D.J.Burns.
Because there’s no one in sports having more fun.
If you don’t know who that is, you haven’t been paying attention to the best story in sports right now, the improbable run to the NCAA Tournament Final Four of the North Carolina State Wolfpack.
N.C. State was in a tie game with a few minutes to play with the awful Louisville Cardinals team in the first round of the ACC Tournament three weeks ago. They came very close to losing that game. They won.
Then they were one missed free throw by Virginia away from being eliminated again, two days later. They survived and won that game.
And since then N.C. State has had just an incredible, unlikely run, winning NINE straight games, including Sunday over my beloved Duke Blue Devils, to make the Final Four.
This is … impossible. State was 9-11 in the ACC this year, and looked ready to end its season with its coach, Kevin Keatts, possibly being fired. And yet here they are now, looking like world-beaters, beating Marquette and Duke over the weekend, led by Burns, the 6-foot-8, 300-something pounder who exudes joy every time he’s on the court.
Seriously, how can you not love this guy? He’s got soft hands, quick feet, beautiful touch around the basket, and is a terrific passer.
Eleventh-seeded N.C. State is in the Final Four for the first time since 1983, when it also shocked the world by storming through the tournament and winning it all.
They now have to play Purdue, and its 7-foot-4 star Zach Edey, and it seems impossible that the Wolfpack will win again but we’ve been saying that for a few weeks now.
What a story. What a tournament. I love it so much!
— A few words about the team State beat Sunday: What a weird season this was for Duke. Huge expectations coming into the year, given all the talent coming back and coming in as freshmen. Then a good not great regular season filled with some really poor performances, and then a miserable loss to N.C. State in the ACC Tournament. Then, with expectations low, Duke played very well in winning three NCAA Tourney games, including an absolute slugfest Friday night over top-seeded Houston, 54-51.
Then Sunday, with a chance to go to the Final Four, the Blue Devils played an awful offensive game. Nobody could hit shots, Tyrese Proctor was particularly terrible, and after a good defensive first half, Duke imploded in the second half.
You can’t call a season that ends in the Elite 8 a failure; you just can’t. But wow, this Duke team sure made us fans scratch our heads quite a bit.
Bring on the Cooper Flagg era!
— Feel so good for Purdue and its long-suffering fan base today. The Boilermakers hadn’t made the Final Four in 44 years, and have had so many good teams fall just short of that mark. After last season’s epic choke job against No. 16 seed Fairleigh Dickinson, Purdue finally came through this year. Seven-foot-four Zach Edey had a lot to do with it, as he scored 40 yesterday, but the Boilermakers guards were also huge. Happy for them to finally get to the promised land.
— So, UConn. The Huskies and Illinois were tied at 23 late in the first half Saturday. Then UConn scored the next THIRTY points in a row.
You know how hard that is to do, even in, like, a pickup game at the YMCA? To do it in an Elite Eight game against a great team, is just extraordinary. I’ve been saying all along I don’t think the Huskies will repeat as champs, but wow Saturday was so, so impressive.
— Gotta think we’re getting Purdue-UConn next Monday night, but the way this tournament has gone, who knows.
— Super pumped about the game of either tournament taking place tonight in the women’s Elite 8, as we get a national title-game rematch with champion LSU taking on Caitlin Clark and Iowa (7 p.m., ESPN). Man oh man this thing should break ratings records and be a whale of a ballgame.
**Next up today, here’s something you just never see much in sports: One athlete throwing part of his vehicle at another.
In the NASCAR X-Finity race over the weekend, a competitor named Joey Gase was so frustrated at fellow driver Dawson Cram (which, by the way, is a fantastic movie villain name) that Gase removed part of his bumper and threw it at Cram while he drove by.
This is all kinds of awesome. This would make me watch NASCAR if it happened regularly.
**Finally today, we spent the last 3.5 days in the great city of Philadelphia, one of my favorite American places to visit. We were attending the bar mitzvah of a dear family friend’s son, and the whole weekend was a blast.
Couple quick thoughts on the trip:
— The bar mitzvah itself was fun, although the service was, as expected, super long. Our friends belong to a conservative temple, whose services range in between the short 90-100 minute affairs we Reform Jews enjoy, and the longer than the “Titanic” and “Flowers of a Killer Moon” combined services of Orthodox Jews. Still, it’s a long time to be sitting, although one highlight was the odd Jewish tradition where, toward the end of the prayers session, the guests all throw candy at the bar or bat mitzvah honoree. Literally dozens of pieces of wrapped treats are hurled, like fans protesting a call at a sporting event. It’s wild and fun and I’m pretty sure our friend got pelted a few times.
— Also a highlight: I taught my kids how to play the classic bar mitzvah game “Coke and Pepsi!” I can’t believe kids still play that. So much fun.
— The Franklin Institute is an absolute gem in Philly; we’d been there a few times but still went back for hours of wonder and delight. What a fantastic combo of science museum and historical knowledge that place is.
— We did not, as planned, get to run up the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art and pose with the famouse “Rocky” statue, but we did make a pilgrimage to the store I’ve told my children about for years, the beautiful Mitchell and Ness flagship on Walnut Street. Mitchell and Ness, for those who don’t know, have the licenses to make throwback sports gear for MLB, NHL, NFL and NBA teams, and it’s absolute heaven on earth for someone like me.
We scored a few choice items and honestly it was like being a kid in a candy store.
Wide World of Stuff 