Sandstorm'd 'em

The first place I check to get an instant read on what just happened in the world of college basketball is the Bracketology 101 blog. Their Tuesday tweet was spot on:

It's rare that John Wall is the second-most exciting player on a basketball court, but on Tuesday night it was Devan Downey who was sending sportswriters scrambling for a thesaurus. Downey hit acrobatic shot after acrobatic shot and was basically a one-man offense for South Carolina in the Gamecocks' stunning 68-62 upset of the top-ranked Wildcats in Columbia. As far as the bracket goes, this game had very minimal impact (South Carolina picked up a ginorous win for its otherwise weak resume and Kentucky lost its two-day hold on the top overall seed), but for entertainment purposes only, games don't get much better than this. Wall and DeMarcus Cousins deserve a lot of credit for keeping Kentucky close in what was a raucous Colonial Center, but in the end this was the Gamecocks' night. Or should we say Downey's night. What a performance.

You certainly have a very defensible argument if you want to give the game ball to Devan Downey. In fact, up until the :43 mark in the 2nd half, he would have been my choice also. Then something amazing happened. Let me properly set the stage.

With two minutes to go, South Carolina clung to a 4-point lead and phenom, and likely #1 overall pick, John Wall went into "there is no 'effing' way I am going to lose this game" mode. First he went straight at the basket, daring anyone to foul him, and got the deuce. Then the next time down he drew a foul and made 2 free throws. Then he comes down the court, misses a trey, but gets ready to get the dish off of an offensive rebound when Coach Calipari calls time-out at the :43 second mark. The momentum in the game is very quickly shifting back to Kentucky and the student section at Colonial Life desperately needed to to remain amped for the final minute.

So what does the PA-guy do? He goes Sandstorm on it. But he doesn't just play the song, he plays it so loud that the volume on my TV went down because the ESPN crew had to reduce the feed from their microphones. As the TV camera panned to the Kentucky time-out you could see Calipari literally screaming at his players, trying to be heard over the audio sandstorm. After the 60-second time-out the referees realize that the shot clock was improperly reset, so they confer at the monitors to determine how much time remains. The entire time this delay is taking place, for several minutes, Sandstorm continues to blast at FULL VOLUME. The crowd does not let up. And Calipari does not get a bit of extra time without music to address his players.

With the crowd in Downey/Darude-induced fandemonium John Wall misses a free throw, and the Gamecocks grab the game-sealing rebound. There is hardly anyone born in the 80s who has never heard Sandstorm or hasn't felt that initial excitement (or dread) over the overly recognizable first few notes. While some take their sandstroming to the extreme, it is such a cultural phenomenon that there are Facebook groups devoted to its legitimacy. But never have I been witness to the affect it could have on a basketball game.

So for me, the game ball goes to the PA-guy. And the Gamecock student section. Because,

[a]fter a month filled with mediocre and questionable court stormings, the rowdy South Carolina student section reminded us how it's supposed to be done on Tuesday night. They pulled off a near-perfect rush: we loved Downey waving the fans down to the court in the closing seconds, we loved South Carolina ignoring the SEC's ridiculous $25,000 court rush fine, and we especially loved the ridiculously fast court coverage which came from both ends of the floor. That's how it's done, Gamecock Nation. Excellent work.

Excellent work indeed.