That’s why they play the games.
How often have you heard that? It’s almost a cliche. Team A is 100 points better than Team B on paper. No way they should be sharing the same field. Pick a sport. Any sport.
Though it’s true for just about all of them, football and basketball mismatches are less likely to end up in upsets than baseball and hockey. A good pitcher can the great equalizer in baseball while a hot goalie can single handedly win in hockey (unless his name is Tuukka, in which case don’t count on it).
But football relies on a combination of brute force and athletic finesse, and it’s darn difficult, if you’re the inferior team, to outperform a better opponent. And since athleticism is such a large part of basketball, it’s equally challenging for less-skilled teams to pull off upsets.
This isn’t to say it can’t be done. All quarterbacks are capable — if they’ve reached a certain level — of having one of those games for the ages. Eli Manning did it in 2012 against a Patriots team with a much better record going into that Super Bowl (not so much in 2008, as that was a victory signed, sealed and delivered by the New York Giants’ defensive line).
And how often, now that we’ve said all this, have we watched a basketball team that has no business being on the same floor with the big boys spring an upset. It doesn’t happen much in the NBA (though it does now and then). But it does in college, mainly because Team B takes the air out of the ball on defense while a couple of players get the hot hand on the other side of the floor. Villanova vs. Georgetown, 1985, anyone? The Wildcats shot 78.6 percent, practically unheard of. Down the stretch, the Cats hit 11 of 14 free throws. And they still only won by two, 66-64, over Patrick Ewing’s Hoyas.
Well here’s another one for you. Boston College 89, Duke 84.
This happened Saturday. And if you try to sell anyone that you saw it coming, forget it. Even that swamp land in Florida looks like a good investment by comparison.
But, as they say, that’s why they play the games.
Duke was 11-0 before its trip to Boston. The Blue Devils, ranked No. 4 in the country, were their typical Duke selves. Steady, and at times, spectacular. The high-water mark came early, Nov. 14, Game 3, 88-81 over No. 2 Michigan State.
The Eagles, meanwhile, came into the game at 6-3,and had been blasted by 20 points by Providence College on Nov. 25. And let’s just say the six wins were all against teams to which BC had no business losing. In other words, pretty unspectacular no matter how you slice it.
If you’re a believer in omens, perhaps it was the snow. It tends to leave people discombobulated if they’re not used to it, even though it can often have little to do with anything. Such would have been the case Saturday.
As is almost always happens, it was unconscious shooting that led the way for the Eagles. Ky Bowman, Jordan Chatman and Jerome Robinson were a combined 13-from-23 from beyond the arc, and Bowman finished with 30 points, 10 rebounds and 9 assists (he was named ACC Player of the Week Monday).
But let’s not chalk it all up to out-of-their-minds shooting. Duke was behind 48-41 at the half, but managed to take a 79-75 lead inside of four minutes to go. But BC showed some mettle, scoring 12 of the next 14 points, with Robinson hitting two huge threes.
It’s been a long, long time since BC’s basketball program has been relevant. But if Saturday’s win is any indication, it could be that the basketball team has learned a few lessons from the football team, which ended the regular season at 7-5 after starting out 1-3, with embarrassing losses to Wake Forest, Notre Dame and Clemson. For its efforts, the Eagles will play in the Pinstripe Bowl Dec. 27 against Iowa — the team whose win earlier this fall over Ohio State, for all intents and purposes, kept the Buckeyes from being in the national championship playoffs.
And that’s why they play the games.
