HOUSTON — Sports cannot be predicted, or explained. Games are unscripted, how they go is performance art, and how they end is the whim of fate. Spirits will be lifted or crushed, and the fans watching — so invested, heart and tears — but have no say in the matter.
Florida Atlantic University’s dream run to the men’s NCAA Final Four ended Saturday night because Lamont Butler’s buzzer-beating shot for San Diego State was perfect and the scoreboard froze at 72-71 at 0.0. That same shot two inches awry and off the rim changes everything and haunts Butler for the rest of his life. Instead he has the moment that will forever define him.
The Miami Hurricanes’ history-making dream run to the Final Four ended later Saturday because they faced a better, bigger team in UConn, a four-time national champion, and because the moment was larger than their readiness for it. The Huskies were out front end to end in a game they won 72-59. Canes Coach Jim Larranaga will lose sleep trying to figure out why that didn’t look like the team he knew out there, and never be satisfied with the answer.
