USD Knows How To Party

March 10th, 4th day of the trip. After a long night with double overtime on the 9th, it was good to sleep in. And for this blog's money, there's not too much better than spending a Monday in a warm weather town knowing that you'll be watching basketball all week instead of work.

Going to San Diego State University was cool, even though Pun City was denied in its request to check out the basketball court. The reasons for SDSU's awesomeness were multifold. First, it was a big campus, reminiscent of UW-Madison. Second, Pun City found a Jack-In-The-Box right next to campus. Third, SDSU has an awesome student union, including free pool, bowling, and ping pong. And lastly, because Pun City found ten bucks on the ground there.

Jack-In-The-Box was good, this blog tried out this new kind of self-service touch screen ordering system, that was kinda cool. (It also helped avoid a very probable language barrier, which was key).

Pun City then stopped at Enterprise to tell them this blog's Check Engine light had been on for 2 days, (they weren't concerned and attributed it to a gas cap being loose 2 days ago). Enterprise didn't have any cars available, they offered a minivan but Pun City was all too glad to keep the mid-size car at that point (especially with the upcoming drives to LA and Vegas).

The main event was going to happen this evening. Homestanding San Diego versus top-seeded, perennial champ Gonzaga. The two largest fan bases in the tournament. Cool in that this blog would see a pretty charged-up environment, as well as a sellout. Not as cool in that this blog was not going to be able to get any good seats. There was also a concern that USD fans wouldn't like seeing a dude with a Gonzaga hat there, and Pun City had no USD gear. (And furthermore, USD's bookstore was pretty weak. Pun City really tried to get some USD gear, but it was all pretty lame, and they were out of the slightly less lame items in this blog's size).

Gonzaga was used to the national spotlight, and when ESPN announcer Stephen Bardo entered through the tunnel, the Kennel chanted "Bardo, Bardo, Bardo...." Additionally, former GU star (and current LA Laker) Ronny Turiaf was in attendance, garnering similar "Ronny, Ronny, Ronny..." chants.

The game was very cool, with the Toreros grinding out the victory after going ahead by 8 with 7:04 remaining. The coolest part was the song the arena PA blasted after USD's win. Not "We Are The Champions," not "Praise You," by Fat Boy Slim, not even "One Shining Moment." The PA blasted, appropriately, "California Knows How To Party."

As Pun City was leaving the arena, it was walking next to a USD student who was calling an out-of-town buddy on the phone. His comments and level of excitement reminded this blog of the day Wisconsin qualified for the 2000 Final Four. Here's his statement as well as this blog can recall: "We Beat Gonzaga!"....."Yeah, we're going to the tournament now!" "Yeah, that's the big one, March Madness!" "It's gonna be a long night tonight, but it's so awesome, I can't believe we beat Gonzaga!"

Well put.

Double Overtime Trumps A Potential Danceoff

Pun City again apologizes for the extreme negligence. Back to the Conference Tournament trip. March 9th, the 3rd day of the trip.

This was a Sunday, and Pun City's host was free as well. She graciously offered to show this blog a "local beach" since she was heading there for a swim anyway. Seal Beach is a pretty good spot, this blog enjoyed the laziness the seals exhibited. Since the water was about 60 degrees and Pun City didn't have a wet suit (unlike its host), this blog chose to forego the Pacific, at least for more than a couple seconds.

After the beach, Pun City headed to Torrey Pines, a nearby golf course and home to the 2008 US Open. That was a pretty cool spot, the gift shop worker encouraged this blog to grab a couple free scorecards and golf pencils. On the way between the golf course and USD for the semifinal games, Pun City spotted an In-N-Out Burger. That's always a fantastic sight.

Free bumper stickers, location guide, and some very affordable burgers and fries were pretty sweet. Pun City hadn't gotten to an In-N-Out in a while, so this was a nice stop. It was also nice to be eating outdoors on March 9th.

At USD, the fans were primed for two semifinal matchups with the top 4 seeds. Gonzaga was taking on 4th-seeded Santa Clara, followed by #2 Saint Mary's vs. #3 San Diego. Gonzaga's huge crowd took to chanting "Where are your fans?" (Clap, clap, clap-clap-clap). The Geico Gecko was back with thunder sticks, however after handing them all out, the Geico crew found out they don't allow noisemakers in the Jenny Craig Pavilion. Whoops.

Despite shooting poorly, Gonzaga pulled out the victory, 52-48. San Diego's crowd was rowdy, and watching their team take their home floor in road jerseys since they were the lower seed. Saint Mary's was in control, leading by 15 with 14:59 remaining in regulation. The Gaels frittered away the lead, though, and USD forced overtime.

The overtime wasn't enough to settle it, so double OT commenced. By this time, Pun City was situated near the Torero dance team, who suggested that the game be settled by a "dance off." The amusing suggestion was not taken. However, the Toreros did close out the game in double overtime, leading by 7 with 1:45 left in the 2nd extra frame.

By this time, the arena was about half full, both teams were exhausted, and it was 2:00 AM Central, so Pun City was dragging. But a very cool final, Gonzaga vs. San Diego, would be taking place tomorrow night. This would be the most well-attended game of the tournament, given the huge fan bases involved with each of the finalists.

Pun City was looking forward to enjoying the title game the next day, and also looking forward to only having one game.