NCAA tournament left without true Cinderella as Xavier ends Georgia State’s run
Xavier ousted Georgia State, the last remaining Cinderella story, from the NCAA tournament Saturday night 75-67, robbing college basketball fans of more chances to see coach Ron Hunter injure himself or fall off his scooter celebrating his son’s game-winners.
Now we’re all a bunch of Chicago Cubs fans, having to wait until next year to see a true Cinderella advance to the Sweet 16, Elite Eight or even the FInal Four. There are plenty of underdogs left in this year’s tournament but no true believers hoping the slipper still fits for another day.
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For example, if No. 8 seed San Diego State was to upset No. 1 seed Duke on Sunday, it would certainly fill a void created by the lack of a Cinderella, but we’re not going to call a team coached by a man with a national championship and several Final Fours on his resume a Cinderella.
The lowest remaining seeds in the tournament are No. 11 seeds UCLA and Dayton. The Bruins are one of the sport’s blue bloods, never to be confused with a Cinderella no matter their seed, and Dayton advanced to the Elite Eight just last season. The Flyers play Oklahoma on Sunday with a trip to the Sweet 16 on the line.
So we bid farewell to the Panthers, who popped onto the national radar when coach Hunter tore his Achilles tendon celebrating his team’s Sun Belt Conference tournament title. They then gave us a thrill to open the tournament Thursday by upsetting Baylor as a No. 14 seed. Junior R.J. Hunter, the coach’s son, made the game-winning shot, likely securing a spot in One Shining Moment at tournament’s end.
Ron Hunter cried in his postgame press conference, making you want to root for him a little harder even though his season is now done. It was raw and genuine and exactly the kind of thing that will be lacking in the tournament going forward.
“The greatest week of my life,” Hunter said. “The greatest time I’ve ever had to be a father.
“…I don’t want these guys to be sad. We helped Georgia State out. Georgia State people know about Georgia State. We’ll be back.”
Hunter then fell to pieces with his hand on his son’s shoulder. R.J. Hunter scored 20 points in the game to lead the Panthers.
This is where we have to give Xavier credit for rising above expectations and playing well enough to advance to the Sweet 16 in a season in which they were pretty much written off at different points.
The Musketeers seem to be have some moxie to them and feel like a gritty, blue-collar bunch from a town in Cincinnati filled with that kind of mindset. Jalen Reynolds came off the bench to score 21 points to lead Xavier to the win and Dee Davis added 15. The Musketeers are back in the Sweet 16 for the fifth time in eight seasons having vanquished Cinderella.
“The greatest week of my life.” Ron Hunter breaks down during postgame press conference. #MarchMadness https://t.co/hGoA4hhhLy
— NCAA March Madness (@marchmadness) March 22, 2015
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[Kyle Ringo is the assistant editor of The Dagger on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @KyleRingo
