A #16 seed has never beaten a #1. It’s rare to even see David have a second half lead over Goliath. And the UNC-Asheville Bulldogs did just that, putting the #1 seed Syracuse Orange, and all of America on notice, just for a little while.
The inevitable correction came, and the literal “underdogs” lost 72-65, even though most of America was rooting against Syracuse. UNCA coach Ed Biedenbach was defensive and testy with the media afterward, and it made for some good dialogue.
He blamed the first game running late for the loss, and told a reporter he’d learn what happened from his article.
A reporter, presumed to be from the Syracuse contingent asked Bulldogs player J.P. Primm:
“you are up by four at the half, led by as much as seven points. When Syracuse came back and took the lead, what were you able to do to keep hanging around?”
Primm gave his answer, which was pretty standard. But, then Coach Ed Biedenbach decided to chime in with this:
“I’d like to ask the gentleman from Syracuse a question. You ask what we did to hang around. I want to read your article tomorrow and see what Syracuse did to get back in it when we were up 7, when we were up 4. I’ll be very interested to read about what you have to say.
Tonight ?? Syracuse is better than Asheville. Tonight we were better than Syracuse. Come Thursday at 3:10, they screwed us up, they moved us to 3:20 because the first one was too long. At 3:10, these guys played their tails off for 40 minutes and played better than Syracuse.”
I understand he was upset, and it was the heat of the moment. And that they got screwed on that crucial goaltending call. The officials themselves later admitted they got that incorrect, but….C’MON MAN blaming the start time/first game for going late? Seriously? Condescending to a beat writer?
That’s really “Mid-Major” of you. Try to be a better person about losing next time.
Paul M. Banks is CEO of The Sports Bank.net, an official Google News site that generates millions of unique visitors. He’s also a regular contributor to Chicago Now, Walter Football.com, Yardbarker, and Fox Sports
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