What Made Day Great? It's as Simple as 1-2-Tree

SAN ANTONIO — This perfect day began with a tree. A trash-talking tree.

Shortly before the first game of the Final Four on Saturday, the Stanford mascot wandered over to the Kentucky players and began taunting.

"I was trying to rattle them," said sophomore Matthew Enumclaw, decked in the traditional Stanford pine. "They just looked at me funny."

This perfect day ended with a dream. A crazy dream that filled the eyes of those gym rats from nowhere.

In the Utah locker room after its upset of North Carolina, country-fresh kids were wandering exhausted among sweats, box lunches and chalk.

"We're still in awe right now," forward Alex Jensen said.

So are we.

For six glorious hours, a Final Four lived up to the hype.

For six breathtaking, horn-tooting, usher-dancing, clock-beating, sweet-swishing, defense-screaming hours Saturday, a Final Four was fabulous.

This wasn't supposed to happen. This was supposed to be like every other big event that stumbles short of expectations.

In the opener, Kentucky was supposed to pummel Stanford.

Kentucky, with its big band, its 12 perfectly smiling cheerleaders, its vaunted history.

Stanford, with its tree.

But instead, the Cardinal came within a couple of fallaway three-pointers by Jeff Sheppard of chuckling into the night before losing, 86-85, in overtime.

Sheppard is the sort of guard for which Kentucky owns a patent. He has a buzz haircut, he is from a southern county called "Fayette," he refers to his shot as "that thang."

Kris Weems, the guy blanketing him during those two late shots, is typical Stanford. Intelligent, hard-working, and refreshingly honest.

"He outplayed me and he outshot me," Weems said of Sheppard, looking the questioner directly in the eye. "I was there with him every step, and he still beat me."

In the second game, North Carolina was supposed to embarrass Utah.

North Carolina, with NBA-bound Antawn Jamison, all swagger and smiles, and that was during warmups.

Utah, with players who still suffer from the ravages of acne.

But instead, Utah showed what can happen with a little coaching, a little discipline, and a lot of nerve.

As Utah's Rick Majerus kicked around North Carolina's Bill Guthridge--was he even on the bench in the second half?--so did his players, with a 65-59 victory that proved a point.

"We showed the world that you can still win by playing below the rim," forward Britton Johnsen said.