University Of Oklahoma

The two high-powered offenses fizzled and the two Heisman Trophy-winning quarterbacks combined to throw four interceptions. The track meet that was anticipated and all but promised was halted by punts, penalties, injuries, sometimes clueless officiating and the usual buzz killer -- television timeouts. Fifty years after the Baltimore Colts versus the New York Giants, this was hardly the greatest game ever played.

Blake Griffin had just made the play of the game, and perhaps this NCAA tournament, an extraterrestrial -- he reached into the heavens -- one-handed dunk of an Austin Johnson lob pass. But Ty Lawson countered in less than eight seconds, slicing through the defense for a runner in the lane. That second-half sequence was Sunday's NCAA South Regional final in a capsule: The brilliance of Oklahoma's Griffin against the precision of North Carolina's Tar Heels.

Start with the grass stains. He left the field wearing the most splendid of grass stains, long swaths of green stretching over his shoulders, across his chest, down his back, the badge of a linebacker. Now check out the number. He is No. 15, but his jersey was tugged and twisted so much, sometimes it looked as if he were No. 11, sometimes 17, the wrinkles of a lineman. Finish with the face.