March is here and, even before the NCAA Tournament gets underway, there is plenty of madness taking place in the world of college basketball. A handful of conference tournaments wrap up with title games on Sunday and, in the Big South Conference, that meant a battle between Liberty and Radford for a trip to the Big Dance.
After a wild, back-and-forth game, Radford redshirt freshman Carlik Jones decided that he wanted to avoid overtime, breaking a tie in the final seconds to propel the Highlanders to a buzzer-beating win.
https://twitter.com/CBBSuperFan/status/970387888054702080
The #Highlanders are headed to @Marchmadness as @BigSouthSports Champions! Congratulations to the @RadfordMBB team on their win over @LibertyMBB! Thanks to all of the #RadfordAlumni & friends who cheered them on today! #HighlanderPride #BigSouthMBB #BigSouthChampionship pic.twitter.com/WHwvG5tr1B
— Radford University Alumni (@radford_alumni) March 4, 2018
Obviously, this kind of last-second shot provides quite a bit of entertainment and, for Jones, it was a moment that he will forever be recognized for in the Radford community. Beyond that, though, there were Las Vegas implications, with Radford closing as either a 2 or 2.5-point favorite on the point spread, sending many handicappers scrambling to either ecstasy or chagrin.
This is the kind of moment that March Madness prides itself on and, even if there wasn’t a single player on the floor that most of the nation would recognize, the reaction when the shot fell through the rim was perfect. Some bettors didn’t enjoy and, of course, this was a brutal loss for Liberty. Still, we have a reminder that “This Is March” and more of these moments are on the way in the (very) near future.
