16(0) Sweet Words of March Madness: 2010 Sweet 16 - Kansas State 101, Xavier 96

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(Ed’s Note: With the NCAA Tournament officially kicking off on March 18th/20th, we here at TSFJ will be giving the people 16(0) sweet words on 16 (bitter)sweet moments of March Madness past. Next up is Kenny Masenda, whose appreciation of the #FearTheBeard movement is unprecedented. Oh, and if we go over 160 words…well, our bad.)

"I'm telling you, man. The best back court in the country is Jacob Pullen and Denis Clemente." -- Johnathan Tillman, 2010

Till uttered the above to me early in the 2009-10 season and it caught me completely off-guard. It also told me two things: one, Till knew the game of basketball and two, how come I hadn't paid more attention to the back court in Manhattan, Kansas?

March 25, 2010 was an example of two teams who did their best in refusing to lose. Kansas State punched Xavier in the throat, only for the Musketeers to punch the Wildcats right back, and the back court match-up of Xavier's Terrell Holloway and Jordan Crawford versus K-State's Clemente/Pullen was absolutely memorable.

When it was all said and done, the Wildcats prevailed in a double-overtime thriller and one of the greatest games mine eyes have ever seen with Clemente and Pullen combined for 53 points and 8 assists with only two turnovers.

Related: Jordan Crawford Got Traded Today, So Let’s Reminisce When Gus Johnson, Xavier And Kansas State Happened

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