good victory for the cats. down ten after a lame technical foul with 7:10 remaining, they finally arrived to come from behind down the stretch for a victory at the gophers (only their third home loss of the year, and their 7th overall).

and what was the key? stellar play of t.j. parker, shouldering the load all game long? nope. vedran finally shaking off the cobwebs and hitting a three down the stretch? no. mohamed getting in the passing lanes and making plays and being a general long-armed pest? no. vince scott (vince scott!) hitting a three from the corner to tie it up late? no.

the key was, of course, that yours truly was playing free cell for the comeback.

the game wasn't televised, so it was strictly dave and bob on 720 for this guy.

listening breakdown:
1st half
20:00 - 13:00 - on the couch, reading a bit about the gophs
13:00 - 7:00 - in my bedroom
7:00 - 3:00 - in my bedroom, sleeping and drooling
3:00 - 0:00 - awake; cats down by 5 at the half
halftime: dishes
2nd half
20:00 - 16:00 - still dishes and the like
16:00 - 7:10 - in the bedroom, struggling to deal with the fact that 'the door's open, they just aren't walking through'
7:10 - 0:00 - freecelling on the couch...i perform poorly as the clock winds down

it's worth noting that i didn't actually know what happened on the final shot until a minute after it happened. as it was going through, bob yelled "oh," covering up dave's "good," but we eventually got through it.

what does this mean? not so much. it means that they're 11-11 with seven regular season games left. it's still an uphill battle to finish over .500 for the season (wins anticipated home vs. txamcc, home vs. michigan, home vs. psu; losses anticipated home vs. illinois, home vs. michigan state, at indiana; questions this sat. at iowa. and, of course, msu and iu are potential wins as well, i guess...)

but still, it's a nice one to have...a good upset in a disappointing season.

oh yeah, this also means that "northwestern" will be listed in the "bad losses" category when we see the "bubble profiles" or "depaul," "iowa," and "minnesota." and i guess that counts for something.

options for saturday's game:
1) ask the boss for tickets
2) try to tag along with a co-worker, who i believe does have tickets
3) watch on tv
4) listen and freecell

i'll probably settle for 3), although 2) and 1) are possible.

that's all i got.