While on a brief visit to see two of our grandsons and a side trip to Arkansas, I had the chance to watch a few exceptional college softball and baseball games along with a very tense Game 7 NBA Western Conference final.

It’s time to enjoy the next couple of weeks as the window is quickly closing on the seasons for these three sports.

This year’s NBA Finals began Wednesday night.

The surprising San Antonio Spurs and streaking New York Knicks began their best-of-seven title series.  New York came into Game 1 with an 11-game playoff winning streak.

The Knicks left the Spurs’ home arena Wednesday night with a 12-game playoff winning streak.

The Women’s College World Series softball best-of three finale also got underway Wednesday night in Oklahoma City.  Last weekend, Texas Tech’s never-say-die Red Raiders had to fight back from the brink of elimination twice to defeat #1 seed Alabama just to reach the finals.

They will now get a chance to do that once again on Thursday night and, perhaps, on Friday night.

That’s because Texas Tech lost to intrastate rival Texas 7-3 in the opening game of the best of three final series.  Texas is the defending national champion.

On the men’s side of college bats and balls, this week marks the Super Regional round for the NCAA college baseball season.

Eight winners from this weekend’s best-of-three weekend series will advance into the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska next week.  There were a number of surprising winners and losers during last week’s opening round.

New York’s Amazin’ Knicks have now won 12 straight playoff games!

San Antonio Spurs 7’4” center Victor Wembanyama is ending his third NBA season.  Much like Hall-of-Famer Shaquille O’Neal (who, by the way, played his high school basketball in San Antonio), Wemby just led his team into the NBA Finals.  He is now being hailed as the top big man in the NBA.

The 5-time NBA champion Spurs are much more than just a one-man show.  They utilize their bench as well as any NBA team and play solid defense for the entire 48-minute game.

The New York Knicks are seeking their first NBA title since 1973.

To say that New York sports fans are hungry for a title is a huge understatement.

“The City that Never Sleeps” is in the midst of a rather lengthy championship drought.  Eli Manning’s New York Giants football last won a Super Bowl title in 2011.  Baseball’s New York Yankees haven’t won the World Series since 2009.  The crosstown rival New York Mets haven’t claimed a baseball title since 1986.  Broadway Joe Namath was the quarterback for football’s New York Jets in their only Super Bowl victory in 1969.

NBA’s New York Knicks came into the playoffs as the #3 Eastern Conference seed behind Detroit and Boston.  After losing two of its first three playoff games to Atlanta in Round 1, the Knicks won the final three games to advance.  They would sweep #5 seed Philadelphia and #4 Cleveland in eight straight wins to claim the NBA Eastern Conference title.

San Antonio is playing in the NBA Finals for the first time since June, 2014.

The path to the championship round has been increasingly difficult for the Spurs. 

San Antonio (the #2 seed in the Western Conference) needed just five games to dispatch the Portland Trailblazers in five games.  It then took six games for San Antonio to subdue the Minnesota Timberwolves.  Last weekend, the Spurs required a full seven games to win a tense Game 7 battle against the defending NBA champion Oklahoma City Thunder.

Wednesday night’s Game 1 in San Antonio was won by the New York Knicks 105-95 in a game which was much closer than the final score reflected.  The veteran Knicks scored the last 11 points to end the game.  New York stepped-up in the final quarter to score 29 points as the younger Spurs tallied only 19 over the last 12 minutes.

New York’s Villanova connection featured guards Jalen Brunson (30 points) and Josh Hart (an incredible 15 rebounds) leading a fourth quarter rally to give the Knicks their 12th consecutive playoff victory.

As a result, San Antonio lost its home court advantage after that Game 1 loss.  ABC will televise Game #2 at 7:30PM Friday night from San Antonio.  The series moves to New York’s Madison Square Garden for Games 3 and 4 on Monday and Wednesday next week.

Make sure to stick around for the post-game coverage on ESPN. The award-winning “Inside the NBA” show features NBA legends Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith, and Shaquille O’Neal breaking down the action along with host Ernie Johnson.  You never know what’s going to happen.

Meanwhile, in Oklahoma City…

The Women’s College World Series best-of-three finals began Wednesday night.

Defending national champion Texas (52-12) defeated Texas Tech 7-3 in Game 1.

The Red Raiders fell to 61-9 and are on the verge of elimination once again.  They have become quite familiar with this position over the past several days in Oklahoma City.

The #11 seeded Red Raiders rallied for two runs in the top of the ninth inning on Sunday to vanquish #8 national seed UCLA 8-7.  On Monday, Texas Tech had to defeat #1 seed Alabama twice to earn a spot in the championship finals.

The Red Raiders won the opener 5-4 over Bama by scoring a run in the bottom of the 7th inning.  They also grabbed the second game 2-0 on a two-hit pitching gem by two-time college player-of-the-year NiJari Canady to earn a spot in the finals.

The second seeded Texas Longhorns didn’t have an easy road into the Women’s College World Series finals, either.

They had to defeat #7 Tennessee Volunteers twice on Monday to advance.  Texas won the opener 5-2 and then shut-out Tennessee 4-0 later in the afternoon to advance to the championship round.

The Longhorns and Red Raiders competed for the Women’s College World Series championship last year as well.  Texas Tech is trying to avenge last year’s loss to Texas in the best-of-three title series.

Game 2 will be played Thursday at 7PM on ESPN. 

A deciding Game 3, if necessary, will be played Friday night at 7PM on ESPN.

What happened to the top seeds in the men’s college baseball tournament?

UCLA had been ranked #1 in college baseball all season long.

The Bruins were 51-6 heading into the opening round of the NCAA college baseball playoffs.  They faced #4 regional seed St. Mary’s (35-25) in their opening playoff game at home last Friday.

The Gaels scored a run in the top of the ninth inning to shock UCLA 3-2.  On Saturday, UCLA had to score three times in the bottom of the ninth to take a 6-5 win and stay alive against 30-26 Virginia Tech.

St. Mary’s and UCLA were matched again on Sunday.  This time, the Gaels scored a run in the bottom of the 10th inning to end UCLA’s season with a 6-5 win.

Ironically, St. Mary’s was eliminated on Sunday 5-2 by the Cal-Poly Mustangs of San Luis Obispo.  Go figure.

It wasn’t any better for #2 national seed Georgia Tech

The 50-10 Yellow Jackets were playing at home in Atlanta and trying to advance into the Super Regional round for the first time in 20 years.  Georgia Tech would have hosted a Super Regional this weekend – if only they had won their own opening round regional.

The Oklahoma Sooners rallied in consecutive games to dispatch the heavily favored hometown Yellow Jackets to advance into this weekend’s Super Regional to be played in…Kansas?

Kansas has rarely been known for its baseball prowess.

This year’s baseball Jayhawks are now 45-16 after winning its opening round of games.  KU will host Oklahoma Saturday in the Lawrence, Kansas Super Regional.  The Jayhawks have made it into only one College World Series (1993) in the school’s long history.

Kansas plays baseball in relatively small Hoglund Ballpark.  This stadium features just 2,500 permanent seats.  The school recently took down the left field wall and installed a chain link fence.  That allows about 1,000 additional fans to stand or sit in their own lawn chairs in “The Backyard” to watch Kansas baseball games.

Expect ticket prices in Lawrence, Kansas to be sky high for this weekend’s Super Regional.

Did you pick the Trojans to make it into the Super Regionals?

Last weekend, there were the Trojans from the University of Southern California, the Troy Trojans of the Sun Belt Conference, and the Little Rock Trojans from the Ohio Valley Conference.

Incredibly, all three of these Trojans baseball teams will be part of the 16 squads competing in the second round “Super Regional” college playoff games this weekend.

At least one Trojans team is guaranteed a spot in Omaha at the College World Series next week.  The 36-30 Troy Trojans will host the Little Rock Trojans (39-26) at 4PM Friday on ESPNU. 

Troy shocked #5 national seed Florida 10-2 in the final game of the Gainesville Regional last week.  Little Rock won the Hattiesburg Regional after #9 seed Southern Miss was sent packing after two consecutive losses.

The USC Trojans (47-16) will travel across the country to play at the University of North Carolina (48-11-1) on Friday at 2PM CDT on ESPN2.

Here are all eight Super Regional match-ups (first game starting times are CDT)

Friday’s Opening Games:

Morgantown – Cal Poly (39-22) at #16 seed West Virginia (43-15) at 11AM on ESPN2

Chapel Hill – USC (47-16) at #5 North Carolina (48-11-1) at 2PM on ESPN2

Troy – Little Rock (39-26) at Troy (36-30) at 4PM on ESPNU

Auburn – Ole Miss (39-21) at #4 Auburn (42-20) at 7PM on ESPN2

Saturday’s Opening Games:

Athens – #14 seed Mississippi State (43-17) at #3 Georgia (49-12) at 10AM on ESPN

Lawrence – Oklahoma (36-22) at #15 Kansas (45-16) at 1PM on ESPN

Austin – #11 Oregon (43-16) at #6 Texas (43-13) at 7PM on ESPN

Tuscaloosa – St. John’s (36-24) at #7 Alabama (40-19) at 8PM on ESPN2

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