Yesterday was a day I had dreaded for a long time. I knew it would come, but hoped it wouldn't. It was the last time that I would ever put on my #4 jersey, head down to Williams, and watch Janel McCarville play basketball as a Minnesota Gopher.

It was a perfect night, but still a sad one for a nostalgic fan like me.

The first game was a true March classic. Neutral floor, large crowd. Close the whole way. Seven lead changes and two ties in the final five minutes. An amazing clutch performance by a heroic player down the stretch. And a wild finish. Despite the mistake at the end, USC was fabulous. Coach Trakh was deservedly proud.

The second game felt like last year: frenzied, nervous, furious, and finally ecstatic; the combined adrenaline of athletes and fans that a sports junkie like me lives for but only gets to experience once in a long while.

McCarville changed the entire game with a single play. Not a bucket or an assist or a block, but a blind half-court pick. LaTonya Blue went to the floor, then out of the game. Minnesota went on a 10-0 run, opening a big lead.

Coach Ryan admitted that it was "probably" legal and that Janel hadn't done anything wrong. After the play, she told her players that they have to call it out. A couple said: "we did." It was just too loud to hear.

"It was nothing personal," McCarville said. "She already had gotten a couple of rips and took it the whole distance for layups. If they know someone might be standing there, they might not pressure our point guard as well."

After that play, it was all over but the cheering and the goodbyes. Goodbye to a player who held up the house that Whalen built, to a player who brought both anger and humor to the Barn's raised floor, to a player who won games and filled the bleachers.

And now it's time to get a #33 jersey.