BY JAY BUSBEE
Pressure. It's what separates champions from if-onlys, what creates both everlasting memories and eternal regrets. The ability to handle pressure, to rise to the moment and deliver when the stakes are highest ... that's why we watch sports, to revel in those who can pull off such magnificent achievements, and to wonder how we'd do in the same situation.
Saturday night, with time literally running out on San Diego State in its Final Four matchup against Florida Atlantic, the Aztecs' Lamont Butler dribbled around the right side of the bucket, shook off a defender and then — with less than a second remaining — released one of the prettiest shots you'll ever see in your life. The ball floated in a gentle arc through the air, the buzzer lights glowed with it still in flight, and it nestled through the net with barely a whisper of the thread.
72-71, San Diego State. Defeat to victory in less than a second. Your entire season riding on a single shot ... and you deliver. That's pressure.
The pitcher who has the courage to throw a fastball in the bottom of the ninth ... the quarterback who surveys the field and unleashes a pinpoint pass into double coverage ... the goalie who stops every single crucial shot ... they're all avatars of the ability to meet the moment, to push back against the pressure that crushes so many in crucial situations.
The Women's Final Four this weekend didn't feature quite the same victory-from-the-jaws of defeat heroics as SDSU-FAU, but LSU reached the finals by turning a nine-point fourth-quarter deficit into a seven-point victory over Virginia Tech, then outdistanced Iowa and its all-everything star Caitlin Clark for a 102-85 victory yesterday. Did the pressure of expectation sink Iowa and fellow Final Four also-ran South Carolina? Perhaps, perhaps not.
Some teams rise to meet expectations, some fall short; we'll see tonight in the conclusion of the men's tournament how UConn handles those same championship expectations against SDSU as a 7.5-point favorite.
Then later this week, we'll see how the world's finest golfers survive the pressure of competing for the sport's finest honor. The Masters tees off on Thursday, and in the field are several players who have faced down pressure — along with several players who have fallen prey to it.
Rory McIlroy took a four-stroke lead into Sunday at the 2011 Masters, but a horrific triple-bogey on the 10th submarined his chances. He still hasn't won at Augusta, and the ghosts of that loss still seem to haunt him. Five years later, Jordan Spieth held a five-stroke lead going into the back nine, only to watch it vanish into the depths of Rae's Creek on a disastrous 12th hole. They cracked under pressure — the same pressure under which players like Tiger Woods and, now, Scottie Scheffler thrive.
What's fascinating is the way that pressure alters the most routine tasks for players — shooting free throws, driving golf balls. Most of us could sink a 10-foot jump shot or a putt from four feet. But when the pressure's on — when that putt clinches a Masters, or when that shot wins a national championship — the hole looks the size of a thimble, and the ball weighs as much as a bowling ball.
We'll see tonight who manages the pressure of a game in which every turnover can lead to disaster. We'll see in a few days who handles the pressure of 72 holes of flawless golf. It's what makes sports worth watching, and keeps us coming back time after time. Maybe we couldn't handle the pressure, but it's amazing to watch those who can.
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