Goin' to the replay

Her name is Arike Ogunbowale, and if you're going to Vegas anytime soon, you're taking her with you.

With her in tow, you'll be rollin' in sevens.

With her as your luck whisperer, you'll beat the blackjack dealer every time.

With her, oh, I don't know, just hanging around, you'll bust every slot in the place, even the ones tighter than a corporate mogul's fist.

This is because fortune not only smiled on Arike Ogunbowale this weekend, it threw its arm around her shoulders, tilted its head toward her and said "I'm with her." She was, after all, the one who rose up to knock down mighty, undefeated UConn with a last-second shot in overtime the other night, sending Notre Dame's women to the NCAA women's basketball championship.

Where, last night, she did it again.

Clock down to crumbs. Ball in her hands. Turning, rising (off one foot this time, no less), letting the ball roll off her fingertips.

Boom. Splash. Notre Dame 61, Mississippi State 58. National title for the Irish, who battled injuries all year but will bring home the big trophy because the best coach on campus did what she does best.

That is, of course, Muffet McGraw, whom the Blob once tongue-in-cheek suggested Notre Dame should go ahead and put in charge of the football team, too, because the school wasn't going find anyone better. Last night she, and her team, stayed frosty when they went down 15 to the Bulldogs in the third quarter. So, too, did Ogunbowale, who missed 9 of 10 shots in the first half and was 5 of 20 from the floor for the game when she rose up again there at the end.

Boom. Splash. 61-58.

No one dreams of doing what Ogunbowale did this weekend, not even in her driveway. Sure, you see yourself hitting the last-second shot in the national title game. But whose imagination is wild enough to see yourself also hitting the last-second shot to get you to the national title game? Whose imagination is quite that greedy?

And so clear a space in that hefty Pantheon O' Lore, Domers. You've got another addition on the way, and it belongs right up there with the rest of the top-of-the-shelf stuff.

You know: The Gipper, The Four Horsemen, Clements-to-Weber, Dwight Clay from the baseline. All that.

Say hi to Arike, fellas.