I thought Kansas might have trouble lasting 40 minutes after the emotional game with UNC. And it appeared in the final minutes that they weren’t going to be able to finish this one like they did Saturday night. Memphis had the game in hand, but then missed four out of five free throws in the final minute, and Kansas sends it to overtime.
And now, Kansas has their third national championship, joining UCLA, Kentucky, Indiana, North Carolina and Duke as the only schools with three or more titles. (I believe that’s the full list, but it’s late, so don’t hold me to that.)
I saw Rick Pitino on PTI a month or so ago and they asked him about Memphis. He said their only possible weakness was at the line. Others have said the same. Unfortunately, despite having shot the ball quite well from the line during the tournament, it proved to be their downfall anyway.
I didn’t really care who won at this point, and just wanted a close, exciting game that went down to the end.
That’s what we got. A tremendous shot by Mario Chalmers to tie the game with two seconds left in regulation. When Kansas scored the first four points in overtime, I thought Memphis had to score the next trip down or it was over. They didn’t. It was.
I feel bad for Memphis. Anytime you lose a lead late in a game it’s unfortunate, but being up by nine with just over two minutes remaining and then missing four straight free throws to let Kansas back in it has to be devastating.
I’ve never been a Memphis fan, and have never really cared for Calipari, but I was sort of pulling for both teams tonight. I hated to see either team lose, and I would have felt bad for Memphis regardless of how they lost. But I really hated to see it happen the way it did.
And Ol’ Roy may have changed his mind five years ago, but Kansas fans could still give a s*** about North Carolina. It had to be especially sweet for them to reach the title game by sending ol’ traitor Roy home.
An 18-0 run in the first half sealed Carolina’s fate, despite a furious comeback. I was almost certain that Bill Self’s team had self-destructed like so many Kansas teams - coached both by Self and ol’ Roy - had done in years past. I thought it was only a matter of time before UNC completed their comeback and was hailed as the greatest team to ever set foot on a basketball court and Travel Hansblow proclaimed to be the god of all living things.
When it was 40-12, I was thrilled. It was happening. Not only was Carolina going to lose, but they were being embarrassed. Far better. But when it was 54-50, my joy had fled and deep concern that Kansas was about to complete the biggest fold up by a team in final four history (which, with Kansas’ win, is still held by Maryland, who lost to Duke in 2001 after leading by 22 in the first half.)
Fortunately, Billy Packer - who with about 7:30 to go in the first half proclaimed on air that the game was over - proved to be a prophet after all. Kansas pulls out the win and sends UNC packing 84-66.
My day was made.
GTHC!
I wasn’t going to be surprised by anything in the final four, considering the caliber of teams playing. And despite picking UCLA, it wasn’t at all shocking to see Memphis take them out.
In Memphis’ last three games, they’ve looked as good as anyone has during the whole tournament, so I might be slightly shocked if they don’t win Monday night. Free throw shooting was supposed to be their only weakness, but I noticed in their win over Mississippi State in the 2nd round that they were hitting them down the stretch, and they did so again as Texas attempted a comeback. If they hit their free throws, they may not have any other weakness to exploit. They’ve been playing the “no respect” card, and seem intent on making sure everyone respects them by late Monday night. As of now, it looks like they just might get that respect after all.
I just hope it’s a good one, but for now, I think I’ll go with Memphis.
Well, the NCAA tournament has come to this - what I like to call the “Digger Phelps bracket.” For many years, Digger would inevitably pick all four #1 seeds into the final four on selection Sunday. I haven’t checked to see what Digger’s picks were this year, but if he went with chalk once again, he was finally right.
I’ll tell you who was right, though. My man Jay Bilas. He picked all four teams to reach the final four. Except that he didn’t do it two weeks ago when the bracket was revealed. He did it in October. That’s pretty impressive. Probably that Duke education.
So, for the first time since the tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985, all four #1 seeds have survived the regionals. Now it’s being called the greatest final four ever. Perhaps the lineup is the greatest as far as teams go. There are 143 wins between these teams. That’s amazing. Memphis has tied the single-season win record, currently with 37 wins, also held by Duke (1986, 1999), UNLV (1987), and Illinois (2005). One more win and they break the record. Along with Memphis’ 37 are UNC with 36, and UCLA and Kansas with 35 each. That’s unprecedented as well, I believe, and awfully impressive.
Odds are still against Memphis. People started questioning them after they lost to Tennessee at home. They play in a weaker conference than most other highly ranked teams, and so a home loss to a quality opponent seemed to increase the doubts. After a difficult game with Mississippi State in the second round, everyone expected them to fall before now. I was one of those people.
However, they seem to be playing with the proverbial chip on their shoulder, suggesting that nobody respects them. The last team I remember vocalizing that regularly throughout the tournament was the 1995 Arkansas team. The defending champions struggled during some of their SEC play, and then, as a #2 seed, won their first round game by only 1 and had lost their second round game with only seconds left before Syracuse’s Lawrence Moten took a cue from Chris Webber and called a timeout he didn’t have. Arkansas sent the game to overtime and eventually won. They reached the final game that year, singing the same “no respect” song Memphis is singing. Unfortunately, they did finally lose. To UCLA. Who, this year, plays… Memphis.
The other thing going against Memphis is that no team has won the national championship with less than 2 losses since Indiana’s undefeated season in 1976. Memphis has only one loss. In 1979, Larry Bird and Indiana State were undefeated before losing the championship game. UNLV was undefeated in 1991 before losing in the final four. Duke had just one loss before losing in the title game in 1999, and likewise, one loss Illinois fell in the 2005 title game. For some reason, it’s hard to finish without a couple of losses.
I picked UCLA to win it all. While I only picked two of the final four this year, my finals is still intact (UCLA over Kansas) for the moment. I’ve said before that if UCLA returns to the final four for the third straight year, they will win it. They have had to battle in some of their games, but that’s not uncommon for national champions. I was a little nervous yesterday after Memphis won. That was three #1 seeds, with Kansas playing red hot Davidson in the final game. With four #1’s reaching the final four being unprecedented, and Bill Self coaching the fourth, odds were stacked against Kansas. But they pulled it out, and I’ve heard several people say in the past week that they looked like the best team. Perhaps Self and the team getting that monkey off of their back will allow them to relax and just play this weekend. .
Whoever wins it all has their work cut out for them, because obviously they’re playing two of the best teams in the country to do it. After a number of blowouts in the sweet 16 and even the regional finals, the last three games should all be quite good. I’ll be surprised if any of them are decided until after the final TV timeout.
Thing I’ve loved about the tournament: since UNC hasn’t lost yet - and for the love of God will somebody please beat them? - Davidson is the obvious next best thing. That was a great run. They proved early on this season that they could play with anyone, losing close games to UNC, Duke and UCLA (despite leading UCLA by 12 in the second half). They weren’t the Cinderella that GMU was two years ago. Everyone knew (or should have known) they could play coming in. And they were one final shot away from the final four. I’ll be anxious to see what they do next year.
Thing I won’t miss about the tournament: listening to the likes of Clark Kellogg, Digger Phelps and, most of all, Bill Raftery, who makes my ears bleed. I didn’t even mention Billy Packer, which astonishes even myself, but these three are just unbearable.
My final four prediction will remain. As I said, I picked UCLA over Kansas in the final, which almost certainly means Memphis and UNC will be playing Monday night. But I’m going to stick to my guns.
All you need is [Kevin] Love. UCLA over Kansas on Monday night.
I felt a lot of pressure trying to make my picks after last year. Last year, for the first time, I managed to pick all four of the Final Four teams (Florida, UCLA, Ohio State & Georgetown.) Unfortunately, I picked the two finalists incorrectly (I picked Georgetown over UCLA), but still, I was pretty proud of picking all four. My overall picks were 49 of 64 correct, I believe. So, I’m shooting for at least 76% again this year.
Also, in 2004, I picked three of the final four (UConn, Duke, Georgia Tech) as well as the final game correctly (UConn over Georgia Tech). So at least a couple of times in recent years, I’ve not done too bad picking the final weekend.
But it is with little confidence that I post my rushed picks this year. My lack of time has caused me to pick many games with less information than I’d like, so I don’t feel very comfortable about many of my picks. Nevertheless, here they are.
My final four picks are:
East: Louisville - because I simply could not bring myself to pick UNC
MidWest: Kansas - because I don’t think anyone there can beat them
South: Texas - because Memphis’ bricks at the line will bring them down
West: UCLA - because next year is Duke’s year
My championship game has UCLA beating Kansas. I said earlier this year that if UCLA returns to the Final Four for a third straight year, they will win it. Of course, the trick is going to be getting there again. UConn could prove to be difficult if that game happens, but I don’t think anyone out of the bottom - Duke, Xavier or anyone else - can take them out. So, I’m sticking with UCLA.
Well, it’s almost that time. As I wrote last month, I won’t be watching the games live tomorrow, but I will be catching up on Sunday.
Here’s my hope, as stated a couple weeks ago: the games are good. Especially after so many good games in the regionals last weekend. To have another dud like last year, where the games just weren’t worth watching, would really ruin this year’s tournament. It’s set up to be a great Final Four. Hopefully, it won’t be a letdown.
Normally I’d go ahead and give my picks of the games, now that the Final Four is set and half (or more) of the teams I picked are not playing. But, since I picked the entire Final Four correctly, I’ll be letting my picks from two weeks ago stand. I’m tempted to say I’m going to be wrong and make different picks, but I’ll go ahead and let my picks stand even though I lack confidence. I certainly wouldn’t have expected to see my four teams playing, so maybe it will turn out like I predicted after all.
Regardless, I just want some good basketball.
Best Duke comparison - Florida or UCLA?
Pat Forde - who I don’t like - actually has a good article on ESPN from yesterday. He talks about how Florida is being compared to Duke’s 91-92 teams, what with them attempting to repeat this year. He says that perhaps UCLA should also be compared to Duke’s 91 team.
Duke lost in the championship game to UNLV the previous year, and met the Rebels again in 91 on Saturday at the Final Four. UNLV had beaten Duke with ease in 1990, but the Devils had their revenge, upsetting the undefeated Rebels by two, spoiling the tournament favorite’s bid to repeat. It was a foregone conclusion that UNLV would repeat, but it didn’t happen.
Florida beat UCLA with relative ease in last year’s final, and now the Bruins get their shot at revenge on Saturday as well. Most people have assumed that Florida would do the same. Not with as much certainty as UNLV in 91, I don’t believe, but still, they have the best starting five in the country and the experience of a championship last season. UCLA hopes to be to Florida what Duke was to UNLV.
“Experts”
Here’s the picks by ESPN’s so-called experts. Andy Katz and Jay Bilas are the guys I listen to the most. Vitale is too emotional to trust all the time. Doug Gottlieb is an idiot. So, I usually stick with these two. Bilas has the same final as I do - G’town over UCLA. Katz has Florida over G’town.
Rematch
Both Final Four games are rematches from last year. Of course, UCLA-Florida was the title game, and G’town-OSU was a second round game. The title game could also be a potential rematch. Florida beat Ohio State early in the season, when Florida easily dismantled OSU in Gainesville. However, the young OSU team is significantly better than they were then, so I wouldn’t expect a repeat of that game. Florida also beat Georgetown in the tournament last year, in the regional semifinals.
To become only the seventh team to repeat, Florida is going to have to beat two teams it’s beaten in the last year. Michael Wilbon said this week on PTI that, even though he picked Florida to win it all, he thinks it will be difficult to win two rematches. Certainly, facing teams looking for payback, plus having the pressure of repeating - particularly for the players who passed up major cash last year to do just that - could be a factor. Part of it, however, is coaching. Donovan hasn’t been down this path before, but if I was going to pick a young coach to lead my team in such a situation, I’d probably pick him.
Speaking of Donovan, the rumors continue about where he’ll be coaching next year. One report even says he’s told at least one recruit that he’s staying at Florida. Of course, the rumor is just that - a rumor - and it’s nearly impossible to know what’s true and what’s not in these situations. Nevertheless, like Roy Williams in 2003, he’s trying prepare his team to win a national championship while, at the same time, deflecting questions about his candidacy for one of the highest profile jobs in college basketball. He hasn’t said publicly that he’s staying at Florida. Whether or not that actually means anything remains to be seen. My take is - and I may be wrong - that Kentucky is in for a huge disappointment.
More on coaches
John Feinstein’s article on the the coaching rumor mill in the hotel lobby at the Final Four makes me wish I was there. He relays some of the talk going on in Atlanta. It’s a great article, and funny at times. This paragraph cracked me up:
Everywhere [Tubby] Smith turned, he was being congratulated — not so much for becoming the coach at Minnesota as for no longer being the coach at Kentucky.
Man, that’s cold.
ACC
A couple of articles that, of course, would interest me. Barry Jacobs on Familiar Faces at the Final Four and The ACC in the Final Four. This the first time since 1980 that the ACC has not had a team in the Final Four for two consecutive years, although they still have the most appearances and the most titles since that time. They’ve had a pretty impressive run, which I believe will kick back into high gear next year.
He Hate Me
It’s almost as if Joakim Noah wants to be disliked. I’ve made no secret that I don’t care for him. It seems that last year he was the darling of the tournament. Everyone loved him, especially the media. Some of them seem to be turning on him. Gregg Doyel is telling him to shutup, and Randy Hill says it’s now easy to hate him. Do a simple Google blogsearch on hate Joakim Noah and you’ll see they’re not alone. The number of Facebook groups devoted to hating him continues to grow. And, when people are starting to invoke the name of Christian Laettner when they’re talking about you, it’s safe to say you’re no longer well liked.
But, as Doyel points out, he brings some of it on himself, with all the attention he seems intent on drawing to himself during games - the screaming, the chest pounding, etc. Certainly incidents with the Kentucky cheerleader and Vanderbilt coach Keving Stallings are part of that as well. Now, of course, he’s even saying that the media hates Florida.
Personally, I like Donovan, and I like Horford and Brewer (they’re probably both better than Noah, too.) And I think that if a lot of people want Florida to lose, for many of them it’s probably more because they don’t like Noah than any dislike of Florida in general.
Humor
If you ever questioned Duke’s success over the years, just take a look at this. Apparently, they were even in the sweet 16 in what I can only assume would be called “Pope Madness”. (Interesting that Ratzinger was a #6 seed. Is that a bad sign?)
There’s the pass to Laettner… puts it up… YESSSSSSS!
“Welcome To Kentucky…where Duke Sucks”
Two years before that call, in the 1990 East Regional final, Christian Laettner, with Duke behind by one in overtime, hit a game winning buzzer-beater to upset Connecticut and send Duke to the Final Four.
Then, two years later, Lundquist’s call in the 1992 East Regional final capped off an amazing finish to Duke’s win over Kentucky. It was deja vu all over again. With Duke in the exact same situation - down by one in overtime - Laettner hit the game-winning shot at the buzzer, once again punching Duke’s ticket to the Final Four.
That final play has become one of the signature plays of March Madness, shown endlessly each year alongside game-winners by Keith Smart, Michael Jordan, Bryce Drew and Lorenzo Charles.
Today is the 15th anniversary of that game, considered by many to be the greatest college basketball game ever played.
The article chronicles that 1992 Duke basketball team and their accomplishments that year, as well as the years preceding it. I thought today was a good day to share the article along with a few more thoughts on that team and what they really accomplished. I wrote last year about the game, and some of it will be repeated, but this year it’s a little broader, about the team, the season, and that particular era of Duke basketball.
I’ll start with a quote near the end of the article:
Fifteen years later, no team has matched the Blue Devils back-to-back titles, and with the way the college game is changing, it seems unlikely anyone ever will.
I cannot agree with the conclusion drawn here. I don’t think it is unlikely at all that another team will eventually repeat. In fact, Florida, last year’s champion, is just two games away from a repeat, and all season long it’s been evident that they have the best shot at repeating in the last 10 years. Like the 95 Arkansas team, for example, and the 92 Duke team, this Florida team has all of their key players back. I believe they are the only team in recent history that has all five starters back. I’ve already stated in a previous post that I don’t think they’ll repeat, but that’s beside the point. It’s the idea that it’s “unlikely” that I reject. I don’t doubt that, eventually, it will happen again, even if it’s not this year.
Nevertheless, that 1992 Duke team was quite a special team that accomplished a great deal. Did they do something that will never be duplicated? Well, possibly. But it’s not back-to-back titles, in my opinion. So what’s even more difficult to duplicate? First, a little more about that team and that season.
The Duke team of 1992 was the best team in the country that season and they knew it. They were confident - some say arrogrant - and they expected to win every time they took the floor. They didn’t back down from anyone. They didn’t mind playing any team, anywhere.
They loved playing on the road, strutting into other teams’ buildings and leaving with a win. For a whole year, they were the greatest show in the country, the team everyone wanted a piece of but just about no one could beat. They relished walking into a gym and seeing the fear in the other team’s eyes, the feeling that they would have to play their best game to beat Duke.
Duke’s best player on that team was Christian Laettner. He may or may not be the best to ever put on a Duke uniform - that’s debatable. Certainly names like Dick Groat, Art Heyman and Johnny Dawkins would be mentioned along with Laettner. I would say that he is the most accomplished Blue Devil player ever. And, he was probably a bigger lightning rod than any player in Duke history.
Laettner was college basketball’s biggest villain, and he loved it. Duke scheduled a game against Canisius, up in Buffalo near where Laettner grew up. It was a Homecoming game of sorts for the big man, but he refused to take a shot in the first half. Krzyzewski asked him what was wrong, but Laettner just said the people from his hometown knew how good he was. He wanted them to know how good his teammates were.
He was good. Very good. He knew it. He would have told you himself. And he didn’t care what anyone thought of him. That’s part of what made him so successful. And so despised.
In fact, it’s my opinion that it was the 1992 team, and Laettner in particular, that fueled the hatred of Duke and made “Duke-hating” a national pasttime. (For years now, there have been websites devoted to hating Duke, published - I can only assume - by people who have no life.) When he graduated, Laettner passed the baton (or lightning rod) to Bobby Hurley - already hated while playing with Laettner for his first three years - and it’s continued on since then. Chris Collins. Steve Wojciechowski. Shane Battier. J.J. Reddick. Greg Paulus seems to be the target of the current team. My guess is incoming freshman Kyle Singler (who is being compared to the likes of Adam Morrison, Dirk Nowitzki and even Larry Bird) will be next. But while it may have started before the Laettner years (Danny Ferry directly preceded him), it reached an entirely new level in 1992. Certainly their success played a part in many people growing tired of them - having been to four Final Fours in a row and five of the previous six coming into the season. But having such an outstanding player with Laettner’s attitude on the team propelled it to that next level.
It also didn’t help that, in that East Regional final on March 28, 1992, Duke beat a team that was so beloved by it’s home state and - at least for that evening - by much of America. Kentucky had just emerged from the embarrassing probation years after Eddie Sutton’s tenure there, and were back in post-season play after a two-year ban. They were coached by Rick Pitino, who was well on his way to becoming the great head coach that he is known as today. They were led by one of the best young players in the country in sophomore Jamaal Mashburn, and by four seniors. Those seniors all could have left the program (like other more talented players had) when the hard times hit. But, these guys grew up on Kentucky basketball and wanted to be Wildcats, and so they stayed. With Pitino’s guidance, they became the core group that would reestablish Kentucky basketball as a national power. And their fans and their school loved them - so much so that they retired the jerseys of all four players after they finished their careers on the court. The following year, Kentucky would return to the Final Four.
And not only did Duke beat them, they beat them in a most fantastic fashion, winning the game that, during the final timeout, appeared to be “unwinnable”. The game had gone to overtime. Kentucky’s Sean Woods had just scored to give the Wildcats a one point lead. It was an amazing shot in it’s own right, and were it not for Laettner’s heroics, Woods’ shot might very well be the one remembered as one of the greatest in NCAA tournament history instead of Laettner’s. After it went through, there were only 2.1 seconds remaining on the clock. Duke had called timeout, hoping to save their season and their place in history. But, it seemed far more likely that their reign was about to come to an end and that Kentucky was headed for the Final Four. All that remained was for Duke to heave a desperation shot as time expired and the Wildcats would be on their way to Minneapolis.
But Krzyzewski had another plan. He told the team in the huddle that they were going to win. Few people, if any, outside of that huddle believed that was possible. I suspect a majority inside the huddle had their doubts as well. But Krzyzewski tried his best to convince them that it was true. Duke was going back to the Final Four for the fifth straight year and a shot at doing what no team had done in 19 years: repeat.
Before the huddle broke, Krzyzewski had one last instruction for Laettner. “The clock won’t start until you touch the ball inbounds,” he said. “Take your time.”
That final instruction by Krzyzewski to his superstar may have been as big as Rick Pitino’s decision to not guard Grant Hill, who was passing the ball inbounds.
When Hill’s pass reached Laettner, he caught it with his back to the basket. Instead of immediately attempting to get a shot up, he did exactly what Coach K told him - he took his time. He dribbled once as he faked to his right, then spun left and shot the turn around jumper that is one of the most memorable shots in the history of the sport. The ball went through, Duke wins by one, and Duke fans were as ecstatic as Kentucky fans were stunned. Possibly the greatest game ever had ended on one of the greatest plays ever.
The villain Laettner would finish a perfect game with 31 points on 10 for 10 from the floor (including one 3-pointer) and 10 for 10 from the line. And Duke needed every one of those shots to go in for them to win. They would go on to the Final Four in Minneapolis and defeat Krzyzewski mentor Bob Knight’s Indiana team and Michigan’s “Fab Five” to win their second title in two years.
Duke was not quite perfect, though. A mid-season injury to Bobby Hurley slowed them down a little, and Duke ended up dropping two games that year. During their game at Chapel Hill, Hurley broke a bone in his foot in the first half. He managed to finish the game despite being less than 100 percent. In a game where Laettner did not hit the big shot, missing two shots in the final minute with a chance to tie, Duke lost by two points. Later, at Wake Forest, Duke lost by four with Hurley out of the lineup. That game also featured the same play that beat Kentucky, with Duke down two in the closing seconds. However, it did not work as the pass went too close to the sideline and Laettner stepped out of bounds as he caught the pass. A subsequent Duke foul gave Wake two more free throws for the final margin. Still, Duke finished 34-2, and was ranked #1 in the polls every week that season. Even after the two weeks in which they lost a game, the teams directly below them had lost as well, and they never lost their #1 ranking all season long.
Since that season, no team has pulled off a repeat. A couple have come close - Arkansas in 95 and Kentucky in 97 - and some have probably had the talent but fell short of even the Final Four (UNC 94 and Duke 02 come to mind.) But they accomplished other things that are, in my opinion, going to be far more difficult to duplicate.
First, as I mentioned, they were ranked #1 wire to wire. That’s hard to do in college football these days, much less college basketball. The odds are that nobody will be so fortunate that the two or three teams below them also lose the same week (or weeks) that a game is lost. It seems that going undefeated would be the best shot at remaining #1 for an entire season. However, Indiana’s undefeated season in 1976 has rarely been threatened. Only Larry Bird’s Indiana State team in 79 and the UNLV team of 91 have gotten close. Therefore, in my opinion, a lot of stars are probably going to have to align to see a #1 wire to wire again.
Next, they went to five straight Final Fours, and seven in nine years. Nobody else has been to the final four that consistently. The best runs belong to Kentucky and Michigan State, who both made three straight trips to the Final Four. Kentucky went to four in six years, having made the trip in 93, 96, 97 and 98. Michigan State managed four trips as well, in seven years - 99, 00, 01 and 05. I should also mention that North Carolina went to six Final Fours in ten years (1991-2000), which is close to Duke’s seven of nine. But even during that time, they never managed more than two in a row, and did that only once (1997 and 1998). While six of ten is impressive, seven of nine is more so, especially considering the five year streak. I’ll be surprised if any team replicated these three programs successes for a while. Duke’s run may very well never be equaled.
Finally, Duke is the only school to have players who went to the Final Four four straight seasons - all four seasons they played. Prior to the mid-70’s, freshmen did not play, so the great UCLA teams who went to seven straight Final Fours never had a player who played in more than three. Clay Buckley and Greg Koubek played for Duke from 1988-1991, and Brian Davis and Christian Laettner from 1989-1992. All four of these guys played on a team that went the distance, playing until the final weekend of the season, every season they played for Duke.
While Duke’s regular season success has been more impressive over the last 10 years than it was during the late 80’s and early 90’s, most people remember what you do in March first. Duke’s program in that Ferry-Laettner-Hill era, with five straight Final Fours (and seven of nine), two classes that never missed the Final Four, back-to-back titles, and a team that was #1 every week of the season, had one of the greatest periods of success in the history of college basketball. It has been unmatched in the 30+ years since UCLA’s dynasty ended. They truly were, for that time, a dynasty. Were they the last? Will there never be another? It’s hard to say. With the NBA game having so encroached on the college game, taking it’s players after only a year or two, it’s going to be much more difficult. Not impossible, but certainly more difficult with even less continuity from year to year.
But, with all of their accomplishments considered, they may very well be the last college basketball dynasty of that magnitude. Nobody will ever duplicate UCLA’s run in the 60’s and 70’s. And it’s almost as likely that Duke’s success during their dynasty years will not be duplicated, either. Only time will tell.
Here are a couple of articles related to the 1992 East Regional game:
And, by the way, here’s my Final Four picks, from my post last week:
Not too bad, if I do say so myself. I am 46-15 after 61 games for a percentage of 75.4%. Even if I missed all three games next weekend, I’d end with over 71%. That may be a personal best. If I hadn’t picked Notre Dame to beat Winthrop, I’d probably have gone with Oregon to the regional final, which would’ve put me over 80% at this point. Oh, well…
* By the way, was I the only one that noticed the cheap shot given by Rayshawn Terry with :40 seconds left, well after the whistle blew? Sure, it wasn’t real hard, but it was unnecessary and, again, well after the whistle. Or was I the only one that noticed that UNC - whose fans whined endlessly after the final regular season game when Duke was fouling with less than a minute to go, down by double digits - fouled with :05 on the clock, down by double digits? Maybe it’s just me… or maybe UNC is no better than what they accused Duke of being three weeks ago.
The regionals in the NCAA tournament have been pretty good up to this point. Even the regional finals yesterday - which were both double-digit wins - were stretched out pretty late and they were undecided until the final minutes. With one more today, which should also be a good one, this has been one of the better regional years as far as I can remember (after a less-than-great first two rounds.)
However, there’s a long way to go for the Big Dance to surpass the Division II championship game this weekend. Barton College defeated Winona State by two, scoring four points in the final 9 seconds, including the winning layup at the buzzer. I saw these highlights yesterday, and I pass them on now. This is an amazing finish, and I’ve not seen many better, if any. What makes it even more incredible is the fact that it is the championship game. If you haven’t seen it, check it out:
A few years ago a bought a Todd McFarlane action figure for $2.99 on eBay. I’d tried a couple of times and lost out, but finally managed to win one. The figure? Alice Cooper. A 6-inch tall Alice, complete with boa constrictor, cane, saber, top hat, severed head and a guillotine with sliding blade. Cool.
Now, after enjoying it on my shelf at work for a few years (my wife wouldn’t let me keep it at home for fear of frightening the kids), I’ve decided to let it go. I put it up on eBay a few hours ago. It already has a bid, so it’s on it’s way out. Rock on, Alice.
Two of the Final Four are set, with Ohio State and UCLA winning yesterday. I picked them both. Florida is currently leading midway through the second half, so if they hold on, I’ll have at least three of the four. Of course, I’m really needing Georgetown to come through, since I picked them to go the distance. We’ll see…
Some cool pictures of the mountain gorillas in Rwanda on the blog of a friend of mine, Todd Brogdon. Todd and his family moved to Rwanda last fall and are occasionally blogging their experience there. Check out the pictures in this post.
After a first weekend lacking the upsets and thrilling games we’ve become accustomed to, the regional semifinals started off with some great games last night. The primary games here were probably the two best - the games in San Antonio.
In San Jose, the Kansas-Southern Illinois game was apparently very good as well. We got to see a fair amount of it at the beginning, and they switched over late to show the end. I was really hoping Southern Illinois could pull it out, but it didn’t quite happen.
The late game was not a blowout, either. I didn’t really see any of it, so I can’t speak much about it, but watching the score change at the top of the screen indicated it was relatively close all the way through, with UCLA winning by 9 in the end.
Many people were picking Texas A&M to the Final Four since they were playing in San Antonio. I thought Memphis was extremely fortunate. The final minute included a missed layup by Acie Law and then a phantom foul that gave Memphis the winning free throws. Yes, he brushed his chest with his arm, but there was no advantage there, the shot was not affected and was not going in anyway. Usually in end game situations, they don’t make a call like that. Unfortunately for A&M, they did last night. It didn’t cost them the game - Law’s miss may have done that - but it was still a pretty weak call.
The late game began with Tennessee on fire, hitting 3’s from all over. They ended up hitting 16 for the game, I believe. Late in the first half, they were up by 20 until Ohio State scored on the final play of the half. It appeared that Tennessee was well on it’s way to the upset.
At this point, I went to bed. Not because I thought it was over - I assumed OSU would play better in the second half, Tennessee might cool off a little and the gap would be closed. Granted, I didn’t know if they’d be able to pull out the win. But still, I set the DVR to record the rest. I was too tired and not feeling well, so I called it a night.
And what a night it turned out to be. I turned on the game this morning while getting ready for work, and started skipping through the opening minutes. The gap was closing. It was down to 14, then 11, a finally 6 points. I then started watching it and with around 8 minutes to go, I believe, Ohio State was all the way back - the score was tied. I watched the rest, right down to the final play when Oden swatted Tennessee’s final shot out of bounds at the buzzer. Ohio State pulled out another one that they probably should have lost.
Some say they’re a team of destiny. They’re actually looking a little like Connecticut last year. Nevertheless, they play on.
I’ve already seen some Tennessee fans complaining about fouls and free throws. Basically, that OSU took 35 free throws to Tennessee’s 18 free throws. Okay, it’s very simple - when you shoot half of your field goals from behind the 3-point line (62 FG taken, 31 were 3FG), you’re just not going to get fouled as often on the offensive end, so you’re going to shoot less free throws. Oh, and if you shoot better than 47% from the line (8 of 17), you win the game anyway. So these complaints are pretty weak.
All in all, last night’s games were pretty good, and very good by this year’s standards thus far. All the high seeds won, which is somewhat rare. Hopefully, tonight’s games won’t disappoint, either, and there will be a few more very good games.
Well, the NCAA tournament has come to this - what I like to call the “Digger Phelps bracket.” For many years, Digger would inevitably pick all four #1 seeds into the final four on selection Sunday. I haven’t checked to see what Digger’s picks were this year, but if he went with chalk once again, he was finally right.
