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Most fun link of the the week!
Sports Illustrated's index of NCAA Tournament history.
1982
The first tourney I can really remember, and the first year I really got into it - in large part because of the excitement of watching the local team, Georgetown, and their freshman center Patrick Ewing. They lost in the finals to a North Carolina team whose third best player was also a freshman - some kid named Michael Jordan. The enduring memory of that year is always going to be G'town coach John Thompson hugging Fred Brown at the end of the game. After Brown threw a pass to UNC's James Worthy to seal the defeat.
Stat of Note: The average margin of victory for the championship games was 4.1 in the entire decade of the 1980s. In 1990, UNLV beat Duke by 30 points.
1991
Given how badly UNLV had obliterated Duke the year before, how dominant they'd been, and how Duke got stomped on by UNC in the ACC tourney final, pretty much everyone was shocked by Duke's upset of UNLV in the National Semifinal. (On Passover, no less. We cut the Seder short to watch the last five minutes of the game...) The other note was #2 seed Syracuse losing in the first round to #15 Richmond in a game at Cole Field House - the first time an upset of that magnitude had ever happened.
1992
Probably the seminal tournament for me - the first one where I can really remember every single round. Arizona's embarassing first round loss to East Tennessee State. The Midwest bracket, where the 1-2-3 seeds all lost in the second round. (USC getting upset on a James Forrest shot that may be the best buzzer-beater of all time). And the ridiculously incredible Duke-Kentucky game in Philadelphia. The best college basketball game I've ever seen, featuring two great players in Christian Laettner and Jamal Mashburn.
But to me, the story of this tournament was the Fab Five. Michigan's squad, which started five freshman. Chris Webber, Jalen Rose, Jimmy King, Ray Jackson, and Juwan Howard. I was a sophomore in High School, going through drivers Ed at the time. It is hard to really explain for those a bit younger than myself, just how cool we thought these dudes were. Consider the fashion of today with the baggy, loose shorts, as compared to the nut-huggers Bill Walton and his ilk wore back in the day. All credit is due to Jalen Rose. It's still amazing to consider that these kids made it all the way to the championship game, and were basically tied at the half against a powerhouse Duke team.
1992 was a great year with basketball talent - the final college seasons of Laettner, Alonzo Mourning, Shaquille O'Neal, Walt Williams and more...
1993
Timeout.
1994
Maryland, behind Freshman star Joe Smith, made it's return to the NCAA tournament for the first time after probation in the wake of Len Bias' death. The Terps upset #7 St. Louis and #2 UMass before losing to Michigan (sans Chris Webber) in the Sweet Sixteen.
1995
UCLA won the title. It was me Freshman year of college. What makes this tournament special for me, was the opening round. In which I stunned everyone in my pool by picking 31 of 32 games correctly. However, I lost. Because of the one game I got wrong. In the east, #3 Villanova, my Final Four pick, was upset in triple-overtime by Old Dominion in the last game of the first round. Damn you Petey Sessoms!
1996
This pool, I did win. Kentucky was ridiculously talented and good (seven NBA first round picks), and I picked them over UMass – the one team people really thought might beat them. Player of the tournament for me was the heretofore, and ever-after, underperforming knuckle-headed John Wallace. Wallace carried an overmatched Syracuse team to the Championship game and then promptly returned to obscurity. Lasting image – Texas Tech’s Darvin Ham jumping over UNC’s Serge Zwikker to throw down a backboard shattering dunk.
1997
I'm an intern in the senate. Senator Kerry clinches victory in the pool after the third round, because he somehow forsees Arizona upsetting the dominant 34-1 Kansas team (with All-Americans Paul Pierce, Raef LaFrentz and Jacque Vaughn) that's everybody's favorite. Further sealing Roy Williams' rep as a tournament disappointment. '97 also features a breakout performance by Cal forward Tony Gonzalez, who as it turns out, is a pretty decent TE on the football field.
1998
My senior year of college. While the regional finals were going on, I was road-tripping, trying to decide on grad schools. I missed most of Kentucky’s stunning comeback against Duke from being down by 17 with just nine minutes to go, because radio reception was so poor in Ohio.
The big highlight here is Bryce Drew’s game winning shot for Valparaiso in the first round. Ansu Sesay really should have hit those free throws... Discussed far less often… Andre Miller’s triple double and Rick Majerus’ 66 Defense in Utah’s dismantling of defending champ Arizona.
1999
Gonzaga comes out of nowhere to nearly knock off eventual champ Connecticut in the West Regional final. Maryland, led by Steve Francis, pulls a ten-minute scoring drought and gives up a 20-0 run in a supremely disappointing loss to St. John’s.
And my favorite moment. After listening to everyone over praise Duke’s Shane Battier for his willingness to take a charge, when he was mostly just flopping and acting and getting by on reputation… Connecticut’s Khalid El-Amin drives baseline and Battier does a patented flops trying to ace a bogus foul call. El-Amin goes straight up for an uncontested basket and UConn wins.
2000
Michigan State wins the title in a yawner. Maryland again gets destroyed (UCLA 105-70) in a lackluster performance against a lower seed. The upset laden West region features an unwatchable final between Purdue and Wisconsin. Tourney Highlight: Dick Vitale screaming “Get out of the zone Tark!, Get out of the Zone!’ as Fresno State (and Coach Jerry Tarkanian’s) defense is utterly shredded by the three point shooting of Wisconsin’s Jon Bryant.
2001
Maryland makes the Final Four, and then proceeds to blow a 22 point lead to Duke. After having blown a 10 point lead in the final two minutes against Duke at home earlier in the year. Hence, the hatred. The utter, blinding hatred.
2002
The one shining moment. My alma mater wins the title behind leading scorer in school history, Juan Dixon. The incredible back-and-forth East Regional Final against UConn... Juan sticking a huge three in Taliek Brown's face. Juan rescuing Maryland from Kansas' early run in the National Semifinal and hitting the clinchin shots to stave off a late KU run. Juan sticking the big second half shots to seperate Maryland from Indiana in the title game. That tourney rocked.
And doing play-by-play over the phone for my friend Jorlie (IU Alum), whose cable cut out on him in the Indiana-Duke game. Watching as Jason Williams was inexplicably fouled on a three pointer in the final seconds and missed his free throw, only for Carlos Boozer to get the rebound and miss a putback. Preserving the shocking upset that left Maryland the highest ranked remaining team in the field.
I have the commemorative book and video. Maryland sheds the label of being “The best team that never….” Watching it makes me cry.
Shut up.
Reminder - folks have until 12 Noon EST, March 17, to go ahead and join the NCAA Men's Tourney LJ Bracket Challenge. Information in my prior post. Brackets are locked when the first game tips today, at which point you can view what each of the other entrants picked.
View My Bracket...
Sports Illustrated's index of NCAA Tournament history.
1982
The first tourney I can really remember, and the first year I really got into it - in large part because of the excitement of watching the local team, Georgetown, and their freshman center Patrick Ewing. They lost in the finals to a North Carolina team whose third best player was also a freshman - some kid named Michael Jordan. The enduring memory of that year is always going to be G'town coach John Thompson hugging Fred Brown at the end of the game. After Brown threw a pass to UNC's James Worthy to seal the defeat.
Stat of Note: The average margin of victory for the championship games was 4.1 in the entire decade of the 1980s. In 1990, UNLV beat Duke by 30 points.
1991
Given how badly UNLV had obliterated Duke the year before, how dominant they'd been, and how Duke got stomped on by UNC in the ACC tourney final, pretty much everyone was shocked by Duke's upset of UNLV in the National Semifinal. (On Passover, no less. We cut the Seder short to watch the last five minutes of the game...) The other note was #2 seed Syracuse losing in the first round to #15 Richmond in a game at Cole Field House - the first time an upset of that magnitude had ever happened.
1992
Probably the seminal tournament for me - the first one where I can really remember every single round. Arizona's embarassing first round loss to East Tennessee State. The Midwest bracket, where the 1-2-3 seeds all lost in the second round. (USC getting upset on a James Forrest shot that may be the best buzzer-beater of all time). And the ridiculously incredible Duke-Kentucky game in Philadelphia. The best college basketball game I've ever seen, featuring two great players in Christian Laettner and Jamal Mashburn.
But to me, the story of this tournament was the Fab Five. Michigan's squad, which started five freshman. Chris Webber, Jalen Rose, Jimmy King, Ray Jackson, and Juwan Howard. I was a sophomore in High School, going through drivers Ed at the time. It is hard to really explain for those a bit younger than myself, just how cool we thought these dudes were. Consider the fashion of today with the baggy, loose shorts, as compared to the nut-huggers Bill Walton and his ilk wore back in the day. All credit is due to Jalen Rose. It's still amazing to consider that these kids made it all the way to the championship game, and were basically tied at the half against a powerhouse Duke team.
1992 was a great year with basketball talent - the final college seasons of Laettner, Alonzo Mourning, Shaquille O'Neal, Walt Williams and more...
1993
Timeout.
1994
Maryland, behind Freshman star Joe Smith, made it's return to the NCAA tournament for the first time after probation in the wake of Len Bias' death. The Terps upset #7 St. Louis and #2 UMass before losing to Michigan (sans Chris Webber) in the Sweet Sixteen.
1995
UCLA won the title. It was me Freshman year of college. What makes this tournament special for me, was the opening round. In which I stunned everyone in my pool by picking 31 of 32 games correctly. However, I lost. Because of the one game I got wrong. In the east, #3 Villanova, my Final Four pick, was upset in triple-overtime by Old Dominion in the last game of the first round. Damn you Petey Sessoms!
1996
This pool, I did win. Kentucky was ridiculously talented and good (seven NBA first round picks), and I picked them over UMass – the one team people really thought might beat them. Player of the tournament for me was the heretofore, and ever-after, underperforming knuckle-headed John Wallace. Wallace carried an overmatched Syracuse team to the Championship game and then promptly returned to obscurity. Lasting image – Texas Tech’s Darvin Ham jumping over UNC’s Serge Zwikker to throw down a backboard shattering dunk.
1997
I'm an intern in the senate. Senator Kerry clinches victory in the pool after the third round, because he somehow forsees Arizona upsetting the dominant 34-1 Kansas team (with All-Americans Paul Pierce, Raef LaFrentz and Jacque Vaughn) that's everybody's favorite. Further sealing Roy Williams' rep as a tournament disappointment. '97 also features a breakout performance by Cal forward Tony Gonzalez, who as it turns out, is a pretty decent TE on the football field.
1998
My senior year of college. While the regional finals were going on, I was road-tripping, trying to decide on grad schools. I missed most of Kentucky’s stunning comeback against Duke from being down by 17 with just nine minutes to go, because radio reception was so poor in Ohio.
The big highlight here is Bryce Drew’s game winning shot for Valparaiso in the first round. Ansu Sesay really should have hit those free throws... Discussed far less often… Andre Miller’s triple double and Rick Majerus’ 66 Defense in Utah’s dismantling of defending champ Arizona.
1999
Gonzaga comes out of nowhere to nearly knock off eventual champ Connecticut in the West Regional final. Maryland, led by Steve Francis, pulls a ten-minute scoring drought and gives up a 20-0 run in a supremely disappointing loss to St. John’s.
And my favorite moment. After listening to everyone over praise Duke’s Shane Battier for his willingness to take a charge, when he was mostly just flopping and acting and getting by on reputation… Connecticut’s Khalid El-Amin drives baseline and Battier does a patented flops trying to ace a bogus foul call. El-Amin goes straight up for an uncontested basket and UConn wins.
2000
Michigan State wins the title in a yawner. Maryland again gets destroyed (UCLA 105-70) in a lackluster performance against a lower seed. The upset laden West region features an unwatchable final between Purdue and Wisconsin. Tourney Highlight: Dick Vitale screaming “Get out of the zone Tark!, Get out of the Zone!’ as Fresno State (and Coach Jerry Tarkanian’s) defense is utterly shredded by the three point shooting of Wisconsin’s Jon Bryant.
2001
Maryland makes the Final Four, and then proceeds to blow a 22 point lead to Duke. After having blown a 10 point lead in the final two minutes against Duke at home earlier in the year. Hence, the hatred. The utter, blinding hatred.
2002
The one shining moment. My alma mater wins the title behind leading scorer in school history, Juan Dixon. The incredible back-and-forth East Regional Final against UConn... Juan sticking a huge three in Taliek Brown's face. Juan rescuing Maryland from Kansas' early run in the National Semifinal and hitting the clinchin shots to stave off a late KU run. Juan sticking the big second half shots to seperate Maryland from Indiana in the title game. That tourney rocked.
And doing play-by-play over the phone for my friend Jorlie (IU Alum), whose cable cut out on him in the Indiana-Duke game. Watching as Jason Williams was inexplicably fouled on a three pointer in the final seconds and missed his free throw, only for Carlos Boozer to get the rebound and miss a putback. Preserving the shocking upset that left Maryland the highest ranked remaining team in the field.
I have the commemorative book and video. Maryland sheds the label of being “The best team that never….” Watching it makes me cry.
Shut up.
Reminder - folks have until 12 Noon EST, March 17, to go ahead and join the NCAA Men's Tourney LJ Bracket Challenge. Information in my prior post. Brackets are locked when the first game tips today, at which point you can view what each of the other entrants picked.
View My Bracket...
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I'm so hoping Roy continues his string of disappointing losses because I may have to kill someone if NC wins it all this year.
Or Duke, I'm so sick of Duke winning.
Although I don't have any commemorative tapes from 1988, I did actually tape the game. After we probably fail to even make it out of this weekend (due to Langford's recurring stomach bug) I may have to dig it out and watch the glory days and the short shorts. ;)
I have a commemorative coffee mug from that year, too. The scores are almost all faded. *g*
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And yes the short shorts. I'm sure the ladies liked them, but I for one, am glad to see less pasty white thigh on my TeeVee screen. Points back to my Fab Five praise, and many pairs of super-comfortable baggy mesh shorts...
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Well, I don't know very much about them at all so that would be pretty easy. Maybe it's something about Washington?
Hafta agree, GT and Florida seem to be popular to go pretty far but not hold up till the end.
Looking forward to see how this goes!
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Obviously, I've already taken a bit of a bath courtesy of picking Alamaba over Wisc-Milwaukee.
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