ANOTHER APRIL 2 GAME (2001&2007 PREVIOUS ONES)
Tonight at about 8:20 PM CT (Yes I live in the Central Time Zone so I'm going by there time) the two winningest College Basketball programs of all-time will compete for the 2012 National Championship. Kansas vs Kentucky, and yes I had this matchup before the tournament started so its some silver lining in a bracket of mine that saw some early bad hits. In all my years of watching College Basketball I always wandered when the UK and KU would hook up in the most important game of the year. Yes I remember they met in the Second Round of the 1999 NCAA Tournament at the same place they will play tonight, The New Orleans Super Dome. In that 1999 Game #3 seed UK needed a three pointer to send the game to overtime and eventually beat the #6 seed Kansas Jayhawks. Kansas got a measure of revenge int hat same round but this time meeting at the United Center in Chicago as the Top seeded Jayhawks knocked off the #8 seed Wildcats. In my lifetime Kansas has won the National Championship in 1988 and 2008 sandwiching National Title Game appearances in 1991 and 2003 and also Final Four berths in 1993 and 2002. It should be noted that when the Final Four has been held at the Super Dome that the Jayhawks took part in 1993 and 2003 and both times failed to walk out of the Dome with the National Championship Trophy. Kentucky did not fare so well in that 1993 final Four either, losing in Overtime to the Fab Five of Michigan. In my lifetime Kentucky has won it all in 1996 and 1998 with appearances in 1984, 1993, 1996, 1997, 1998, and 2011. Obviously both made it this year in 2012. Kentucky has a National Championship game showing from 1997 but lost a classic game to Arizona in overtime at the RCA Dome in Indy. Before we all sit back (or sit at edge of TV depending on your rooting interest) and watch a game that in my opinion is bigger than the Super Bowl in an event (FINAL FOUR) bigger than the Super Bowl as well, I would like to take a trip down memory lane and relive great Final Four moments in my lifetime.
1993 The Michigan Wolverines and their Fab Five were the team to beat. They learned their lesson from 1992 Title game beat down similar to how Duke learned from 1990 beat down against UNLV and Duke came back the next season and became College Basketball Kings. The Fab Five figured to do the same and take over the top throne. That season with Duke having a hard time adjusting to Laettner's departure, they were ousted out in Round Two. Another team that thought the torch would be passed to them was Kentucky. I mean UK was a Laettner miracle shot from beating Duke in 1992 Tournament while everyone else besides IU got beat up by Duke. Well the two teams would meet in the 1993 Final Four Semifinals at the Super Dome. Neither team blinked. Overtime was needed but the Wolverine's star power was too much for Kentucky and their lone star Jamal Mashburn to overcome. That's it! The Fab Five were gonna do what everyone expected them to do and that's become National Champions right? Wait Wait...TIMEOUT........Oops...that's what did the fab Five in. Trailing 73-71 under twenty seconds Michigan got a rebound off of a missed Free Throw by North Carolina and Chris Webber just panicked and had no control of the situation or himself. First he traveled but it wasn't called and then like a deer int he headlights he dribbles to the corner in front of his bench and panicking he listens to some guys on his bench signal timeout and he calls it as well. Problem is they had no timeouts left and North Carolina won the Atlantic Coast Conference's Third Straight National Championship. As great as the Fab Five were, they won no Big ten Titles, got swept by an inferior Indiana team that season, and failed to win the National Championship.
The 2000 NCAA Final Four was very weird. Held at the RCA Dome in Indy you had two eight seeds (UNC and Wisconsin) there and a five seed (Florida). Michigan State was the lone one seed and they would beat Wisconsin in the ugliest Final Four game ever int he semifinals and then beat the very deep Gator team to win it all, seeing Mateen Cleaves play with heart and through injury. The Spartans returned to the Final Four in 2001 at the Metro Dome in Minneapolis, MN, but this time the rest of the field was by far superior. Top overall seed Duke, Maryland, and a team in Arizona that many thought was the most talented team in 2000-01 from top to bottom. Arizona easily beat the inferior MSU Spartans and then the next semifinal saw two teams that battled adversity all year. Maryland blew a ten point lead with less than a minute to play at home vs Duke on Saturday Night, January 27, 2001. They went depressed after losing that game and it took until one month later to comeback stronger than ever. They beat Duke at Cameron on Tuesday Night, February 27, 2001, as Duke lost Carlos Boozer to injury. That injury propelled Duke to play faster and with more pressure and no fear. They rolled through and to the Final Four as they got Boozer back as well. The two teams also played the greatest non-NCAA Tournament game ever at the Georgia Dome in the ATL for the ACC Tournament Semifinals on Saturday Afternoon, March 10, 2001, a thrilling Duke win. In this National Semifinal game Maryland came out on fire and jumped out to a 39-17 lead. Duke recovered and won the game 95-84. Their National Championship opponent also faced adversity that season. The Arizona Wildcats lost Lute Olson's Wife as she passed away on New Year's Day, Monday, January 1, 2001 (I can relate as part of me died that day but the best part of me became alive for that year). The Wildcats had a slump due to the depression of it but they regained themselves late regular season and looked to be unstoppable. They may have played Duke evenly but a barrage of Mike Dunleavy Jr. Three Pointers was probably the difference as Duke sent College Basketball's best class act ever Shane Battier out with a National Championship.
Maryland returned to the Final Four in 2002 at the Georgia Dome, beating fellow heavyweight Kansas, and then beat an inferior but scrappy Indiana University team, 64-52, for their redemption and National Championship. Duke would return in 2004 as well as fellow ACC school Georgia Tech, a Final Four held at the Alamo Dome in San Antonio, TX. Georgia Tech won a classic game over Oklahoma State with a Will Bynum game winner in final seconds. Just being at Final Four was big for Oklahoma State as they honored the fallen ones in a team plane crash from Saturday, January 27, 2001. UConn beat Duke by one Point int he other semifinal and then Emeka Okafor and Ben Gordon catapulted into the NBA with a National Championship win, completing the ACC Sweep to do it. The next season the ACC would send North Carolina to the Final Four and they beat Illinois in the National Championship game. That Illinois team had the same chance that Duke had in 1998-99..a win would have given them most wins in an NCAA Season ever, but this Illinois team was no where near the talent of that Duke roster in 1998-99. For the 2006 Final Four at RCA Dome in Indy I had pleasure of attending the Friday practices. I was really impressed with Florida and when I went to the National Championship game on Monday Night, April 3, 2006, Joakim Noah was a monster and his Gators romped to the National Championship as they pounded historical powerhouse UCLA. The Gators would return to the 2007 Final Four at the Georgia Dome and would win it all on the same date Duke won it all over Arizona in 2001...April 2, 2007. The Gators beat Ohio State but Greg Oden of the Buckeyes proved that he was the best player in the nation that season and a force to be reckoned with in the NBA (obviously it didn't pan out but that's another story for another day).
2008 Final Four in the Alamo Dome saw all four Number One seeds make it. Memphis defeated UCLA in the Semifinals as their star Derrick Rose led the way, giving Memphis win number 38, the most in a season by any College Hoops team. Kansas defeated former coach Roy Williams and his North Carolina Tar Heels, setting the stage for a National Championship game as thrilling as the 1999 game. Rose had two Free Throws with about :10 seconds left. If he hits both its over but one miss and Kansas has a shot at it. Rose, A Champion from Chicago, should have this, but he missed the first. He made the second, giving the Tigers a three point lead, setting the stage for Kansas to come down and toss the ball to Mario Chalmers who hit a three pointer with :02.1 left and forced overtime. Kansas dominated overtime winning the National Championship in a game for the ages. (Watch the game here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7Ydt3he3G4&feature=results_video&playnext=1&list=PLF18CA65083E0B5E0).
A game that may have topped that one or come close to topping it...2010 National Championship Game Butler vs Duke. Butler was this season's Cinderella just like George Mason was in 2006...those Patriots made the Final Four at RCA Dome in Indy before the eventual Champion Gators Knocked them out. Butler was a five seed in this tournament as they had a great regular season and dominating one as a mid-major. Lets also not forget this Final Four was held in their hometown of Indy as the games would be played at Lucas Oil Stadium. The Bulldogs knocked off powerhouse Michigan State in a close Semifinal game. Duke was a One seed and won the ACC Regular Season and Tournament Titles. Many said "We have seen Duke do this but choke before Final Four just like they have since 2004". Also Duke was not as dominate as other one seeds such as Kentucky, Kansas, and Syracuse. Well Kansas choked against inferior Northern Iowa in RD 2, Syracuse was ousted by Butler in Sweet Sixteen, and Kentucky, a team full of lottery picks, lost in the Elite Eight to West Virginia. Duke handled their business, winning a good game in Baylor's back yard in the Elite Eight to secure the Final Four berth and then blowing out West Virginia in the Final Four Semis. This National Championship game was back and forth. Duke made a great defensive stop in the final seconds with a one point lead. They hit one free throw but intentionally missed the second one with :03.6 seconds left (I personally would've tried to make it as you will soon find out why) and Butler's Gordon Hayward got the rebound and dribbled it to half court putting up a shot at the buzzer. I thought it was in, but it hit the backboard, bounce off front of rim and bounced away (Missing). Duke won the National Championship and gave Jon Scheyer a ride into the sunset for his hard work in his four years at Duke. Butler would return to the National Title game the next yr as an eight seed, along with fellow Cinderella VCU (an 11 seed) and Butler beat them in the semis at Reliant Stadium in Houston, TX. However in the National Championship game UConn beat them in maybe the ugliest and worse National Championship game ever, one year after one of the best National Championship games ever.
So for 2012 here is to hoping Kansas and Kentucky can give us another Shining Moment. Before the tournament started I picked Kansas to win over Kentucky. I will be honest that is a stretch as Kentucky is by far the better team...but so was Michigan in 1993, Duke in 1999, Memphis in 2008, and a handful of other teams.
Great recollection! I still kick myself for sleeping thru the 2nd half and OT of the 2008 championship game.
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