I don’t get to say this very often so this is my “one shining moment”. I wrote in my post last week BEFORE the Final Four that I thought the Florida Gators would win it all, and gave a few reasons. I, also, picked Houston to beat Duke. I gave reasons for my picks and I turned out to be “mostly” right. AND the “frosting on the cake” was that after 20+ years of being in the tournament pools and never finishing above #5, I WON my pool this year. In an earlier post I wrote that I got beat one year by my 10-year old granddaughter who made her picks based on the mascots. So, yes I’m bragging and not going to apologize for it.Now, with that out of the way, I wrote in my last post that I was going to do a post on The Best championship game that I had ever seen. I am continuing on “The Best” theme that I started last week. So here goes.
My original thought was to name the ONE best championship game I had ever seen but decided after my research and following the tournament since 1960, that was going to be impossible for me to do. So, I have decided to put the championship games into 5 categorizes.
#1) Biggest Upset: Villanova beating Georgetown in 1985 in Lexington, Ky. I was one of 22,000 that saw Coach Massimino and the Wildcats take a 25-10 record into that game with Georgetown (35-3) and ranked #1 in all the polls. They spread the floor and shot over 78% from the field and 82% from the free throw line and won 66-64. Perfect game plan and perfect execution.
#2) Most Anticipated: 1979 championship game in Salt Lake City between Indiana State and Michigan State. The game I saw from my very good 15th row seat was not that good BUT it was Larry Bird playing against Magic Johnson and that is what the college basketball world wanted to see, me too. MST won 75-64 and it wasn’t even that close. Magic had 24 points and a lot of help from Greg Kelser and Terry Donnelly. Bird scored 19 points, got 13 rebounds and got help ONLY from guard Carl Nicks.
#3) Most Historical: In 1966 an all black team from Texas Western (UTEP) beat an all white team from Kentucky in Cole Fieldhouse. The Wildcats were favored by a few points. Texas Western had only lost one game all year and had played ALL the best teams on their schedule on the road because no one would come to El Paso. Kentucky could not handle their pressure defense and quickness and lost 72-65. Footnote, I had the opportunity to meet the star guard on that team Bobby Joe Hill when I taught in Highland Park, Mi., his hometown.
#4) Greatest Individual Performance: In 1973 I set about 10 rows behind the Memphis State bench in St. Louis at the Arena and watched an amazing one man show put on by Bill Walton for the UCLA Bruins. Walton scored 44 points on a “video game” like 21 for 22 field goal attempts. Walton was like a man among boys. Memphis had no chance and lost 87-66. Wilkes, Greg Lee, and Larry Hollyfield were on that Bruins team that was 30-0.
#5) Most Exciting: I am going to take some author’s liberties here and pick a game that was played in the semi-finals between UCLA and North Carolina State in the Final Four in Greensboro in 1974. These were the best two teams BY FAR in college basketball that year. The fact that they had to play in the semi-finals was unfortunate, every college basketball fan knew that the winner of this game was going to win the championship game between either Kansas or Marquette. NCST was led by one of the top 10 college basketball players of all time, David Thompson. Walton was the leader, again, for the Bruins, who also had Jamaal Wilkes. NCST (30-1) and UCLA (26-4) finished #1 and #2 in the final polls. Thompson scored 28 and had 10 rebounds, 7’1″ Tom Burleson had 20 points and 14 rebounds. Walton scored 29 points and grabbed 18 rebounds but that wasn’t enough as the Wolfpack won 80-77 in double overtime. Next game NCST beat Marquette 76-64, as expected, to win the championship. *This Final Four in 1974 has special meaning to me. I was one of the assistant coaches at Oral Roberts University that year when Kansas beat us in OT to go to Greensboro and the Final Four.
I didn’t plan to add another category but based on what just happened over the weekend in Houston I think it would be appropriate to add; Best Come From Behind. I have been following college basketball for over 70 years and I have never seen THREE games like Houston’s come from behind win over Duke, AND Florida’s come from behind win over Auburn in the Final Four semi-finals. Then, as if we needed an encore, we get the Gator’s comeback in the championship game. Any one of these could be #1 all time in Final Four history but we got all 3 in one weekend. I guess you could say “miracle finishes” if you are a fan of the Gators or Cougars. I said the Final Four weekend was “The Best” in all of sports, well this weekend just reinforced my argument! thebasketballgoat.com