The Road To The 1980 Final Four
While eventual champion Louisville was a power, Purdue, Iowa and UCLA all took the long road to Indianapolis. Here’s a look back on how each team reached the Final Four.
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The Notebook Nine: The Top Current College Basketball Coaches
I’ve decided to be more generous and expand the list to nine coaches—the Notebook Nine. Here’s my choices:
Would A Kentucky-Duke NCAA Final Be The Highest-Rated Ever?
Ben Cohen of The Wall Street Journal wrote a short piece on Sunday night saying that it was time for this NCAA Tournament to just cut to the chase and give the public what it wants–a Kentucky-Duke battle for the national championship. Earlier in the weekend I had texted a couple friends to throw out this hypothetical–would a Kentucky-Duke title bout get the best TV ratings in NCAA history?
The Road To The 1982 Final Four
The 1982 Final Four produced one of the great national championship games, as North Carolina and Georgetown went down to the wire before Dean Smith won his first title. With Louisville and Houston also in New Orleans, it showcased a dazzling array of talent–James Worthy, Patrick Ewing, Sam Perkins, Sleepy Floyd, Michael Jordan, Clyde Drexler and Hakeem Olajuwon were all on college basketball’s center stage. Here’s a look back on the road all four teams took to get there.
The Road To The 1976 Final Four
The 1976 Final Four is best remembered for when Bob Knight’s Indiana Hoosiers capped off a perfect season with a national championship. But there were three other stories there too, from UCLA in the post-Wooden era to an upstart from the East to a conference runner-up for the first time. Here’s a look back on the teams of the 1976 Final Four–Indiana, UCLA, Rutgers and Michigan and their roads to Philadelphia.
How March Madness History Evolved To What We Know Today
The ramp-up to March Madness is in gear, with conference regular season championships being finalized this week, the league tournaments going next week, fights for at-large bids and seeding in full-force and finally Selection Sunday going on Sunday, March 15. As we get set for another great college basketball run, here’s brief look back on the seminal moments in the development of March Madness history as we know it.
Why The Patrick Ewing Georgetown Teams Were The Best College Basketball Defense Ever
During last night’s Kentucky-LSU game, ESPN analyst Dick Vitale called Kentucky’s defense “the best I’ve seen in my 36 years at ESPN.” The ‘Cats defense is awfully good, worthy of being in such a conversation. But the best defense in the modern era of college hoops belonged to Georgetown basketball during the Patrick Ewing era from 1982-85.
2009 North Carolina Basketball Dominates The NCAA Tournament
They were a #1 seed in the NCAA Tournament three straight years. 2007 ended with a crushing regional final loss to Georgetown. 2008 ended with disappointing Final Four loss to Kansas. The 2009 North Carolina basketball team had no such unhappy ending—they rolled all the way to a national title and did it in dominating fashion
The 2005 NCAA Tournament: One Of The Best Ever
The 2005 NCAA Tournament was one of the best in the modern era. It produced a rarity, a championship game between the two teams clearly acknowledged as the best in the country, and its regional final weekend produced The Greatest Eight Ever.
The 2003 Final Four: Jim Boeheim Outlasts Roy Williams
Jim Boeheim of Syracuse and Roy Williams at Kansas each arrived at the 2003 Final Four as a respected head coach, but with one important item missing—a national championship ring. Boeheim lost the NCAA final in 1987 and 1996, while Williams had made three previous Final Fours. In 2003, Boeheim and Williams ended up on a collision course to meet on Monday night.
The 2002 Final Four: Gary Williams Gets It Done
Maryland won the first NCAA basketball championship in program history, and the first for their coach, the respected veteran Gary Williams, at the 2002 Final Four. What’s more, the events of the previous year made the long-awaited title even sweeter.
2000 Michigan State Basketball: The Big Breakthrough Of The Izzo Era
Michigan State was gaining steam as a basketball power under young head coach Tom Izzo. After being irrelevant through much of the 1990s, the Spartans made the Sweet 16 in 1998 and the Final Four in 1999. The 2000 Michigan State basketball team was ranked #3 to start the season and eyeing the big breakthrough.