The Road To The 1993 Final Four
Webber came barreling over the half-court line, looking completely uncomfortable. He was pinned into a corner and stopped to call for a timeout…except there were none left.
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Roy Willliams Makes His First Mark At The 1991 NCAA Tournament
The Kansas Jayhawks had won the national championship in 1988, under the leadership of Larry Brown and the star performance of Danny Manning. But Brown’s leadership also put the program on NCAA probation and he skipped town when Manning graduated that same year. The Jayhawks bottomed out and had to be rebuilt. It was Roy Williams who did the rebuilding and the 1991 NCAA Tournament was his coming-out party.
1990 UNLV Basketball Gets Tark The Shark His First Ring
Jerry Tarkanian, head basketball coach at UNLV, was a character seemingly straight out of Damon Runyon, right down to his “Tark The Shark” nickname. Tark had been chasing college basketball nirvana for a long time. He’d brought favored teams to the Final Four in 1977 and 1987, but come up short. The 1990 UNLV basketball was one that had the horses to go the distance and Tark proved to be an able jockey.
The Miracle NCAA Tournament Run Of 1989 Michigan Basketball
The 1989 Michigan basketball team was loaded with talent, from All-American forward Glen Rice to talented sophomore Sean Higgins, to the low post duo of Terry Mills and Loy Vaught to their fine point guard Rumeal Robinson. But after a third-place finish in the Big Ten, they looked ready to go into the books as an underachieving disappointment.
1988 Kansas Jayhawks: The Bracket Opens Up For Danny & The Miracles
…It was a most improbable ride to a Final Four. A #6 seed had gone through the bracket playing no one seeded higher than fourth (Kansas State)
Rick Pitino & Billy Donovan Both Arrive At The 1987 NCAA Tournament
Rick Pitino and Billy Donovan have each made their mark on college basketball history. Pitino coached three Final Four teams at Kentucky, including a 1996 national championship. He went on to take Louisville to the Final Four in 2005 and 2012, and won the 2013 NCAA Tournament.
Donovan took over the Florida program, made the Final Four in 2000 and won consecutive national titles in 2006-07. The 1987 NCAA Tournament was where each one first made their mark and they did it together
1983 N.C. State Basketball Brings March Madness To A New Era
The development of the NCAA Tournament as a time of Madness had taken place in phases since 1975, a year that marked both the end of the UCLA dynasty and the inclusion of multiple teams from each conference in the event. The 1983 N.C. State basketball team represented the culmination of that development
1981 NCAA Tournament: Second Round Chaos Leads To Indiana Dominance
The 1981 NCAA Tournament elevated it all to another level, with an extraordinary first weekend, a memorable moment at the regionals and finally ending with a dominant champion on a night national tragedy was averted.
The 1980 NCAA Tournament: The First Gutted Final Four
The 1980 NCAA Tournament took it a step further and produced the first-ever gutted Final Four, where three of the participants were seeded #5 or lower and it left the door open for powerhouse Louisville to roll to a national championship.
The Road To The 1979 Final Four
The 1979 Final Four was a landmark in the history of college basketball. The national championship game of Michigan State-Indiana State, with Magic Johnson and Larry Bird, remains the most-watched college basketball game ever. But there were other great stories that have been lost to history–1979 was the last year an Ivy League team made the Final Four, and it was the one appearance on college basketball’s grand stage for a venerable coach. Here’s a look back at how all four–Michigan State, Indiana State, Penn and DePaul made it to Salt Lake City.
Kentucky’s Joyless Ride Ends In A Title At The 1978 Final Four
Today, Kentucky and Duke are synonymous with the term “bluebloods” in, but when they met in the national championship game at the 1978 Final Four in St. Louis, the two programs couldn’t have been further apart.
2001 Arizona Basketball: Doing It For Lute & Bobbi
The head coach was the legendary Lute Olson, and his wife Bobbi passed away. Lute spent three weeks away from the team on bereavement, and it took ‘Zona some time to really find its rhythm. They started 8-5 and fell to as low as 20th in the polls, before charging hard down the stretch, winning 20 of their last 23.