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 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.
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 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.
1999 Final Four: The Duke-UConn Showdown In St. Petersburg
Duke and UConn spent the entire 1999 college basketball season circling each other and eyeing the other up. One or the other was at the top of the polls every week, and it ended with a much-anticipated Showdown in St. Petersburg, at the 1999 Final Four.
1998 Kentucky Basketball Wins A Title With A Sweet Dose Of Revenge
The Kentucky Wildcats had won the national championship in 1996 and been to the title game in 1997. The 1998 team was a different animal though. There were no great players and Rick Pitino was gone to the NBA. Tubby Smith was the new coach and even though the roster might not have been loaded, Tubby made sure the beat went on in Lexington.
1995 UCLA Basketball Brings The Title Back To Westwood
The UCLA Bruins hadn’t won a national championship since John Wooden retired on top following the 1975 season. The Bruins had made the Final Four a couple times in the immediate aftermath, in 1976 and again in 1980, but had otherwise been alarmingly absent from the national stage.
The Road To The 1994 Final Four
Prior to the 1994 Final Four, there was only one other occasion when a sitting president had been on hand to watch his home state team play for a championship. That was in 1980, when Jimmy Carter watched Georgia football beat Notre Dame in the Cotton Bowl. Bill Clinton duplicated the “feat” in 1994 when […]