After a pretty lackluster first round, where the closest thing we had to last-minute heroics was Mississippi State shooting an airball as time expired to lose 75-72 to Baylor, we had some exciting action. Even in games in which the final score wasn't necessarily close (I am looking at you St. John's), the action on the court was pretty contentious, and in the case of the aforementioned St. John's Red Storm and Arkansas Razorbacks game - lots and lots of whistles.
Since the NCAA gave me an early deadline with the noon start on the Florida game (for those that don't know there is a UF alumna in my household, so we will be watching that game in its entirety), this report will be briefer than usual (although certainly not very brief.) Just know that some of the content will still be what you come to expect - lackluster.
Anyway, the good news, for some, is that we had lots of movement up-and-down the scoreboard at all levels. The Michigan/Texas A&M game had a lot of entries picking each of the teams, and the same can be said of the McNeese - nee Clemson - Purdue game. Most people picked Wisconsin to advance to the Sweet Sixteen, so if you had BYU, you gained ground. And very few people had John Calipari and his Arkansas Razorbacks to advance past this weekend - so those entries gained A LOT of ground, as that was the only bonus from yesterday's activities.
We had 11 total entries that selected Arkansas into the Sweet Sixteen. One entry did not have Arkansas over St. John's, so no bonus points. Eight - specifically Max Macon 3 of Jupiter, Florida, Alyssa Hopps of Quincy, Massachusetts, Bubba Zdrowak of Orlando, Florida, Kingfish Parham of Atlanta, Georgia, Alvaro Gonzalez of Boynton Beach, Florida, Chris Simmons of Boynton Beach, Florida, Braeden Helland of Riviera Beach, Florida, and Wes Wiggins of Tucson, Arizona - earned their five bonus points, but not the Pick of the Day.
That award is shared by Salvatore Plamondon of Lincoln, Rhode Island and Brent Bellinger of Austin, Texas who not only earned their bonuses for selecting Arkansas over St. John's, but they also went 7-1 on the day. Great work!
The worst pick of the day goes to anybody that selected Yale into the Sweet Sixteen. Serves you right!
And thanks largely in part to the selecting the Pick of the Day, Max Macon 3 of Jupiter, Florida remains in first place, but hot on his trail is Salvatore Plamondon of Lincoln, Rhode Island, with Bill Ganoe of Palm Beach Gardens, Florida holding onto third place.
And, since the game was so important to our pool, let's go ahead an examine the Arkansas - St. John's game, which was billed as a "Clash of the Titans" type of event due to the coaching matchup of Rick Pitino and John Calipari. Both of these coaches do have legendary resumes, and both have led three separate schools into the Final Four: Pitino having led Louisville, Kentucky, and Providence; and Calipari having led Kentucky, Memphis, and Massachusetts. A lot has been said and written over the years about these two coaches and their Kentucky years, but let's take a look in the way-back machine to their very first Final Fours. But, first, a picture of the two together.
For Rick Pitino, that means going back to the 1986-1987 basketball season, when he was the head coach of the Providence Friars in the Big East - back when the Big East was the BIG EAST! The Friars were led by its two guards, senior Billy Donovan and junior transfer Delray Brooks. Brooks was run out of Indiana by head coach Bobby Knight basically because his shot looked weird and Brooks refused to change it. Donovan is best known for winning the International Eddie Munster look-alike contest, oh yeah and coaching the Florida Gators to back-to-back national championships in 2006 and 2007. He is currently the head coach of the Chicago Bulls.
But back in the 1986-1987 season, Donovan led the Friars in scoring and assists, with 20.6 and 7.1 per game respectively, and Delray Brooks contributed 14.4 points and 2.6 assists per game. They were joined in the starting lineup by forwards Pop Lewis and Dave Kipfer, and center Steve Wright (well technically Jack Duda started, but Wright played way more minutes). Although a really good college team, the Friars lacked NBA-level talent as only Donovan and freshman reserve Marty Conlon reached the NBA.
Providence finished the season 25-9, going 10-6 in Big East play to finish fourth in the conference behind powerhouses Georgetown (ranked 4th in the county), Syracuse (ranked 10th in the country), and Pittsburgh (ranked 12th in the country). That was enough to earn the Friars the 6th seed in the Southeast regional, where they started off by playing 11th-seeded UAB. Providence coasted to the victory in Brimingham, Alabama as Donovan torched the Blazers with 35 points and 12 assists, and Brooks added 16 points and 9 rebounds. This set up a second-round game against 14th-seeded Austin Peay, who had defeated number 3 Illinois in a 68-67 nail-biter. Austin Peay put up a fight, succumbing to Providence 90-87 behind Donovan's 25 points and 7 assists. Providence, however, was led in scoring by Pop Lewis' 26, and Brooks - who had a bad shooting game - scored only 8, but had 4 rebounds, 8 assists, and 7 steals!!! The leading scorer in the game was UAB's Lawrence Mitchell with 27, but it was Providence advancing to the regionals in Louisville, Kentucky (where Pitino would later coach).
In the regional semi-finals, Providence won a barn-burner against the 2 seed, Alabama Crimson Tide. The Friars won 103-82, behind Donovan's 26 points and 10 assists, and Brooks contributed 23 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists. Every Alabama starter scored in double-figures, led by Jim Farmer's 24. Alabama's most notable player was former NBAer Derrick Mckey, and reserve Keith Askins, himself a future NBAer, but that wasn't enough. Providence advances to the Elite Eight where the would meet the number 1 seeded and conference foe Georgetown Hoyas, who had just recently defeated Providence in the Big East Conference tournament. Providence would exact some revenge, defeating Georgetown despite receiving 0 points from Delray Brooks, as Donovan scored 20 points and had 6 assists, and he was helped by Darryl Wright's 20 off the bench. That was too much for Georgetown who, despite Reggie Williams 25 points, lost 88-73. To the Final Four for Providence - and Coach Pitino.
Providence's run ends in the Final Four in New Orleans thanks to another conference foe, Syracuse, who upended the upstart Friars 77-63 behind completely balanced scoring from its starters (Greg Monroe 17; future club-DJ Rony Seikaly 16; Howard Triche 12; Derrick Coleman 12; Sherman Douglas 12). Billy Donovan could only manage 8 points and Delray Brooks could only chip-in 9, as no Providence starter managed double figures (although reserve Carlton Screen scored 18 - in 22 minutes.)
Syracuse would go on to the Finals to lose to Indiana in the Keith Smart game, but that is a story for another day.
Meanwhile, in neighboring Massachusetts (and a decade or so later), John Calipari was building A SQUAD, which culminated in the 1996 Final Four. The UMass Minutemen were led by an absolute stud, and future NBA #2 overall draft pick, Marcus Camby. But this was no one-man team, as Camby had talented Donta Bright and Dana Dingle on the floor with him, and Puerto Rican legends Edgar Padilla and Carmelo Travieso in the backcourt. Camby was the focus, scoring 20.5 points per game and grabbing 8.2 rebounds per contest, but this was a well-balanced team. And GOOD! (Side note - Assistant Coach Bruiser Flint still sits next to Calipari on the sidelines in Arkansas to this day.
UMass finished the season ranked #1 in the AP Poll and #2 in the Coaches Poll after finishing the season 31-1, with the only loss coming to George Washington in late February. UMass received a 1 seed in the east, where they headed to face 16th seed University of Central Florida in Providence, Rhode Island. UMass won its first-round game 92-70, behind Travieso's 21 points, as 5 players scored in double figures. This earned the Minutemen a second-round game against Stanford, who beat Bradley 66-58. Stanford got 27 points and 9 assists from future pro Brevin Knight, but that was not enough as Massachusetts won 79-74. Marcus Camby scored 20 with 8 rebounds, as Travieso and Donta Bright each had 14. Edgar Padilla dished 12 assists, passing the team into the Sweet Sixteen in Atlanta.
In Atlanta, UMass met future-Calipari school Arkansas, who had defeated Penn State and Marquette to reach the Peachtree State. Arkansas was no match for UMass, who benched Marcus Camby for the start of the game, and he came on to score 15 points in only 18 minutes. Tyrone Weeks, who replaced Camby in the starting lineup, scored 16, his third consecutive game in double figures. The Minutemen would decimate Georgetown in the next round 86-62 to earn their place in the Final Four. Georgetown got 23 points from Allen Iverson and 13 from Othella Harrington, with Jerome Williams scoring 9 with 8 rebounds. And yes, I only wrote about Jerome Williams because I used to play pick-up against him in law school. Camby, starting once again, was just too much, going 22-7, with Travieso adding 20 and Bright 18. UMass makes it to the Final Four in East Rutherford, New Jersey, for Calipari's first. Or was it?
In the Final Four Kentucky defeated UMass 81-74, as Tony Delk scored 20 on his way to winning Most Outstanding Player in the Final Four, helped by Antoine "Because there ain't no 4s" Walker and his 14, as Kentucky had 8 players scoring at least 7 points. Camby did shine, going for 25 points and 8 rebounds, but Kentucky's bench out-played the Minutemen's, with even reliable Tyrone Weeks only scoring 1 off the bench.
Kentucky would go forward to defeat Syracuse in the Final, then lose in OT in the finals in 1997 to Arizona, and then defeat Utah for the Championship in 1998. UMass would have its Final Four appearance vacated!
And no Silas Nichols of Washington, DC, I did not set out to write about Keith Smart and Tony Delk defeating Syracuse in the championship game, but I did realize that was the ultimate end-point of the stories when I decided to write about Pitino and Calipari's first Final Fours.
Now, back to the pool!
Pitino and Calipari had some strong performances from players in order to make it to their Final Fours, and we had some equally strong performances in yesterday's action.
Best Men's Players from Yesterday
Before I get to this list, I do want to mention two players that just didn't make it, primarily because their teams lost. Bennett Stirtz from Drake, who scored 21 points, had 3 rebounds and dished 8 assists, and Zuby Ejiofor from St. John's who scored 22 points, had 12 rebounds, and 2 steals, really carried their teams yesterday, just not far enough.
9. Tahaad Pettiford, Auburn - 23 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists
