It took a hell of a response from the top-ranked – and unbeaten – Gonzaga team against a superb performance by the UCLA Bruins to set it up.
But the NCAA men’s basketball championship matchup that most who follow the sport closely have anticipated – if not craved – for a large portion of the pandemic is just hours away.
Freshman Jalen Suggs’ Shot for the Ages – and, yes, it was a jump shot not a heave, from 33-feet away – beat the overtime buzzer, finally put the hammer down on a valiant squad from Westwood and set up the Monday night showdown between the now-31 and zip, top-ranked (out of the blocks) Bulldogs and a 27-2 Baylor team that was “1-B” to Gonzaga for the bulk of the season.
Everyone, their mother and their canines – our Mini-Aussies, sisters Angel and RC, were on or near the couch with their “dad”, in front of the big screen, most of the game – seemingly has weighed in on where the 93-90 Bulldogs’ victory stands in the NCAA tourney Final Four “all-time” annals.
I’ve seen so many NCAA tournament games over six decades (pretty good memories of watching a sophomore then-known-as Lew Alcindor during UCLA’s 1967 tourney dominance), both in person and by way of ever-advancing qualities of television viewing.
There we national championship games remembered for game-winning jump shots – notably then-freshman Michael Jordan of North Carolina in 1982 and Indiana’s Keith Smart in ‘87 – and the follow-of-an-air-ball-at-buzzer by North Carolina State’s Lorenzo Charles that shocked Houston and the country in ’83; the 30-point shellacking of Duke by UNLV in 1990; the Mario Chalmers buzzer-beater that set the stage for Kansas’ OT win over Memphis in 2008 and the sheer perfection by Villanova in stunning Patrick Ewing and Georgetown in 1985.
Oh, yeah; Villanova’s buzzer-beater – Kris Jenkins – over the UNC Tar Heels five years ago was a dandy, too.
But if I’m going “apples to apples”, not dipping into title games or other rounds and stay strictly in the Final Four semifinals category, here’s the game that will stand up best in any comparison to the Saturday night UCLA-Gonzaga clash, and each of the games can be found on YouTube:
March 23, 1974, Greensboro (NC) Coliseum: North Carolina State 80, UCLA 77 in two overtimes: John R. Wooden’s Bruins’ program had captured seven title in a row and, led by a Top 5 all-time college player (Bill Walton), seemed primed for an eighth. But, my oh my, was David Thompson a highlight reel-into-himself for the Wolfpack. Check out his high-octane block of a Walton attempt, seemingly a foot above the rim. If only dunking was allowed on the college (and high school) level then – yikes that would have been sweet! The Bruins had another future Hall of Famer is Keith (later Jamal) Wilkes and a reserve freshman forward, Marques Johnson, who became the first John R. Wooden Award winner three years later.
March 29, 1975, San Diego Arena: UCLA 75, Louisville 74 in overtime: A year later, the Bruins bounced back by moving into the title game as sophomore Richard Washington hit a turn-around jumper with two seconds to play to give Wooden a victory over his former chief assistant, Denny Crum. Terry Howard – who hadn’t missed a free throw in 28 attempts during the season – missed the front end of a 1-and-1 with 20 seconds to go that could have secured the win for the Cardinals. The UCLA win set the stage for a title victory over Kentucky that would have been nearly anti-climatic if Wooden had not announced he was retiring. Forty-six years later, the legend only continues to grow.
March 26, 1977, Atlanta Omni: North Carolina 84, UNLV 83: A case could be made that the Jerry Tarkanian-coached Running Rebels squad was his best-ever, surpassing even the 1987 FF team (that lost to Indiana in a sizzling semifinal, too) and the ’89-90 and ’90-91 that racked up a national title and 45-game winning streak that was snapped abruptly by Duke (see below). There was no shot clock and no 3-point shot but UNLV averaged 107.1 ppg in taking a 29-1 record into the game. Throw in a shot clock and 3-point line (the Rebels probably hit 12 to 15 shots a game that would have been 3s in this era) and add a shot clock and the average is 120-plus. Phil Ford directed the Tar Heels’ “four-corners” offense to perfection and one of his teammates was Walter Davis – the guy who was Michael Jordan’s prime inspiration growing up. The Tar Heels lost to Marquette in the finale.
April 1, 1991, Indianapolis Hoosier Dome: Duke 79, UNLV 77: Unlike the above three games, I was court-side for this one. There’s too much to recount here that I remember about the way the game was played – and its outcome – but it was a dandy and I’m sure you know most of the details already. The most notable thing, IMO, was that this was a year after the 30-point beatdown UNLV laid on Mike Krzyzewski’s team in the championship game in Denver. Consider this, too: UNLV was 24-2 the following season – Tarkanian’s last with the program – but was on NCAA probation and couldn’t play in the tournament. There could have been a third Duke-UNLV FF battle in store.
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