20 years, one regret: Butler’s near-miracle against Duke
INDIANAPOLIS
It used to be amusing when things like AARP card forms would arrive in the mail during my 30s. The wife and kids still have a good laugh about that one, demonic sorts that they are.
I’m now wondering if those folks pushing benefits and discounts didn’t know something.
I can’t count anymore.
I assumed 2015 would signal my 19th straight year documenting the Final Four, trying my best to annually describe the greatest sporting event we have. I’m certain of this when it comes to college basketball’s brightest moment each year and, well, am pretty biased on the subject.
It would be near impossible to convince me otherwise.
This latest bracket — won by Duke on Monday by a 68-63 final against Wisconsin at pristine Lucas Oil Stadium — was instead my 20th straight Final Four.
It is a stretch that began in 1996 and has included some unforgettable moments, on and off the court.
Here are just a few that stand out in the past two decades:
■ One play I would change: The miss, 2010.
■ Site: Indianapolis, Lucas Oil Stadium.
■ Teams: Duke, Butler, West Virginia and Michigan State.
It lasted only three seconds.
Gordon Hayward launched his shot a few feet in front of my press row seat, and as it took flight from half court, I could see the direction it was trending.
And that damn thing was straight on line.
The ball hung in the air, teasing us with the possibility it would fall through the net and culminate with the greatest finish in sports history.
It hit backboard, then rim, then fell away.
Duke beat Butler 61-59 in a place the Blue Devils also won Monday, but Mike Krzyzewski’s fourth national title was more dramatic than his fifth.
You have to understand that I have watched the film “Hoosiers” well over 100 times, that my personal Graceland is old, wonderful, creaky Hinkle Fieldhouse and the ghosts of Coach Dale and Jimmy and Strap and Ray and Ollie and the rest, the place a state championship scene of the movie was shot.
And you need to know that if Hayward’s shot had fallen, Butler players were going to walk the national championship trophy back through the streets of Indianapolis to their campus and celebrate inside Hinkle.
And those eight or so miles would have defined one of the best sights that sports has ever given us.
Butler was no fairy tale in making its first Final Four, a feat it would accomplish the following season in Houston.
But had it won, had that shot stayed on line, Cinderella would have jumped right off the pages of a storybook and into our lives forever.
■ Best team: Kentucky, 1996
■ Site: Continental Airlines Arena, New York.
■ Teams: Kentucky, Syracuse, Mississippi State and Massachusetts.
Yep, the best one came at my maiden Final Four.
All you need to know: Nine players off Rick Pitino’s championship team played in the NBA. Derek Anderson. Ron Mercer. Tony Delk. Walter McCarty. On and on. This was Pitino’s first national title and years before people began timing his conquests in Italian restaurants.
The Wildcats beat Syracuse 76-67 in the final, and did so with one of the most complete rosters in history. Kentucky had size and speed and skill at every spot. It had incredible depth. It never played zone. Never had to.
It was a team that could have competed and been successful in any era.
It also beat Massachusetts 81-74 in a Final Four game, an opposing team then coached by a fellow who now knows a little about Kentucky basketball — John Calipari.
Kentucky stands out most about that Final Four.
That, and I never had paid $18 for a turkey sandwich, compliments of a certain deli on 54th and 7th.
■ Best player: Carmelo Anthony, 2003.
■ Site: Louisiana Superdome, New Orleans.
■ Teams: Syracuse, Kansas, Marquette and Texas.
One-and-done and amazing, is right.
Anthony played just one year for the Orange, but in doing so led Syracuse to its first national title. He scored 33 points (the most ever by a freshman in the Final Four) and grabbed 14 rebounds against Texas in a semifinal, followed by 20 and 10 against Kansas in the championship.
Anthony really was the first one-and-done to take a team on his back and transform it into a champion while also improving his own game throughout the season.
His wasn’t entirely a solo act — guard Gerry McNamara was a top 40 recruit — but Anthony’s run through March was a sign of things to come. Think only of Monday night and Duke.
■ Best reality check: You’re still here? 1999.
■ Site: CBS party, Tampa, Fla.
■ Teams: Myself, a few sports writer buddies and a movie star.
Connecticut beat Duke 77-74 in the championship of a Final Four at Tropicana Field that included Ohio State and Michigan State. But as bad a venue as it was — easily the worst of my 20 years given the lack of intimacy and the fact the entire event seemed spread across different counties — one memory stands out.
It was considered a personal victory back then either to be invited or to crash the CBS party, made possible for us this specific year by Rick Majerus.
There was a corner table that included a gentleman whose back was to us and, well, a few incredibly gorgeous women. One friend went to secure some beverages and myself and another reluctantly (that part is for the wife) milled around the group.
The women seemed pretty taken with the gentleman.
Kevin fricking Costner.
I began to think of all the topics my new friend and I could discuss. How was his game? Costner is said to be a terrific player. What was the point of “Waterworld?” Susan Sarandon or Robin Wright?
A few minutes passed when Costner again turned in our direction, and just as I was going to begin inquiring if he was a better golfer than Roy McAvoy or if Ray Liotta could really play baseball, I saw it. The look.
It said: What in the world are you idiots still doing here? Do you not see the other gorgeous women standing off to the side, just waiting for you to make like the pond scum maggots you are and slink away so they can take your place!
You guessed it. We slinked away.
The best shot I have seen in 20 years came from Mario Chalmers of Kansas in 2008 in San Antonio, when his 3-pointer with two seconds remaining forced overtime against Memphis, a game the Jayhawks would win 76-68.
The most afraid I have been was, when having dinner with my family in 2006, a tornado ripped through downtown Indianapolis and we ate while watching trees and other debris fly by shaking windows.
The best experience with a coach came in 1998, when Majerus led Utah to the Final Four in San Antonio and held court after his team’s practice for a good half-hour. That would never happen nowadays, but no one loved talking hoops more than Majerus, and no one taught you more about the game. You could learn more from him in 10 minutes than listening to most coaches today for hours.
The reason you have read several memories about Indianapolis and San Antonio is simple: They are unquestionably the best cities in which to stage a Final Four. If the NCAA ever stopped the rotation at these two, no one would argue.
Two decades went in a blink.
My God, I really wanted that Hayward shot to go in.
Las Vegas Review-Journal sports columnist Ed Graney can be reached at egraney@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4618. He can be heard from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday on “Gridlock,” ESPN 1100 and 100.9 FM. Follow him on Twitter: @edgraney.
