theCOLLEGE BASKETBALLNOSTALGIC

1997 NCAA Tournament Elite Eight: Louisville vs. North Carolina & Providence vs. Arizona

9/19/2016

Oh, to capture the active mind of a young teen.

Okay, I know what you're thinking, so get your head out of the gutters.

I am talking about that strange purgatory of wanting to be older than you are but still being a kid.

Nearly 20 years ago, I sat in my living room with uncles and some of my Dad's

friends as we prepared to give him a surprise. I thought I was so cool, but I was just a fool, looking to run around like a kid should.

Returning from a business trip on a Sunday afternoon, my Dad did not realize that his wife had set him up, conspiring with family and friends to throw an over-the-hill, 40th birthday.

As we waited in the living room, an Elite Eight game between North Carolina and Louisville wrapped up on the television.

At this point, the game was already a blowout, with Carolina clearly headed to the Final Four, nothing more than visual filler, background noise.

Soon, the Arizona and Providence game would arrive, along with my father.

After witnessing the initial shock of my Dad's surprise, I was set free with my brother and cousins to do whatever we wanted.

Instead of sitting around and watching the Arizona game, and the adults b.s. and indulge in cold beverages, we ran upstairs, beginning our own Final Four.

The game was Sega's Coach K College Basketball. It was made in 1995, and there would be no sequel. The game was that epic.

I remember getting this game in 1996 from a nearby Blockbuster Video in Chicago, with my winnings from the family's March Madness pool.

How I was in good shape heading into the 1996 National Championship game, having Syracuse in my family's Sweet Sixteen pool (an $80 payout) and Kentucky (a $64 payout).

While Kentucky would win, I was happy nonetheless, $16 shorter but with more than enough money to purchase Coach K, which I did the very next day.

On the day of my father's 40th birthday party, we set up our own NCAA Tournament on the game, with great teams from 1994-1995 like UCLA, Arkansas, and Kentucky especially standing out.

Heck, this video game was so cool that some of the players playing in the Arizona-Providence game, specifically Miles Simon and Michael Dickerson, were on the rosters, though they had just numbers and not their names.

After wearing out the Sega Genesis controllers, we would eventually make our way downstairs and watch the thrilling end of the Arizona-Providence game.

Quite honestly, we were more interested in the "Nerd" that my Mom had hired to embarrass my "Dad" in front of all his friends. Think of a PG version of a stripper.

Twenty years later, there would be vague recollections of the Arizona - Providence game, which would go to overtime, but lasting memories of my Dad's 40th birthday party, including:

Time well spent with my cousins and friends.
Coach K College Basketball.
The adults staying over pretty late for a Sunday night, listening to and drunkenly singing Pure Prairie League's "Two Lane Highway."
My stressed Dad having a good time.

What a great party and time, with these Elite Eight games a hub for me to form and solidify such memories.

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1997 NCAA Tournament First Round, West Region: #7 UNC Charlotte 49ers vs. #10 Georgetown Hoyas

8/29/2016

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by Chris Maynard ([email protected])

The younger you are, the older you want to be. The older you get, the younger you wish you could be.

I’ve always liked the above idea and thought that it applied quite well in my life, with one exception…SPORTS.

Don’t get me wrong. Growing up in Chicago during the late eighties and early nineties, I have nothing to complain about, having seen the Chicago Bulls win six championships in eight years with the greatest player ever to lace them up, Michael Jeffery Jordan.

And yet, if I could be a bit older, I would do so to experience certain things in the eighties that I either missed out on or was too young to remember.

First and foremost, I would die to experience the 1985 Chicago Bears, even though it is kind of sad that Bears fans have to keep falling back on that team. Unfortunately, I was a bit too young (five years old) to remember Super Bowl XX, a 46-10 thrashing of the New England Patriots. I can’t imagine what that season and day must have been like, especially now as a 34-year-old man who has little to no feeling for that franchise anymore.

Second, I would love to have watched the rebirth of the NBA in the eighties, specifically the Lakers and Celtics rivalry. Sure, I’ve pretty much seen all of those games on NBA TV throughout the years, and got to experience the Bulls in the Finals from basically third grade through my sophomore year of high school, with the lone exceptions being the sixth and seventh grades. Yet, seeing Bird and Magic battle it out at the time would have probably created an even crazier basketball fan, and made the Bulls reaching the top of the mountain even more euphoric, if humanly possible.

Last but not necessarily least, I would have really enjoyed watching college basketball in the eighties, what was arguably the golden era of the sport, thanks in large part to the 1979 NCAA Championship game between Magic’s Michigan State Spartans and Bird’s Indiana State Sycamores.

I mean, when I think of college basketball in the eighties, several things immediately come to mind:

● Classic championship games (see 1982, 1983, 1985, 1987, 1988 and 1989).

● The age of dominant centers like Ralph Sampson, Patrick Ewing and Akeem Olajuwon.

● The explosion of the Big East (if you haven’t seen the ESPN 30 for 30 “Requiem for the Big East,” you must do so ASAP).

● The power of John Thompson and his mighty Georgetown Hoyas.

Hoya Paranoia

Oh, Big John Thompson and his awesome Hoyas.

They were big.

They were tough.

They were aggressive.

They were fearless.

They were black, and boy were they intimidating to white America.

A former backup to Bill Russell for two seasons with the Boston Celtics, the 6’10’’ Thompson was a mighty oak tree on the sidelines in comparison to other coaches.

While the late UNLV coach Jerry Tarkanian was famous for chewing a towel during games, Thompson would drape a white towel over his shoulder.

If Tark was known as "the Shark," Thompson was a great white, with his Hoyas of the 1980s most often feasting on the chum thrown in front of them.

Just as the Hoyas carried themselves with a no-holds-barred bravado, so did Thompson, who, like Bobby Knight, had the power to strike the fear of God in anyone with just his presence and even more so with his abrasiveness.

More importantly, Thompson's Hoyas teams were incredibly successful in the 1980s, making the national championship game in three of Patrick Ewing's four years on campus.

Combine all of these factors (Georgetown's success, Thompson's presence, and the issue of race), and what resulted was Hoya Paranoia, this fear of not only Georgetown on the court but this idea of empowered black males.

Obviously, Hoya Paranoia was steeped heavily in racism, an issue that has especially rocked America this concluding summer.

While I was too young at the time to understand all the racial implications that followed Georgetown, I quickly grasped at an early age the intimidation that came with the Hoyas.

(Sports Logos Screensavers)

One Scary Logo

I still remember seeing that logo for the first time.

Somehow, someway, when I started getting into basketball around 1986 (Santa gave me a mini-basketball goal

that Christmas), I received a grey and white mini-basketball. It must have been the only one at the store, as the Hoyas were culturally quite popular at the time.

On that basketball was the Hoya logo.
Then and even now there was something off-putting about that Georgetown logo from back in the day.

(Logo EPS)

I mean, that old Hoya logo was basically the same thing as that of the old Georgia Bulldogs logo.

While the Georgia logo is scary, in a devilish and nighmarish sort of way, those blue and grey colors of the Georgetown logo used to make my stomach drop as a naïve kid.

That Georgetown logo just seemed more real. It screamed junkyard dog, and not in a good way like the lovable JYD from the WWF, a rabid force for any kid to stick his or her fingers in between the fence.

As I have mentioned before on The College Basketball Nostalgic , I grew up a De Paul fan because of my Chicago ties and fandom of a player named Tom Kleinschmidt.

Each season De Paul would play Georgetown, either in Washington, D.C., or in Rosemont, Illinois, and I would get extremely nervous just seeing that Georgetown logo at the introduction of those games.

To me, Georgetown wasn’t scary because the team was all-black.

Or that Thompson was such a giant figure or an intelligent, opinionated man with a deep voice.

It was because of that damn dog.

And yet I was no dummy.

I understood quite quickly watching those De Paul games that the Blue Demons better come to play or Georgetown was going to foam at the mouth and have its lunch.

If there ever was a team that exuded toughness and fear before the game even started, and matched those qualities with its in-game intensity, it was Georgetown.

I can vividly remember De Paul going to Washington, D.C., during either Kleinschmidt's sophomore or junior year and getting blown out by Georgetown.

De Paul bounced back the next year to beat Georgetown at home on a nationally-televised CBS game. What a big deal that victory was to me.

While I may not have experienced the Hoyas of the 1980s until years later via videotape and cable television, I knew back then what it meant to beat them.

No ifs, ands or buts, the Hoyas were the program of the 1980s, and that feeling was still looming in the early 1990s, even if it was clearly not the case anymore.

Of course, Georgetown had the big dogs.

Ewing.
Eric "Sleepy" Floyd.
Fred Brown.
David Wingate.
Reggie Williams.
Michael Jackson.
Later Alonzo Mourning (and to a lesser extent in college Dikembe Mutombo).
And the 1990s version of intimidation, albeit a smaller package, Allen Iverson.

Taking nothing away from these accomplished players, the Hoyas were the Hoyas because of Thompson, who was a hell of a basketball coach, someone who probably doesn’t get enough recognition nowadays.

Understanding Thompson’s Domination of the First Half of the Eighties

When I truly think about it, the above comparison of Thompson to Knight is a bit lazy on my part.

While both men were clearly intimidating figures with incredible coaching abilities, Thompson was not all about basketball like the maniacal Knight.

Thompson clearly stood for bigger social issues, whether people agreed with his opinions or not, and was widely admired as not only a coach but a man, especially among his players and opposing coaches.

With Knight, such admiration has always seemed to be exclusively about his coaching genius, and clearly a fear of his personality.

Thompson was a man who was feared but was well-respected, and showed not only such respect back but great humanity and perspective.

While I was doing some research on North Carolina’s victory against Colorado in the 1997 Tournament, the game during which Dean Smith became the all-time winning coach in college basketball, I came across a CBS interview of Thompson, who basically said something along the lines that he wouldn’t be where he is today without Smith, a proponent of racial equality.
How about the 1985 "Sweater Game" when #1 St. John's played #2 Georgetown at Madison Square Garden. Nowadays most coaches would be tensing up before such a game. Not Thompson, who famously and brilliantly played the role of the comedian and actor hamming it up for his audience, saluting St. John’s head coach Lou Carnesecca by wearing a facsimile sweater that Carnesecca famously wore each game. This funny moment was an incredible sign of respect, ultimately revealing Thompson as a human being beyond what he was seen as by too many, the big, black coach of the big, black team.

As for his coaching, just look at Thompson’s accomplishments in the 80s.

The near title in 1982 against North Carolina, a game made famous by Jordan’s shot and Brown’s turnover.
The ultimate triumph in Seattle in 1984, when Ewing came out on top against Olajuwon, who would be a foe later on in the NBA, with Thompson becoming the first African-American coach to win a major collegiate championship. Talk about resilience for Ewing, who faced racial taunts of being called a "gorilla" "who couldn't read" by opposing fans early in his college career, and Thompson, who in 1975 had to live with the embarrassment of a sign in his own gymnasium calling him "a nigger flop."
The shocking loss to Villanova in the 1985 championship game, which would be Ewing’s last collegiate game and Thompson’s last Final Four, which at the time would have seemed incredulous.

Thompson would get close again to the Final Four with Elite Eight appearances in 1987, 1989 and finally 1996, which leads into this 1997 NCAA Tournament game against UNC-Charlotte.

Hoyas in Name but Not the Same

After getting trounced by UMASS in the Elite Eight in 1996, Georgetown lost Allen Iverson, Jerome Williams and Othella Harrington to that year’s draft.

Despite this attrition in star power, Thompson and the Hoyas returned to the Big Dance in 1997, the school’s 15th straight NCAA appearance.

With a record of 20-9 (11-7 in the Big East) entering the UNC Charlotte Game, Georgetown was a heavily flawed team, lacking much offensive firepower beyond sophomore Victor Page.

Consider this amazing statistic: 1996/1997 Georgetown had 102 more turnovers than assists. As announcer Billy Packer would say throughout this game, Georgetown had too much trouble scoring and was not as strong defensively in the past to make up for such flaws.

While Georgetown included players with memorable names like Ya-Ya Dia (who led the Big East in rebounding that year) and Boubacar Aw (who would be the Hoyas best player in this loss to UNC Charlotte), these players clearly were not on the level of the Ewings, Mournings or Iversons.

Quite honestly, it didn’t take long while watching this game last week to recognize that Georgetown wasn’t Georgetown anymore. In fact, this was rather apparent even back then in 1997.

After a sloppy first four minutes of this game, UNC Charlotte took control in the next eight minutes as the Hoyas couldn’t make a shot, turned the ball over and were ripped to shreds by the 49ers Versille Shaw, a reserve who was a last-minute insertion into the starting lineup and had the game of his life, scoring 19 points on 9-of-13 shooting after averaging a little more than 4 points in 19 minutes per game in the regular season.

It’s really hard to imagine an '80s Hoyas team letting a role player do that to them, but such was the case in 1997, though I’m not trying to take away from Shaw, who was phenomenal this game.

As for Thompson, he would try his hardest to get his team back in this game, using timeout to quell 49ers momentum in the first half and going to man-to-man and picking up full-court pressure in the second half. All the while, he did so with a steady calmness. Perhaps he secretly knew that there wasn't much more to get out of this overachieving Georgetown team.

The sign of a good coach, Thompson's Hoyas would respond with a spirited effort in the second half, especially Paige, who scored 18 of his 20 points in the game's final 20 minutes.

And yet on this day, UNC Charlotte was hardly an intimidated team.

In fact, the 49ers of Conference USA were clearly the better team.

The toughest baller on the court was not a Georgetown player but rather UNC Charlotte guard Sean Colson, who got wherever he wanted to go in the second half as the 49ers won 79-67, an outcome hardly surprising in the grand scheme of things.

However, what would be surprising in the aftermath of this game is that Thompson would never coach in the NCAA Tournament again.

In 1998, Thompson's Hoyas would reach the NIT, losing in the second round.

Shortly after the New Year 1999, Thompson would resign as the Hoyas head coach, citing personal problems.

So while the 1997 NCAA Tournament is often remembered for the coaching accomplishment of Smith, the last appearance of Thompson and his Hoyas should not be forgotten and must be recognized.

For years, the Hoyas were not just a mainstay but a force in the NCAA Tournament, with Thompson at the helm, one of the most powerful and important influences in the sport.

It didn't take a young me much to realize Thompson's presence back in the day, and an older me certainly recognizes and respects his accomplishments all these years later.

Quick Information on This Game

As I wanted to use today's entry to comment more on John Thompson's impact at Georgetown and on college basketball, I don't want to neglect the game play.

Here are some background and quick observations on this game.

This game took place at the University of Arizona's McKale Center in Tucson, Arizona. Bob Carpenter and Billy Packer were the announcers, which is surprising as Jim Nantz was Packer's partner. However, Nantz was doing studio work for the first round. He would return to call second-round action from Tucson, including the UNC Charlotte-Utah game and Stanford-Wake Forest contest, both of which will be covered later in the week.
Is there anything better for a fan of a program then having a role player step up and play huge in a big moment. For UNC Charlotte, Shaw was the man in the first half, playing with confidence and thriving in the mid-range game.
As for the second half, Colson was the man who made just enough big plays to stave off rallies from Georgetown, which got a double-digit halftime deficit to six points at one point. One of my favorite mid-major players during the nineties, Colson was tough as nails, with highlight reel plays from roughly 1:29:08 to 1:29:55, 1:39:10 to 1:39:18 (a nasty crossover) and 1:42:15 to 1:42:20 that you would have to see to believe. While not surprised by Colson's game, I didn't realize that he originally played at Rhode Island before transferring to UNC Charlotte.
For some reason, I thought UNC Charlotte was coached by Bobby Lutz, who was actually an assistant. The 49ers head coach was Melvin Watkins, who was in his first year after serving as a long-time assistant to the program and playing for the university in the 1977 Final Four.
Aw is a player whom I gained a lot of respect for in this game. The kid played his heart out in the second half, but the Hoyas dug a hole that was too big to escape from.
At the time UNC Charlotte's best player was DeMarco Johnson, a 6'8'' forward who could really ball. Johnson actually struggled this game, but Shaw and Colson stepped up when needed.
Watching UNC Charlotte big man Alexander Kuehl (from Germany) battle Georgetown center Jahidi White was not a pretty affair, as Carpenter pointed out early in the game, but certainly physical.
From 17:57 to 18:22, Packer offered some great insight about Georgetown's offensive problems.
UNC Charlotte was actually a bubble team prior to the Conference USA Tournament. At the time the 49ers were 0-5 on the year against the RPI Top 50, including blowing 15-point and 20-point leads to South Carolina and Southern California early in the 1996/1997 season. In the Conference USA Tournament the 49ers secured a big victory against Louisville, which would make the Elite Eight in 1997, essentially earning a ticket to the dance.
In previous tournament appearances UNC Charlotte had been close to victory, having lost its last three NCAA Tournaments games by a combined 10 points.
As an interesting side note, Thompson's Hoyas began the 1996/1997 season at Cleveland State, coached by Rollie Massimino, whose Villanova team upset Georgetown in the 1985 title game.

Well, that seems like a good place to stop.

In celebration of Thompson's accomplishments, here are the three title games that that Georgetown reached under him.

Enjoy!

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(MONDAY MEMORIES): RECOLLECTIONS FROM AND REFLECTIONS UPON THE AMAZING 1997 NCAA TOURNAMENT

8/22/2016

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by Chris Maynard ([email protected])

"Mr. Jones and me...tell each other fairy tales..."

Oh, thank you 1997 NCAA Tournament

From the pain, confusion and awkwardness that was high school came something quite positive, real and believable, a fairy tale that I so desired and needed at the time.

Back in 1997 I was just a freshman trying to figure out my place at an all-boys high school that was not an enjoyable or confidence-building experience.

That prior winter I experienced some humility on the freshman basketball team, getting introduced to the first time in my playing career to the cold, hard reality that was the bench.

By the start of the 1997 NCAA Tournament that spring my butt was transitioning from sitting on the bench for the basketball team to the baseball team.

While I had always been used to playing a lot as a youth basketball, baseball and football player, such was not the case during my short athletic career in high school.

To make matters more confusing, I was like many freshmen at the time, trying to figure out where I fit in the grand scheme of things within the hallways of my high school. Being a small fish in a big pond was not something that I was used to or quite capable of handling at the time. And with no girls around, the extra amounts of testosterone and bravado at my high school made things seemingly so much worse. If I ever have kids, they will never go to an all-boys or girls school! :-)

Quickly realizing that my dreams of becoming an NBA All-Star were disappearing with every splinter pulled out of my behind, and that I was not as popular as I once thought was, somehow, someway my confidence about whom I was as a person grew, thanks in part to one sporting event that not only solidified but intensified my love of basketball.

The 1997 NCAA Tournament was a formidable experience in my youth, a source of inspiration, happiness and solace during a time when the issues that I was facing seemed like the end-of-the world but really were small potatoes in the grand scheme of this confusing thing called life.

It all began in a freshman religion class when a teacher named Mr. Jones created a bracket of the 1997 NCAA Tournament on a giant piece of poster board. After each day of games Mr. Jones would update what teams would win, culminating at the end of the tournament with him drawing the following for the champion.

To many in the class, the thought of following the tournament in class was cool; however, the idea of this teacher spending his free time creating his own bracket was anything but.

"Looks like someone needs to get a life," a fellow basketball player whispered to another classmate as I sat nearby in the back of the room.

Hardly feeling like someone who fit in, I swallowed my words for this classmate as I thought the idea of this teacher creating a bracket was very cool (Maybe that's why I am a teacher who spends so much of my free time creating materials for my students today?).

Nonetheless, this giant poster board in the back of this mandated religion class became something for me to look forward to outside of school.

As that tournament would come to an end, I would quietly go up to Mr. Jones one day after class, trying to keep whatever "street cred" I had, and ask if I could have the poster board when the tournament ended.

"Ah man," Mr. Jones said. "I would love to give it to you, but someone else already asked for it."

"That's cool," I replied. "Thanks anyways."

Twenty years later, I want to say thanks again to Mr. Jones.

As I have written on the site before, the 1997 NCAA Tournament is where my college basketball fandom truly began.

More importantly, from this viewing experience came so much more, much-needed feelings of encouragement, inclusiveness and hope.

It's been 20 years, and I can still remember the 1997 NCAA Tournament as if it was yesterday.

Here are some of my memories from each day of the 1997 NCAA Tournament.

Thursday, March 13, 1997
On the first day of the 1997 NCAA Tournament, I remember rushing home from baseball practice to catch the end of the afternoon games. I was quite nervous when I saw Arizona freshman Mike Bibby at the free throw line with less than 10 minutes to go in the first half, and the Wildcats down eight points to South Alabama. Was Arizona going to get bounced out? Luckily, and thankfully, the Wildcats would survive South Alabama and another scare against the College of Charleston in the second round en route to an unlikely national championship.

(Editor's Note: After reviewing the Fairfield - North Carolina game on Wednesday, I realized this Arizona - South Alabama game took place late Thursday night. Now I remember why. Back at the time, my family was living in Chicago. Our reception for the tournament games on Channel 2 was notoriously bad whenever there was sketchy weather. On this night, I was watching North Carolina and Fairfield as it was raining very hard. For about two hours, there was basically no reception for the games, just a jumbled mess of colors, though the audio was coming in fine. Finally, when the reception returned, there was no color but a black and white screen. This is when I saw Bibby on the free throw line, with Arizona trailing late in the second half. So the Arizona game did not happen after school. Looking back, I did rush home from practice, probably to just check the results of the game on my VHS tape. Back then, not everyone had Internet, including my family.)

Later that night, I remember CBS showing the Montana - Kentucky first round blowout in Chicago while Fairfield was giving North Carolina a hell of a game. CBS would finally switch to that game after it was clear early in the second half that Kentucky was moving on. (Editor's Note: Then came the rain storm!)

Friday, March 14, 1997
The NCAA Tournament was not the most important basketball on my mind this day. Earlier that week my aforementioned high school basketball team had upset St. Joe's in the Illinois High School Association (IHSA) tournament. On this Friday the team was preparing to play a Fenwick High School team led by future Duke star and NBA player Corey Maggette. We would lose a competitive game. I remember rushing home from practice this day to check my VHS recording of the tournament and happily see that Illinois had defeated USC. From that point on, it was off to the big high school game. After my school lost, I remember going out to dinner with my cousin and uncle and watching a Bulls-Clippers game rather than the NCAA Tournament (such was Chicago during the Michael Jordan era).

Saturday, March 15, 1997
I don't remember much from this day of the tournament. I do remember two of my friends from grade school coming over, and hanging out with them. I believe CBS was showing the Cincinnati - Iowa State game at the end of the Saturday games and having to follow the CBS bottom line to see that Arizona was in a tight game against College of Charleston, and that Iowa was giving Kentucky a tougher game in the second round than I had predicted.

Sunday, March 16, 1997:
I remember watching the end of a shocking Duke loss to Providence in the second round and then rushing off to my cousin's house in Mt. Prospect, Illinois, to celebrate his birthday. On this day I spent most of my time running around with my brother and cousins playing basketball. I do remember checking in at the end of the Illinois loss to UT-Chattanooga in the second round and then the Stanford upset of Wake Forest in Tim Duncan's last collegiate game.

Thursday, March 20, 1997
On this night of the Sweet Sixteen, I remember watching the Minnesota-Clemson double-overtime classic. I was rooting for the Golden Gophers to win this game, but was worried that Clemson was going to win. I remember trying to watch the Iowa State - UCLA game afterwards but falling asleep. I wanted to watch Iowa State Head Coach Tim Floyd at the time as the rumor was that he was going to replace Phil Jackson as the Bulls head coach. Like all of my memories of Floyd's time with the Bulls, nothing noteworthy stands out from the Iowa State - UCLA game, thought it was a great finish.

Friday, March 21, 1997
For some reason I remember that my baseball coaches let us have a home run derby this day in practice. While I wasn't powerful enough to hit the ball over the fence, I did hit a sharp line drive back at my head coach, whom I did not like. That was satisfying. Not as satisfying was my short attention span with the Arizona - Kansas Sweet Sixteen game. I remember tuning in at halftime and seeing that Arizona was ahead of the Jayhawks, favored to win the 1997 NCAA Tournament. As my father was out of town on business this weekend, my mother was making my brother, sister and I clean the house for a surprise party that we were throwing for his 40th birthday that Sunday. I was lucky enough to catch the end of the Arizona upset of Kansas, but did not watch the Cinderella Providence-UT-Chattanooga game afterwards.

Saturday, March 22, 1997
My mind was clearly preoccupied this weekend. In addition to preparing for my father's 40th birthday, I had a research paper on Copernicus due for my freshman history class (and the toughest teacher I ever had, Mr. Ryan). After watching Minnesota knock off UCLA in the Elite Eight, I skipped the Kentucky - Utah game to work on my paper. I expected Kentucky to romp, and that was the case when I checked in late in the second half.

Sunday, March 23, 1997
I remember my father getting back from his business trip as family and friends watched the second half of the Arizona - Providence Elite Eight game and surprised him. After the Arizona win, I remember playing "Coach K College Basketball" on Sega Genesis with my cousins rather than watching the blowout that was the North Carolina - Louisville game.

Saturday, March 29, 1997
With my VCR-remote in hand, pausing out all of the commercials as I recorded the Final Four, I finally gave the 1997 NCAA Tournament the attention it so deserved, getting hooked on this opening montage on "The Road to the Final Four" show, quickly adopting Arizona as my team during an exciting game against North Carolina, and being impressed with Minnesota during a spirited loss to Kentucky. This was a great day as it was the beginning of spring break, and Easter was the following day.

Monday, March 31, 1997
I remember having baseball practice this day, which was also opening day in MLB. Back then I was the Cubs fan, with the 1997 version of the Cubs losing 14 straight games. I also remember reading the championship game preview of Arizona - Kentucky in the Chicago Sun-Times, with the paper predicting Arizona, an outcome I was seeking but not expecting against the juggernaut that was Kentucky. That night I would watch this game nervously alone as Arizona would beat Kentucky in overtime. My sister would join me later in the game as I was giddy with excitement following Arizona's incredible win, a victory that would inspire and stay with me years later.

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1997 NCAA Tournament Elite Eight: Louisville vs. North Carolina & Providence vs. Arizona

1997 NCAA Tournament First Round, West Region: #7 UNC Charlotte 49ers vs. #10 Georgetown Hoyas

(MONDAY MEMORIES): RECOLLECTIONS FROM AND REFLECTIONS UPON THE AMAZING 1997 NCAA TOURNAMENT

Chris Maynard

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