 |  |  |
Enjoy from my personal collection of NCAA Tournament games. I remember watching this Saturday afternoon game by myself upstairs at my parents' house, thinking that Connecticut would easily get past Cinderella Gonzaga and advance to the school's first Final Four. Well, I couldn't have been more wrong as the Bulldogs gave the Huskies a hell of a game on the home court of the Phoenix Suns, the America West Arena. If you would have told me UCONN would go on to beat a juggernaut Duke squad and win the national championship after this Elite Eight game, I would have called you crazy. Ultimately, Connecticut had the best player on the floor this game in junior forward Richard "Rip" Hamilton, who went on to have an amazing NBA career with the Detroit Pistons. Gonzaga may have fallen short, more on talent than effort, but the Bulldogs forever changed as a program during this run in the 1999 NCAA Tournament. While Gonzaga has produced bigger names since 1999, this team of Quentin Hall, Matt Santangelo, Richie Frahm, Casey Calvary, Adam Eaton and others is what put this program on the map beyond being the alma mater of John Stockton. At this point and time Gonzaga was a lovable program. Nowadays I can't stand the program, which is a testament to the school's success during the past 27 years.
RSS Feed