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Enjoy from my personal collection of NCAA Tournament games. Well, this is the day when Gonzaga became more than the alma mater of John Stockton. The Bulldogs would upset a depleted Minnesota team that had been exposed the night before, I believe, for a major academic scandal during which tutors were allegedly taking exams for players. Short-handed Minnesota would lose to a Gonzaga team coached by Dan Monson and featuring amazing players like Matt Santangelo, Richie Frahm, Casey Calvary and Quentin Hall. Interestingly enough, Minnesota Head Coach Clem Haskins would lose his job because of this scandal, despite taking the Golden Gophers to the Final Four two years earlier during the 1997 NCAA Tournament. Haskins would be replaced by Gonzaga's Monson, who would leave the Bulldogs after leading the plucky upstart from Spokane, Washington to the Elite Eight, where it lost to eventual national champion UCONN. Of course, with Monson leaving for Minnesota, Assistant Head Coach Mark Few would be elevated to the lead man of the Bulldogs. We know how that has worked out. I absolutely loved these early editions of Gonzaga, which is now basically a college basketball blue blood. Eventually, I became out on Gonzaga during the Adam Morrison years as I found him to be incredibly annoying and unlikable on the court. Note: there is some footage of the end of the Siena - Arkansas game from one of my favorite venues of the NCAA Tournament, the McNichols Sports Arena in Denver, Colorado. How I loved the look and shine of that court. :-)
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