The Madness of March

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by Skip Dillard, originally posted Mar 20 2011
After this insane winter, March is a little extra special for me this year.   However March has always been my favorite month after December. Why? NCAA Division I College Basketball!Perhaps it’s about growing up in North Carolina after my family moved out of Jamaica, Queens in the mid 70’s.  North Carolina had just disbanded it’s old ABA Carolina Cougars a year before we arrived in Greensboro and there would be no professional teams in the region until the NBA and NFL’s arrival in Charlotte until after I’d moved away.  I grew up in the world of Atlantic Coast Conference Basketball.  Duke, Carolina, Wake Forest, NC State, etc.  And most of the ACC teams had pretty mediocre football teams leaving basketball as our focus.  For NFL fans in North Carolina, the Washington Redskins were the closest team worth following (the Atlanta Falcons were the same distance but beyond pitiful in those days).Today, college basketball is among the worlds most popular sporting events.  Multi-Year billion dollar TV contracts, mega sponsors and sold out arenas across the U.S. from regionals through the Final Four.  And the NCAA Basketball Tournament including the Final Four is now well into the top 10 most valuable sporting events in the world alongside the World Cup, Superbowl and Olympics.That said; this week in the name of March Madness, I’ll run down my favorite 10 NCAA Championships in order since I first started watching them as a kid in 1979;

10. Duke Vs. Butler 2010.  Who would have thought a school few had ever heard of (Butler’s a small private College in Indianapolis) would destroy everyone’s brackets and come within’ a basket of beating college basketball superpower Duke.  Not to mention, Butler had no really notable players or NBA bound stars.  This game summed up what makes college basketball so great; anything can happen!

9.  Duke Vs. UNLV 1990.   The sports world (and many say the NCAA) did a great job of making Nevada, Las Vegas along with then future NBA star Larry Johnson and controversial coach Jerry “Tark the Shark” Tarkanian look like a “thug” team playing a bunch of “good guys”.   This fired up UNLV and they beat Duke like they’d stolen something from them.  Perhaps the first “hip-hop” college team 2 years before the “Fab 5” of Michigan!

8. North Carolina vs. Michigan 1993.  After coming back to the Championship after a 1992 beating from another NC college (Duke) in 1992; Michigan’s Chris Webber calls a time out with a few seconds left.  Only problem was, Michigan was OUT of time outs!   A technical foul was called and the North Carolina Tar Heels sealed their victory.

7. Florida vs. Ohio State 2007.   The Florida Gators made history winning back to back championships and proving they were among the very best teams in NCAA history.  Current NBA stars Corey Brewer and Jakim Noah showed true dedication by putting the NBA on hold and returning to Florida for one more year.  They easily dispatched a very strong Ohio State Team and star center Greg Oden.

6. Arkansas vs. Duke 1994. Another David vs. Goliath story.  Duke and their golden child Grant Hill seemed unstoppable until they met Arkansas’ coach Nolan Richardson and a team made up of no “stars”, but solid players.  The game went down to the wire with Arkansas Scotty Thurman hitting a crucial 3 pointer that put Duke away.  Sadly, Thurman used that 3 point shot to bolt early for the NBA but wound up fading to black (the lesson learned by many afterwards is one shot doesn’t make a pro career).  Thankfully his Arkansas team mate Corliss Williamson enjoyed a decent NBA stint afterwards.

5. UCONN vs. Georgia Tech 2004.  Call it the year of the “Big East”!  UCONN and their stars Ben Gordon and Emeka Okafor represented the Northeast in spectacular fashion ousting a “Cinderella” Georgia Tech squad led by current NBA player Jarrett Jack for a National Championship.

4. Michigan vs. Seton Hall 1989.  How short our memories are!  Yes Seton Hall from South Orange, New Jersey played for a National Championship.  They lost the title by one point to a Michigan team anchored by soon to be NBA great Glen Rice.  Seton Hall was led that year by 6’8 standout Ramon Ramos who sadly suffered a career-ending auto accident shortly after joining the NBA Portland Trailblazers. After several months in a coma, Ramos moved home to Puerto Rico to recover.

3. Michigan State vs. Indiana State 1979.  The first NCAA Championship I watched due to the urging of my dad (I liked the NBA).  This Championship game should have been named simply Larry Bird (Ind. St) vs. Magic Johnson (Mich. St).   Nuff said!

2. Houston vs. North Carolina State 1983.  Houston’s “Phi Slamma Jamma” team led by Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler gave basketball fans an entire season of highlights that rivaled the NBA.  This Houston team ranks among the very best for both dramatic excitement and a relentless style of playing that’s been seldom duplicated.  Olajuwon had recently arrived from the African Continent as a soccer player turned basketball center who even the best teams hated having to face.  Meanwhile North Carolina State surpassed even fan expectations with arguably the biggest “Cinderella” year in NCAA Tournament History!  Houston played hard but NC State played close.  With time ticking out, NC State’s Derreck Whittenburg’s short shot was caught mid air and dunked in by State’s Lorenzo Charles giving NC State the tie-breaking win.  Who will forget NC State’s Coach Jim Valvano running around trying to grasp the reality that his team of long forgotten players had won.  The young Valvano would live only 10 more years before dying of cancer.  Valvano’s career and fight during his illness continues to inspire both players and coaches to this day and the “Coaches for Cancer” Classic has become a yearly college basketball tradition raising monies for cancer research.

1. North Carolina vs. Georgetown 1982.  Both teams were stacked with players who would make their mark on the NBA, some more than others.  Even the coaches; Carolina’s Dean Smith and Georgtown’s John Thompson were stars.  Both schools dominated the tournament but Georgetown’s Patrick Euwing was considered the player to beat.  A well-rounded North Carolina team kept the game close limiting Euwing’s effectiveness.  With time running out, Carolina freshman “Michael Jordan” hit a crucial shot to put the Tarheels back on top.  Georgetown’s Freddie Brown drove the ball down court and then without looking behind him literally handed the ball to Carolina’s James Worthy, thinking he was a Georgetown team-mate.  Worthy was fouled and Carolina won one of the most legendary games in college basketball history.  Both teams gave a lot to the NBA with Euwing, Jordan, Worthy, Carolina Center Sam Perkins and Georgetown’s “Sleepy” Floyd all enjoying huge post-college success.