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Unpredictable

Final Fours in New Orleans have memorable endings

Posted: Monday March 31, 2003 9:44 PM

By Larry Smith, SI.com

Hoops fans, next stop -- New Orleans. The Big Easy. The Crescent City. The land of beignets, Mardi Gras, underground canals -- and some of the closest NCAA title games played in the past couple of decades.

Think this trip to Nawlins will be a Texas runaway? Think again. Here's a quick look at New Orleans' NCAA title game history:

1982 -- In the first NCAA championship played in New Orleans, North Carolina freshman Michael Jordan hit the game-winning shot and then sure-handed Georgetown guard Fred Brown mysteriously passed the ball in the open court right into the hands of Tar Heel James Worthy. The 63-62 final was the first one-point championship game in 23 years, and the last one until ...

1987 -- Indiana's Keith Smart, a Baton Rouge native and former Saints usher, drained the 16-foot baseline jumper with :04 left to lift the Hoosiers over Syracuse 74-73. It was the first time Smart's dad had ever seen him play.

1993 -- The infamous timeout game. In his final collegiate contest, Michigan's Chris Webber calls a TO, even though the Wolverines didn't have one left. North Carolina ended up with Dean Smith's second NCAA title (both won in New Orleans), and Michigan's famed "Fab Five" settled for back-to-back national runner-up finishes in their first two seasons in college and only seasons playing together.

How bizarre does this weekend figure to be? Kansas coach Roy Williams, so many times a victim of March Madness, goes in as the experienced Final Four coach. This is his fourth trip, more than the other three coaches combined.

Other tidbits

For just the third time since 1976 we have a Final Four without a team from the ACC or Big Ten. The Big 12 had no teams reach the Final Four in its first five years in existence. Now it has placed four teams in the past two years.

Just as Dean Smith's lifelong quest for an NCAA title ended in New Orleans 21 years ago, could this be the place where Williams (a Smith assistant in 1982 and now in his 15th year as Kansas' head coach) also grabs that elusive brass ring?

Good news for Syracuse -- the East Regional champ has fared well recently. The past two won it all (Maryland in 2002, Duke in 2001), the previous two reached the title game (Florida 2000, Duke 1999).

Could karma be this strong? The last time Kansas won it all, in 1988,they were aided by a replacement starter. Jeff Gueldner's sharp shooting helped offset the loss of injured shooting guard Kevin Pritchard. JC transfer Jeff Graves saved his best game for Saturday night and his steady improvement has quietly allowed the Jayhawks faithful to stop lamenting over the loss of athletic big man Wayne Simien.

Marquette becomes the first team from Conference USA to reach the Final Four. Cincinnati advanced in 1992, but the league was then known as the Great Midwest Conference.

Texas’ trip to New Orleans ends a 19-year drought for teams from the Lone Star State. Houston was the last to reach the Final Four in 1984.

Was it fair that Syracuse and not, say, Pittsburgh, got to play in Albany, N.Y.? No, but let's stop bellyaching over the home-court edge debate. Would you rather have what we had in 2001 -- South Regional games in New Orleans and Atlanta played before thousands of empty seats because none of the teams were within driving distance?

Make no mistake, there is a clear advantage. Of the past seven teams to play a regional final game in their home state, six were victorious. But on Sunday, Syracuse and Texas would have won their respective contests anywhere.

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