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Youth is served
Unpredictability was the hallmark for 2002-03 season
Posted: Tuesday April 08, 2003 11:50 AM
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By Mark Button, SI.com
Ten years from now, no one will remember how dominant Kentucky and Arizona were during the 2002-03 college basketball season.
Seriously, they won't. Fans will remember Carmelo. They'll remember his joyous romp through the NCAA tournament, a brief moment in time before he became a perennial NBA All-Star. They'll remember the Jim Boeheim-Roy Williams showdown, Kirk Hinrich and Nick Collison.
They'll remember T.J. Ford.
Five years from now, only people in Wisconsin will be able to tell you that Marquette was even in the Final Four. It's always the lowest-profile team that gets forgotten first.
Seven months from now, when Midnight Madness rolls around and we get ready to do this whole thing again, what will be remembered most about this season will be its sheer unpredictability.
Think about it: Syraucse started the season unranked. The Orangemen finished No. 1.
Once the national championship pairings were set, most experts picked Kansas to win the title because the Jayhawks had that one thing teams absolutely needed ... experience. Experience, experience, experience. Everyone said it took senior leadership to win a title. You know, if you wanted to do this thing right, you had to get to the Final Four once, lose in the semis, then come back the next year. That way, you'd really be ready. They pointed to Maryland from 2001-02. They cited Michigan State in 2000.
No one told Syracuse.
The Orangemen won Boeheim's long-awaited championship with guts and talent, not experience.
Who could have predicted that?
A year from now, will you remember what a huge factor the home-court advantage was during the season? It seemed only Kentucky and Arizona had sustained success away from home. And where did it get them? That's right. Nowhere.
Unpredictable.
That's what we'll say about the 2002-03 season.
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In keeping with our tradition of selecting the best five players based on the previous week's games, we present SI.com's 2003 All-Final Four Team:
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MVP: Carmelo Anthony, Syracuse. Easiest part of writing this column. The kid is just plain filthy. He scored 53 points in two games, and missed a triple double in the championship game by three assists. Seriously, though, why would you want 'Melo passing the ball anyway? We can speak for fans of every Big East school -- save Syracuse -- when we say, "Just go pro already!"
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Guard: Gerry McNamara, Syracuse. G-Mac couldn't miss in the first half of the championship game. It didn't matter what kind of defense Kansas threw at this little Scott Skiles clone, he drained six of eight from behind the 3-point arc in the first 20 minutes. Syracuse's "other" freshman finished with 18 in the title game and scored 19 in the national semifinal victory against Texas. |
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Forward: Keith Langford, Kansas. The Fort Worth native slashed through Marquette for 23 points on 11-of-14 shooting. The lanky, 6-4 lefty drew the dubious task of checking 'Melo in the title game, and quickly found himself in foul trouble. Still, he put up 19 points and enfused Kansas with some life late in the title game despite playing with four fouls. Like us, Langford must still be scratching his head on that phantom fifth foul.
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Forward: Nick Collison, Kansas. We give the big guy a nod, despite his horrid 3-of-10 free throw shooting in the championship. Collison was a force against Syracuse, and the Orangemen had no answer for him (well, except to foul him). One of the best four-year players you'll see for a long time, Collison finished with 19 points and 21 rebounds on Monday night.
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Guard: Brandon Mouton, Texas.
The trip home to New Orleans began promisingly enough, with Mouton scoring 15 of Texas' first 17 points against Syracuse. He had 20 at the half, including 4-fo-5 3-pointers. The 6-4 guard from Lafayette, La., cooled down in the second half and finished with 25 points, but his performance was good enough to land on the Starting Five.
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DUNK: Jim Boeheim
It's trite to say that one coach "deserves" a national championship any more than another, but one can't help but feel good for Boeheim. For as much ink as Roy Williams gets for not winning The Big One in his 15 years at Kansas, Williams' wait has been a catnap compared to Boehiem's 27-year journey. Props to Boehiem also for sticking out his neck and recruiting a kid everyone in America knew would only stay one year. Look how that turned out.
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AIR BALL: Dick Baddour, UNC athletic department
Could the Tar Heels' timing have been any worse? Firing Matt Doherty right before the Final Four -- and putting all that pressure on Roy Williams -- doesn't seem like the right approach to tempt your No. 1 candidate. Probably won't matter, as Williams probably is going to take the job this time ... which begs the question: If Williams leaves because he's tired of the expectations of the spoiled Kansas fans, what does he expect from the hyper-spoiled Tar Heels fans?
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DUNK: Drew Nicholas' buzzer beater against UNC-Wilmington
Easily the best shot of the tournament and possibly The Shot of the entire season. Compare it to any number of NCAA buzzer beaters: Christian Laettner's shot in 1992 to beat Kentucky, Tyus Edny's race pace Missouri in 1995. Nicholas basically did what Edny did, but instead of going to the glass for a teardrop layup, the Maryland senior sprinted the far corner and let loose a running 3-pointer off one leg. And the ball never touched the rim. Incredible.
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AIR BALL: Any school who even interviews Jim Harrick
He's everything that's wrong about college basketball. He's a disease. Sure, he's going to win basketball games. As a game coach, the man is brilliant. But he's left a trail of scandal everywhere he's been; why would it be any different on the next stop? Harrick claimed he was retiring, but we can just imagine the snake's head creeping up in a couple years, looking to get back in the game. Don't let him.
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DUNK: Bob Huggins
Some things just never change. Huggins began the year in the unfamiliar position of being a "feel-good" story. He survived a massive heart attack and returned the sideline for Midnight Madness. But, in typical Huggs fashion, he flamed out to finish the season, getting ejected from Cincinnati's first-round loss to Gonazaga. |
AIR BALL: Alternate, black road jerseys
Enough already. We know why schools such Duke, Florida, Georgia, UCLA wear those ugly, non-school colored alternate road unis. You know why, too: It's about money. The schools want to sell more jerseys to dolts and bandwagoneers who don't know any better. We except more out of you. Don't buy them, and let's hope they go away soon -- forever.
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It's never too early to start looking at next year. Especially for the 326 Division I teams who didn't win the national championship. Thus, we present SI.com's pre-preseason Top Five.
1. Duke: Chris Duhon returns for his seventh, err, fourth year for the Blue Devils (it seems like seven, though, doesn't it?), and the path has finally cleared for Daniel Ewing to become a star. Sharp-shooting J.J. Redick and continually improving Sheldon Williams will be joined by top-three national recruit Loul Deng, a 6-foot-7 swingman from New Jersey.
2. Arizona: Yeah, the Wildcats will miss Luke Walton and Jason Gardner. But not for long. Arizona will be loaded once again. Like Ewing at Duke, Salim Stoudamire is ready to become a national power. Channing Frye's ready, too. The Wildcats' best athlete from 2002-03, Hassan Adams, will finally get to start. Running the show at the point will be super-frosh Shakur Mustafa, a top-10 national recruit from Pennsylvania.
3. UConn: We were down on the Huskies for most of this year, but with Emeka Okafor back, UConn will be tough next year. UConn returns everyone -- Ben Gordon will a junior -- and Taliek Brown got stronger as this season played out.
4. Illinois: Yes, Brian Cook will be a huge loss. But incoming super-frosh Charlie Villanueva has the NBA-type skills that could make him the next Carmelo Anthony (Goodness, already with the next 'Melo takes?). Plus, Dee Brown, Deron Williams and Jame Augstine will be sophomores and Roger Powell will be a junior. Expect to see Illinois in one of the next two Final Fours -- perhaps both.
5. North Carolina: Turmoil? What turmoil? Once the Tar Heels find their coach -- be it Roy Williams, Larry Brown or someone else -- this team will be ready to roll. Sean May, Rashad McCants, Ray Felton and Jawad Williams? That's a ton of talent. A word of advice to the new coach, however. Try not to yell too much. These same talented players might get cry to the athletic director and get you fired.
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A look back at some of the more memorable quotes from the season:
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"We wanted to make a statement, but we have to earn it. The way we can earn it is by going out and playing hard against good teams like this. Maybe we sent a message to other teams that you've got to take us seriously."
-- Kentucky senior center Jules Camara just five games into the 2002-03 season, after Kentucky drilled UNC 98-81 on Dec. 7.
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"I don't see why not. I told them [that] Johnny Dawkins, when he was a freshman at Duke, lost by 43 to Virginia. And two years later he was in the national championship. This team can do the same thing. The foundation has been laid."
-- After a 40-point loss to Maryland on Feb. 22, Matt Doherty uttered these words when questioned if he thought UNC freshmen Sean May and Rashad McCants would return for next season. Who knew at that point it would be Doherty who wouldn't return?
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"There isn't a thing as a must-win game. What's going to happen if we lose the next two games? Is Lubbock going to fall off the map? Is the university going to fail to operate? They are two games that we'd like to win, and we're going to do everything we can to win those two games. That's all."
-- Bobby Knight on March 2, responding to a question from a reporter who asked the Texas Tech coach if the last two Big 12 games were "must-wins."
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"I've never seen Cameron like it was in the second half. It's indicative of the attitude that's been surrounding our team all year long; you know, 'We're Duke and we should win instead of giving these kids [support].' We've won too much. This has been such a good year for us. We're 21-5 and these kids have played their butts off and it's like nobody knows -- especially our fans."
-- Mike Krzyzewski was unimpressed by the Cameron Crazies' lack of emotion following Duke’s 72-56 victory against FSU on Senior Night in Durham, N.C.
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"That was the first time since my freshman year that I didn't get double-teamed. I was waiting for it, but it never came, so coach kept calling my number. That's probably the last time I'll see it this year."
-- Xavier's David West after he lit up Dyaton for 47 points on Dayton on Feb. 8.
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"I've got six inches on him and he still got it off. It was a great play. What is he? A freshman. Oh, my God."
-- Georgia’s Jarvis Hayes on Jan. 11, after Florida freshman Anthony Roberson drilled a top-of-the-key 3-pointer at the buzzer to beat Georgia.
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"You just sit back and watch. Once it left his hand, it looked good. When you see a guy get hot like that, you just give him the rock."
-- UCLA forward Dijon Thompson on teammate Jason Kapono’s 44-point effort against Washington State on Jan. 4.
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Mark Button covers College Basketball for CNNSI.com |
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