An Ace In The Hole

Crum's only real passion is for the novels of Louis L'Amour, author of 100-plus Westerns. "I get so involved in them that they can take my mind off anything," says Crum, who owns many of L'Amour's books. "I've read each one at least twice." Like Crum, L'Amour produces consistently, and like Crum's team, he features rugged individualists who band together to get the job done.

Louis L'Amour, Louisville l'amour. You have to love the 'Ville and its Card-carrying freshman Ellison. Reserve some space on the shelf for the next title.

This was a legends-once-removed Final Four in which John Wooden, Dean Smith and Bob Knight met by proxy. Each had a prot�g� leading a team: Wooden, Crum; Smith, Kansas's Larry Brown; and Knight, Krzyzewski. And if no one from Minot (N. Dak.) State Teachers College or anywhere else was stepping eagerly forward to claim LSU's Dale Brown as a disciple, no matter; Brown was passing himself off as a whole different breed of believer. "David and Goliath isn't a Greek myth," he said on the eve of the Saturday afternoon semifinal with favored Louisville. "It's a Biblical truth."

Brown's Tigers certainly seemed David-like at halftime Saturday when they led the Cards by eight. LSU had out-scrapped and outhustled the 'Ville. Forward Don Redden, whose head fake could lure a mesquite stump out of an arid riverbed, kept the Cards constantly off balance, and at one point 6'6" Ricky Blanton growled so loudly at Ellison that Never Nervous Pervis was rattled into a bad pass.

At halftime Crum was particularly irked at Wagner, who had gone a tepid 2 for 6 with four turnovers. "Coach is smooth," said Wagner. "Cool Hand Luke. He don't throw no chairs, but he gets his point across. He said, 'You're my senior leader and you're playing like a freshman.' We took his advice and took it to our knowledge."

And took it to LSU. Over those five minutes that Taylor referred to, the Cards went on a 17-1 run. Wagner had four hoops in that stretch, including three long jumpers, while Louisville's press began to take its toll, forcing LSU to shoot sooner than it would have liked. "We couldn't get into a rhythm after we beat their press up the floor," said Brown when the 88-77 loss was over.

Like LSU, Kansas looked terrific early, charging out to an 8-2 lead over Duke. But then the Jayhawks' Ron Kellogg launched an air ball, which only got the notorious Duke student section into the game. The Blue Devils grabbed the lead before Kansas scored again, on a hook shot by 7-foot Greg Dreiling. As for 6'11" Danny Manning, the Jayhawks' star forward spent much of the first half on the bench because of foul trouble and sank only one field goal against Alarie all night.

Final Four week began inauspiciously for Manning. When Kansas checked into Dallas's swank Adolphus Hotel, Manning espied the well-stocked pantry in his room and gobbled a jar of cashews without realizing a $10 charge would be posted to his account. Come Saturday, Alarie similarly devoured Manning. He kept the Jayhawk soph from getting the ball—and thus his favored flick-jumper—and helped goad Manning and Dreiling into the very foul trouble that Larry Brown had said his team would have to avoid to win. Said Duke's David Henderson, "You can tell when an impact player isn't having a big impact."

Manning's only other field goal—it came over Jay Bilas after Alarie was caught in a switch—put Kansas up 65-61 with 4:25 left. "We don't worry at a time like that," said Alarie. "We pick ourselves up and execute more sharply." Dawkins threw in a jumper from the top of the key, Alarie forced a Manning miss and Duke controlled, with a chance to tie. Alarie took Henderson's whip pass, dunked the ball and at the same time drew Manning's fifth foul. Duke was even at 65, and Manning joined Dreiling, who'd fouled out three minutes earlier, on the bench.

The Blue Devils now knew they would have their way in the paint. Moments later, with the score tied at 67, Danny Ferry slapped both palms to the floor, as Dookies—even freshmen Dookies—do to remind themselves to give ground grudgingly, and then he snatched an errant Thompson shot.