Origins are elusive, nebulous things.
Did Abner Doubleday invent baseball ... or was it Alexander J. Cartwright, Jr.?
Did Dr. James Naismith invent basketball ... or was it the Mayans?
Did Barry Manilow really write the songs that make the whole world
sing?
We can't be sure. The nascent moments are lost to us now. All we have are
traces and whispers.
But in this crazy, mixed-up world, where history gets calibrated on a
slip-'n'-slide scale of subjectivity and context, there is one original and
indisputable fact you can count on, and it is this:
The modern NCAA men's basketball tournament was born on March 26, 1979 in
Salt Lake City.
Not your mom and pop's tournament. Not the one CCNY took the same year they
won the NIT in '50. Not the one the Wizard of Westwood claimed 10 times.
No, I'm talking about the modern tournament; the one Magic and Larry
ushered in on their backs; the one that went Mad; the one you lay your dimes
down in an office pool every year for; the one with live look-ins and Dick
and Digger. You know the one. The one delivered squealing and hungry 24
years back -- that's the one, that's the point of origin.
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| Magic Johnson and Larry Bird, center, mesmerized a TV audience in the 1979 NCAA title game. |
And so it is, when we set out to grade the Final Fours, and figure the
overall GPA for the big weekend (because, you know, that's the kind of thing
we fall out of bed doing around here) we begin with '79.
1979: Michigan State, Indiana State, Penn and DePaul
Great stories everywhere you look: MSU and DePaul make it back to
championship weekend for the first time in 714 years, Penn brings a
ninth-seed and an upset of North Carolina to the party, and the Sycamores
come in unbeaten, untied and unapologetic about their smalltown status. Add
to that an unconscious performance from Legend in the semi and the Clash of
the Titans angle in the final, and it all adds up to an A.
Only problem is, important and captivating as it is, the championship game is kind of ragged,
and the most effective player on the floor is Terry Donnelly. You remember
Terry Donnelly, right? I do too, but you and me, we're sick basketball
junkies, you can't go by us.
Grade: A-
1980: Louisville, UCLA, Iowa and Purdue
I can't judge this thing. I was wearing Bruin blue-and-gold, doing the
eight-clap and singing "Hail to the Hills of Westwood" with my mom. I hated
Darrell Griffith on principle. I had a Joe Barry Carroll voodoo doll (which
seemed to keep working right through his days with the Warriors -- sorry,
JB).
For me, this thing's an A-, and it only gets a minus because, well,
UCLA lost (my therapist says it's important for me to recognize this fact
out loud; says it's an important part of my making peace with it and maybe
some day moving on). But for some of you, some of you who were maybe charmed
by the youthful enthusiasm (Louisville started four underclassmen and the
Bruins started two freshmen and brought two others off the bench early and
often), but who were less than impressed with the way that young energy
translated into about 37 turnovers per half, the weekend might
grade out closer to a B-. I'm not hearing C. Don't tell me C.
Grade: B-freakin'-minus -- That's as low as I'll go.
1981: Indiana, North Carolina, LSU and Virginia
A weird pall hangs over this one. President Reagan was shot the afternoon of
the final. Indiana center Landon Turner broke his neck the following summer
in a car accident and became a quadriplegic. There were great talents on
display -- Isiah, Sam Perkins, James Worthy, Al Wood, Ralph Sampson -- but
it's hard to see them clearly through the mists of history, public and
private.
Grade: Let's call it a B, out of respect.
1982: North Carolina, Georgetown, Houston and Louisville
The Superdome -- the Game is a big-time spectacle. Patrick's five
goaltending calls in the first half -- the Game is all springs and
intimidation. MJ's jumper near the end -- the Game is all cool-customer
clutch and carpe diem. Fred Brown's wrong-guy pass at the last -- the Game
is, like Jim McKay says, the human drama of athletic competition. It's a
Prego weekend: Whatever you want, "it's in there."
Grade: A
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| There was Lorenzo Charles to slam home an improbable title over Phi Slamma Jamma. |
1983: North Carolina State, Houston, Georgia, and Louisville
There was the new thing -- Houston and Louisville put on the kind of show
you needed Darryl Dawkins to describe: It was teeth-shaking, glass-breaking,
rump-roasting, bun-toasting, wham-bam, glass-breaker I-am-jam stuff. There
was the old thing -- N.C. State brought the scrappy underdog, slow-it-down,
draw-it-out-and-look-for-the-openings approach from mythic days gone by.
There was the new thing, there was the old thing, and then there was
Lorenzo.
Grade: A+
1984: Georgetown, Houston, Kentucky and Virginia
Only one standout stat from the weekend: In the second half of the semi
against Georgetown, Kentucky shot 9.1 percent from the field. 9.1. Look at
that -- that's some beautiful D and some powerful whammy at work.
Interesting, but profoundly unattractive, ball.
Grade: C
1985: Villanova, Georgetown, Memphis State and St. John's
After Villanova shot 78.6 percent against Georgetown to win the title,
several Kentucky players from 1984, looking to get their confidence back,
hoping to once again believe that the world is a fair and just place full of
hope and possibility, came to spend the summer with 'Nova players: They were
paired up like camp buddies, the Wildcats who could shoot, gently
encouraging the Wildcats who couldn't to take chances again. Except for one
nasty episode in which Mel Turpin curled up in a fetal position on a curb,
afraid to cross the street, the experiment was a success.
Grade: A- (points off for the underdog's no-shot-clock-in-the-tourney-aided
upset)
1986: Louisville, Duke, LSU and Kansas
There was a time when a freshman star was a rare thing. There was a time
when folks said, "It's unbelievable a freshman can handle that kind of
pressure and play as well as he did." It was an innocent time. We were
younger then, more romantic.
Grade: C+
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| Keith Smart's shot over Syracuse's Howard Triche gave Indiana the '87 title. |
1987: Indiana, Syracuse, UNLV and Providence
De La Soul put it best: "Count not the negative actions of one/Speakers of
soul say it's time to shout/Three forms the soul to a positive sum/Dance to
this fix and flex every muscle." Freddie Banks and Billy Donovan were
disciples of the hip-hop gospel in '87, launching free from three (in the
first year it was part of the game). It was dizzying, it was dazzling ... it
just wasn't enough to outshine Keith Smart and his little old-fashioned two
with five seconds to go in the final.
Grade: B+
1988: Kansas, Oklahoma, Duke and Arizona
Danny Manning was Griffithelicious, he was Givensesque, he drove the Austin
Carr.
Grade: B+
1989: Michigan, Seton Hall, Illinois and Duke
FTs in OT = A. Add in bonus points for the "Michigan Man" Steve Fisher
storyline, Glenn Rice's men-against-boys shooting, Seton Hall's pluck,
Illinois' loaded lineup and Duke's pedigree, and you get ...
Grade: A+
1990: UNLV, Duke, Georgia Tech and Arkansas
How good were the Rebels? How boring is the cakewalk coronation of a heavy
favorite? This is the Super Bowl XXIV of Final Fours.
Grade: D (It would have been an F, but I have a soft spot for the Hank
Gathers-less Loyola run earlier in the tournament -- which UNLV crushed, of
course -- and am impressed by the lineup of future first-round draft picks
on the floor during the final weekend, including: Larry Johnson, Stacey
Augmon, Greg Anthony, Christian Laettner, Oliver Miller, Dennis Scott and
Kenny Anderson.)
1991: Duke, Kansas, UNLV and North Carolina
Bobby Hurley was like Peter Brady knocking out Buddy Hinton's tooth (the
year before he'd been the glee-club Peter, all sensitive and overwhelmed) in
the semi against the seemingly invincible UNLV team. The Dukies rose up and
faced their demons, then turned around and beat a very game Kansas squad for
the title.
Grade: A
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| Chris Webber's ill-fated timeout helped Eric Montross and Carolina celebrate in '93. |
1992: Duke, Michigan, Indiana and Cincinnati
You could write a book -- in fact, a good friend of mine once did -- on the
clash between the styles, traditions and popular perceptions of Duke's
Hurley-Laettner-Hill trinity and Michigan's Fab Five. The title game wasn't
close, but it was a compelling weekend nonetheless.
Grade: B
1993: North Carolina, Michigan, Kansas and Kentucky
The timeout we remember, almost everything else, including the championship
squad, is forgettable.
Grade: C
1994: Arkansas, Duke, Arizona and Florida
As my good friend Larry (who delivers the most potent playground-hoop
forearm shiver I know) always says, defense wins championships. Well,
defense and a last-second Scotty Thurman rainbow three.
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Vote for the best Final Four
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Eric Neel has offered his opinion. Now we want you to tell us which Final Four was the best. Here are Eric's top six:
1983: A+ Semis: Houston 94, Louisville 81; N.C. State 67, Georiga 60. Final: N.C. State 54, Houston 52.
1989: A+ Semis: Michigan 83, Illinois 81; Seton Hall 95, Duke 78. Final: Michigan 80, Seton Hall 79 (OT).
1982: A Semis: North Carolina 68, Houston 63; Georgetown 50, Louisville 46. Final: UNC 63, G-Town 62.
1991: A Semis: Duke 79, UNLV 77; Kansas 79, North Carolina 73. Final: Duke 72, Kansas 65.
1985: A- Semis: Georgetown 77, St. John's 59; Villanova 52, Memphis State 45. Final: Villanova 66, G-Town 64.
1979: A- Semis: Michigan State 101, Penn 67; Indiana State 76, DePaul 74. Final: MSU 75, ISU 64.
Do you agree with Eric? Click here to vote for the best Final Four of the "modern era."
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Grade: B
1995: UCLA, Arkansas, Oklahoma State and North Carolina
Jim Harrick looked so good then. Come to think of it, so did Big Country.
And the Arkansas intensity was impressive, too ... until tip-off of the final,
that is.
Grade: C+
1996: Kentucky, Syracuse, UMass and Mississippi State
There were angles: What was Mississippi State doing there? (A question
obviously on the mind of commemorative hat makers, who mistakenly left the
word "State" off the Bulldogs' hats.) Which crazy-motivated, high-energy
Italian coach would win the UMass-KY tilt? Would John Wallace, a matchup
zone and some yeah-it's-a-long-hard-winter-and-we-split-our-own-wood-up-here-in-'Cuse-Country-thank-you-very-much desire be enough to avoid humiliation in the title game?
And then there were angles, like the obtuse ones at which shots kept
clanging off the rim Monday night, and the clumsy ones at which balls kept
skipping off hands, feet and hardwood. The Orangemen turned the ball over
approximately 412 times, and at one point Jim Boeheim had an intern checking
eligibility rules on a 52-year-old former high school point guard sitting in
the third row courtside. The champs meanwhile -- the winning team --
shot 38.4 percent from the floor, the lowest percentage since Loyola of
Chicago players came out blindfolded as part of an early Civil Rights-era
call for justice (no justice, no peace; no justice, no swish -- that was
their thing) in 1963.
Grade: D
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| Memories of '97: A wild weekend in Vegas watching Miles Simon lead 'Zona all the way. |
1997: Arizona, Kentucky, North Carolina and Minnesota
I watched part of this tournament in Vegas. There were cheap drinks and
cheaper steaks. There was a delirious all-night run at a one-dollar
blackjack table that netted me 47 beautiful dollars (which, of
course, meant more cheap drinks and cheap steaks and some very, very good
strawberry waffles). There might have been a pile-in-the-phone-booth cab
ride at one point, and there was a swim-in-every-pool-on-the-strip
challenge, I remember. It was giddy stuff.
Was the Final Four any good?
Well, 37.9 percent shooting from a very young AZ team says, No, not so much.
But the bleary-eyed Vegas romantic in me says, Yeah, but come on, there was
overtime, and a stirring, improbable four-seed youth movement for the
trophy, and besides, there were steaks, steaks for all my friends.
Grade: C
Vegas Grade: A, baby
(Editor's Note: Eric included a three-sentence sequence in this write-up on
the gritty, gutty Gophers team. However, we were forced to delete the passage
when it was discovered that it was not actually written by Eric, but by a
University of Minnesota tutor who claimed he had been coerced and
threatened. The tutor, understandably rattled, is not available for
comment.)
1998: Kentucky, Utah, Stanford and North Carolina
The year when the trade of top talent (gone to the NBA) for parity paid off
in drama. Comebacks, buzzer-beaters, madness, I tell you, sheer madness.
That and a title-winning coach named Tubby will get you a ...
Grade: B
1999: Connecticut, Duke, Ohio State and Michigan State
In the interest of objectivity, we here at ESPN in Bristol, CT will say only
this: We congratulate the Huskies on their dramatic victory, and we
congratulate all the competitors on a hard-fought, entertaining tournament.
Grade: Abstain
2000: Michigan State, Florida, Wisconsin and North Carolina
Two eight-seeds in the Final Four: One slow-down ugly, one Carolina Blue and
ugly (called it "powder" blue in a piece once -- never do that; lots of
feverish, impatient letters will come your way ... you don't think I'll get
any of those for calling the Heels of '00 ugly, do you?). Veteran leadership
in the champs' triumphs over youthful blah, blah, blah, blah, blah (for full
effect, please say these blahs the way Charlie Brown's teacher would -- all
up in the incoherent nose).
Grade: D+
2001: Duke, Arizona, Maryland and Michigan State
Duke's win in the final over a very strong Arizona team was impressive, but
their comeback from being down 17 to Maryland in the semi is what makes the
weekend. In a very un-Duke-like moment, Coach K told his kids to "just
play." Watching them loose, wild and hungry was the most entertaining Duke
had been since the days of Banks and Gminski.
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| Juan Dixon led Maryland past Indiana in a dud of a Final Four. |
Grade: B+
2002: Maryland, Indiana, Kansas and Oklahoma
Confession: I turned the championship game off. I'm not proud of it, but
there it is. The outcome seemed inevitable, the style was bland, there was
nothing to hold onto. It's only a year back, and I can't remember a thing
about the game. Maybe it's me, maybe I'm growing jaded and distant, maybe
the demands of the workaday world have dulled my feel for the kids. No,
that's not it.
Grade: F
Cumulative Final Four GPA: B- (2.72)
Solid. Bit of a swoon lately, and nothing like the highs of the '80s in a
long while, but solid overall.
And this year's might be a bounce-back weekend. Kansas vs. Texas in the
veteran's showdown, or maybe Syracuse delivering Boeheim his long overdue
hardware. Or maybe Marquette, and some vintage clips of Al and Bo Ellis in
those funky unis from '77. Yeah, that'd be nice.
Eric Neel is a regular columnist for Page 2.
