Friday, February 23, 2018

The Magic of March: The Utes of 1998

Twenty years ago produced one of the best Final 4’s of our lifetime and a tremendous tournament in general. It was Bryce Drew, John Beilein taking a 14-seed Richmond past 3-seed South Carolina, Rip Hamilton ripping out Washington’s heart on a what felt like a dozen attempted putbacks, West Virginia’s Jarrod West banking in a 3 against Cincinnati to shock the 2-seed Bearcats in the round of 32, Rhode Island lead by Cuttino Mobley, Tyson Wheeler and Luther Clay shocking a Kansas team with Paul Pierce and Rae’s Lafrentz, the same Rhode Island team who took Stanford to the brink in a brilliant regional final and of course, the amazing Kentucky comeback at the expense of Duke in another unreal regional final

1998 was what makes the tournament so great. It also proved to be the high point of the career of the legendary Rick Majerus who took Utah to the Final 4 in a year that began as what many perceived to be a rebuilding year. On top of everything else, this was a tournament defined by his coaching decisions and the out of this world brilliance of Andre Miller.

Utah had made two straight 16’s, having lost in 1997 to Kentucky. It would mark the end of the Keith Van Horn era, arguably the greatest player in Utah history. Utah responded by going 25-2 in the regular season, only losing two conference road games. Still, following an opening round loss in the WAC tournament to UNLV, Utah would receive a 3-seed out west behind Cincinnati and defending champ, Arizona who would be the prohibitive favorite in the region.

Utah smothered the Dons of San Francisco to open the dance. They followed that with a 6-point win over Arkansas. Utah caught a bit of a break as they drew West Virginia in the Sweet 16. The Mountaineers, as mentioned before, had shocked 2-seed Cincinnati at the buzzer in the round of 32. Still, while Utah lead throughout the game, it was rarely comfortable and survived a buzzer-beating three that would have tied the game to advance to the regional final.

In the regional final, they would meet the defending champion and favorite, Arizona. The Wildcats has the dynamic back court duo of Miles Simon and Mike Bibby. They also had AJ Bramlett, Jason Terry, Michael Dickerson and Bennett Davison. They may as well have been the Generals to the Utes Globetrotters. Utah ran them off the court in stunning fashion lead by PG Andre Miller’s triple-double. Michael Doleac and Alex Jensen would add double-doubles as Utah dominated in the paint. 

The game is best remembered as the “triangle and two” game. Majerus didn’t exactly invent this as a way to beat Zona. USC had done so during the regular season but it wasn’t something Utah had done all year. They executed it brilliantly. Arizona shot a paltry 28% and Utah crushed them on the glass.

Utah was so proficient at the triangle and two zone, they would employ it again the following week against Final 4 opponent North Carolina. It would work again as the underdog Utes held off the Tar Heels who had Vince Carter and Antwan Jamison on that squad. Shooting star Shammond Williams would be a non-factor against the Utes defense. Andre Miller continued his brilliant play with 16 points, 14 boards and 7 assists.

The Utes magic would last another 30 minutes or so of court time. Utah would come out in the national title game and take a surprising 41-31 lead into half. At the first under four timeout, they still had a ten point lead. Kentucky, the comeback Cats, would claw to a 60-58 lead. Utah answered with 6 straight points before Kentucky exerted their will over the last 4 minutes to pull away an win. Kentucky earned the win with great defense and by making 11 of their final 12 free throws. Majerus would admit afterward, his team had simply run out of gas. Whatever the case, they got everything they could out of that tank of gas.

1998 is why we love March Madness. It had incredible upsets, buzzer beaters, Cinderella’s, compelling matchups and a once-in-a-lifetime type team in Utah make it all the way to cusp of the mountaintop.

1988 gave us Danny and the Miracles and 2008 gave us Mario Chalmers and the blue blood, 1-seed Final 4. What do you have, 2018?

No comments: