The Forgettable March: 1996

I enjoy looking back at older March Madnesses. A nostalgic fool, perhaps, but a happy fool. Thinking about the 0 or 5 anniversary years, there were Final 4’s to remember. 35 years ago, Coach K and Duke shocked UNLV. There were Final 4’s to make you vomit, 2001 and 2011 were awful. Then there was 1996. Do you remember the ‘96 tournament? Sure, if you’re a Syracuse or Kentucky fan. UMass and Mississippi State fans do, too, since neither has been back to the Final 4 since. But what do you remember about this particular tournament? Let’s look back.

EAST REGION

The East region was largely chalk except for 12-seed Arkansas making the Sweet 16. The Razorbacks weren’t as good as ‘93-‘95 Arkansas but still talented. They beat Penn State and Marquette to make a return trip to the Sweet 16. Upsets by seeding, hardly Cinderella. Luckily, I was at work when Marquette lost.

The regional final was UMass lead by Marcus Camby taking on Georgetown and Allen Iverson, the 1 and 2-seeds respectively. The game was a blowout with UMass winning 86-62. Georgetown’s Big East title game was more memorable against UConn. Speaking of...

SOUTHEAST REGION

In the SE region (Yes, it was still the Southeast and not South), UConn was the 1-seed and prohibitive favorite. They entered the tournament 30-2 and had just outlasted Georgetown in one on the more memorable Big East title games and were lead by Ray Allen. The Huskies would be shocked by Mississippi State, the 5-seed in the regional semi-final. Though the final score was close, the Bulldogs largely controlled the game and questions arose about whether Jim Calhoun would ever make a Final 4.

In the regional final, Mississippi State won by 10 over 2-seed Cincinnati in a snoozer. In other games in this region, Eastern Michigan beat Duke in a 8-9 game. Just wild remembering that.

MIDWEST REGION 

Kentucky strolled through this region, winning the regional final over Wake Forest and Tim Duncan by 20.

In other notes, UWGB would lose in the 8-9 games against Ace Custis and Virginia Tech, 61-49. Mike Heideman had replaced Dick Bennett at this point but still had Jeff Nordgaard. I recall consternation over the seeding for UWGB and they scored 49 in an opening round loss. Sounds Bennett familiar.

WEST REGION

Now, this region had some juice. Purdue survived as a 1-seed in the opener over Western Carolina, 73-71. It was tied at 71 with 1:29 and Western Carolina had 3 shots to tie or win, helped in part by Brad Miller missing a front end of a 1-and-1 with 11.6 left. I swear Brad Miller just graduated.

Purdue’s luck ran out a game later, as 8-seed Georgia and Tubby Smith handled the Boilers with relative ease, 76-69. Georgia looked like it may upset 4-seed Syracuse next but a Jason Cipolla bucket tied the game at the buzzer. In overtime, John Wallace would hit a game-winning 3 at the horn. Wallace would finish with 30 points and 15 boards as he had a legendary tournament.

Their opponent in the regional final would be Kansas who outlasted Arizona 83-80 in the other semifinal. On that Kansas team was Jacques Vaughn, Paul Pierce, Jerod Haase, Scott Pollard and Raef Lafrentz. Of course, Arizona would shock KU a year later in another regional final. Syracuse would beat KU 60-57 in an ugly game where both teams shot 35%. The most memorable moment would be Al McGuire dancing with Syracuse after the game. That’s the highlight of the tournament.

THE FINAL FOUR

It was terrible, well, largely forgettable. Syracuse handled Mississippi State and UK did the same against UMass. The final saw a game Syracuse team try to keep up with Kentucky’s “Untouchables” but had 24 turnovers and foul trouble for John Wallace. The Orange would close within 2 late but timely shots by Tony Delk ended the suspense. Kentucky would have 9 players from that roster play in the NBA.

Kentucky looked like a potential dynasty and maybe they were as much as a team can be in the modern era, playing in 3 straight title games and 4 Final Fours in 6 years. 

Fun fact: This would be the last Final 4 at a basketball arena before permanently moving to domes. The Final 4 was played in East Rutherford, NJ, the first Final 4 in the NYC area since 1950.