A Baker's Dozen at Barnhill South

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Today I continue my retrospective on the Arkansas Razorbacks' 1994 national basketball championship run.

Twenty years ago today, the Razorbacks defeated Michigan in the Elite Eight, 76–68, earning their third Final Four berth in my lifetime.

There is one thing you have to understand about the Razorbacks' relationship with Dallas' Reunion Arena, where the Midwest Regional semifinals and final were played in 1994. It was their home away from home.

Before they left the Southwest Conference, the Razorbacks played in Reunion Arena several times a year — the annual Southwest Conference tournament was played in Reunion Arena, and I think the Razorbacks used to play SMU there, too — and they won with such regularity there that it had come to be known among Arkansas fans as Barnhill South. Barnhill, you see, had been the name of the basketball arena on the Arkansas campus for four decades; in fact, the Hogs moved in to their new home, Bud Walton Arena, earlier in that 1993–94 season.

Coming into their game with the Wolverines 20 years ago today, the Razorbacks had won 12 straight games in Reunion Arena. They seldom played in Dallas after they moved to the Southeastern Conference, but they had dominated Reunion Arena when they were in the SWC — going back to their last loss in Dallas, to Baylor in the 1988 SWC Tournament.

In the NCAA Tournament, Reunion Arena was technically considered a neutral site, but, informally, it was regarded as a home court for Arkansas.

Dallas was within easy driving distance for most Arkansas fans, and the Razorbacks had a large, vocal fan presence that weekend. As I watched on TV, it didn't take much for me to imagine how loud the fans were with "Woo Pig Sooie!" rattling the rafters.

The Wolverines were nearly 1,000 miles from their campus. It might as well have been a home game for the Hogs.

Michigan had problems early. Junior Juwan Howard picked up two fouls in the first two minutes, and, thanks to the way that prevented him from being as aggressive as the Wolverines would have liked, the Razorbacks took a nine–point lead to the locker room, but they had to overcome an early deficit. They missed their first six shots, but a 17–0 first–half run propelled them to their lead.

In the second half, all the Razorbacks had to do was stay even with the Wolverines, and they would punch their ticket for the Final Four in Charlotte, N.C. They never looked back.

Howard was the leading scorer in the game with 30 points, connecting on nearly 65% of his attempts, but the Razorbacks had four starters in double figures.

The First Chapter in the Bird-Magic Rivalry

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I find it ironic that the college basketball national championship game in 1979 is still, 35 years later, the highest–rated college basketball game ever televised.

Because I didn't see it. I've never seen it — only highlights.

In those days, I was working at a self–serve gas station, and I had to work that night. I remember listening to the game on the radio at the station, but I didn't see any of it. I could only imagine what was happening in the host town, Salt Lake City, based on what I heard.

It was between Michigan State and Indiana State, the first matchup of Larry Bird and Magic Johnson in what became a classic NBA rivalry. As USA Today observed five years ago, it was the start of something special.

But that is the sort of observation that can be made in hindsight. Those are easy.

For example, it is easy now to say that Terry Bradshaw and Joe Montana were destined to be four–time Super Bowl champs, but I remember when they both broke into the NFL. All eyes were on others, but, in the course of their careers, Bradshaw and Montana turned struggling franchises into winners.

The same is true of Magic and Bird. At the end of the '80s, it was possible to look back at their epic postseason confrontations and realize that their rivalry had been the kind of thing you rarely find in team sports — a rivalry between two individuals. There were other players who played, of course, but Magic and Bird got the attention.

I guess every NBA team has been a rival of the Celtics since the days of Bill Russell, and every NBA team has been a rival of the Lakers for nearly as long, going back to the days of Wilt Chamberlain. Likewise, fans have to choose sides when the two teams meet, and most of them are likely cheering for a team they never support during the regular season.

I'm not an NBA fan — in fact, I'm really not much of a basketball fan — so I was spared having to make that choice and could simply enjoy watching them play.

You know, it is kind of amusing when I think back on that first encounter between Magic and Bird 35 years ago.

I don't recall the hype that preceded the game. I'm sure it was marketed as some kind of duel between future NBA legends, the kind of hype that accompanies many collegiate confrontations.

That kind of buildup doesn't always prove to be true. At the time, of course, it probably doesn't matter, and few probably remember it years later. Potential doesn't always coincide with reality.

But, in this case, it did.

A Bittersweet Anniversary

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It's been exactly a year since my friend Steve died of cancer.

As I observed on that occasion, it was 19 years exactly since Steve's — and my — beloved Arkansas Razorbacks won their Sweet Sixteen encounter with Tulsa in the 1994 NCAA Tournament here in Dallas.

That day on the calendar has come around again. It is a year since Steve died, and it is now 20 years since the Razorbacks won that game and advanced to the Elite Eight for only the third time in 15 years. They beat Michigan two days later to earn a spot in that year's Final Four, where they would defeat Arizona in the national semifinals and then Duke in the national championship.

That is something that will live in Razorback fans' minds and hearts forever, and my guess is that Steve would prefer that his friends remember that — and not think of this day last year.

Today I am thinking of both. I miss Steve, and I am sorry he is gone. If he could somehow come back today, I would want him to know that he was not forgotten. The Razorbacks are part of that memory. I watched many Razorback games with Steve, including a Cotton Bowl that he and I and a mutual friend, Mike, attended together.

The Tulsa game was one part of a memory that I cherish and always will. That game is often the forgotten piece of the puzzle for Razorback fans, though. Victories over Georgetown, Michigan, Arizona and Duke get more attention, probably because those basketball programs have enjoyed more success over the years.

But Arkansas and Tulsa are natural rivals. The campuses are only about 100 miles apart. When I was growing up, the football teams met every year. Arkansas usually got the best of Tulsa — but not always.

To top it off, Arkansas coach Nolan Richardson coached at Tulsa before he went to Arkansas. The game was loaded with regional significance. Frankly, I was hoping for a classic game. Most Arkansas fans probably hoped for the same thing. We all hoped Arkansas would win, of course, but we hoped Tulsa would make it memorable.

Twenty years ago tonight, the game wasn't competitive. Arkansas simply outclassed Tulsa. The Razorbacks led by 15 at intermission and won by nearly 20.

This year, the Razorbacks made it back to the postseason — NIT this time, not the NCAA Tournament — for the first time since 2008. Last night, they played in the second round against California.

Unfortunately, the Razorbacks lost that game. They fell behind early and, even though they made a few runs at the Bears, they still lost. Ironically, if they had won, their next game would have been here in Dallas — against old Southwest Conference foe SMU.

Steve and I didn't watch that Tulsa game together 20 years ago, and I'm sorry about that. I was living in Oklahoma at the time, and he was back in Little Rock. I'm sorry he didn't live to see the 20th anniversary of that national championship. It probably would have pleased him to reminisce about those days. If I live another two weeks — and I certainly expect to live another two weeks — I will get to do that.

And I will raise a glass to Steve when I toast the Razorbacks of '94.

The End of UCLA's National Title Streak

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It's hard to explain how much things have changed in college sports since this day 40 years ago.

When this day dawned in 1974, the UCLA Bruins had won seven consecutive national basketball titles. They had won 38 straight NCAA Tournament games under coach John Wooden since their last national tournament loss, to Arizona State in the spring of 1963, and they had won national championships every year but one — they didn't qualify for the 1966 tournament.

The Bruins were about to play North Carolina State in the 1974 Final Four. If they won, they were likely to be favored to win their eighth straight national championship against the winner of the Kansas–Marquette game. There was no reason to think they wouldn't.

The Bruins owned the NCAA Tournament in those days. When they were in the field — which, admittedly, was smaller in those days, but it excluded teams that were borderline so the talent wasn't spread as thin. Every game was challenging — you could pencil them in for the Final Four every year. Heck, you could go ahead and pencil them in for the national championship game. They had only missed one in 10 years, and they won all the rest.

The only mystery was which teams would join UCLA in the Final Four city — which, in 1974, was Greensboro, N.C., about 70 miles from the North Carolina State campus.

I don't recall anyone from UCLA expressing concern at the time about the game being so near N.C. State's campus. Between 1971 and 1974, UCLA won 88 consecutive games, many of which were road games. You just don't win that many straight games by worrying about playing on someone else's turf.

The Bruins didn't just beat teams. They overwhelmed them. In the late '60s, they were led by 7–foot–2 Lew Alcindor (later known as Kareem Abdul–Jabbar), then, in the early '70s, by 6–foot–11 Bill Walton, who had perhaps the most amazing national championship game performance ever against Memphis State in 1973.

As great as his performance was (21 of 22 from the field), Walton, playing in his final NCAA Tournament, was about to participate in what Mike Douchant of The Sports Xchange, in 2002, rated the 13th–greatest NCAA Tournament game ever played.

On the surface, it was about as close as a game can be. The score was tied, 35–35, at halftime, then it was tied again, 65–65, at the end of regulation. But, in fact, N.C. State scored in spurts. The Wolfpack had to battle back from an 11–point deficit in the first half and a seven–point deficit in the second half. It wasn't a tight game all the way through.

And, remember, this was more than a decade before college basketball started using a shot clock or added a three–point shot.

Walton wasn't as dominating as he had been against Memphis State, but he was still effective, hitting 13 of 21 from the field and hitting all three of his free throw attempts.

The eventual Most Outstanding Player (MOP) of the tournament, N.C. State's David Thompson, was nearly as effective. He hit 12 of 25 field goal attempts and made four of six free throws.

Their duel 40 years ago today really was the stuff that legends are made of. N.C. State won by three in double overtime. In hindsight, N.C. State's 76–64 triumph over Marquette in the championship game two days later was rather anticlimactic.

Before the Wolfpack claimed the national title against Marquette, UCLA got back on the winning track with a 78–61 victory over Kansas in the third–place game.

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Wooden and the Bruins came back the following year to claim the national title one more time.

But an era, as Sports Illustrated proclaimed, was over. In the 39 years since Wooden's last national championship, the Bruins have won only one national title. In fact, what once was a routine trip to the national championship game has only happened three times for the Bruins since Wooden retired.

Perhaps that explains how much times have changed.

But who knows what will happen in the future — perhaps the near future? The 2013–14 Bruins won their NCAA Tournament opener in San Diego Friday night. They will face Stephen F. Austin in today's second–round game.

They might win their second national crown since the Wooden era ended. But two national titles in 39 years is a far cry from seven titles in seven years.

Marching to a Title

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"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step."

Lao–tzu
Chinese philosopher (604 B.C.-531 B.C.)

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This year is the 20th anniversary of an important event in the history of the University of Arkansas' athletic program.

(I grew up in Arkansas — and I got my undergraduate degree at the U of A — so this is of interest to me. You'll just have to live with it.)

It was on this day that the Arkansas basketball team embarked on its first national title run through the NCAA Tournament.

I was living in central Oklahoma at the time, and, as luck would have it, the Razorbacks were seeded first in the Midwest Regional. The #1 seed in that regional was slated to play the #16 seed (North Carolina A&T) in Oklahoma City, roughly a 30–minute drive from where I lived.

I thought about making the drive to OKC to watch the game in person, but no tickets were available. Oklahoma State's basketball team was playing New Mexico State, and Tulsa was playing UCLA; fans and students of OSU and Tulsa had snapped up all the tickets they could as soon as they could. Local media had been warning fans for days that tickets would only be available through scalpers.

So I stayed home and watched Arkansas' tournament–opening victory over North Carolina A&T on TV.

Frankly, it was a little disappointing. I had been following the Razorbacks from afar all season, and I had been anticipating a #1 seed. It never occurred to me that they wouldn't be a top seed — although I did have my doubts when they didn't make it to the championship game of the SEC Tournament.

Having anticipated a high seed, it's probably obvious that I expected great things from that team — and the Hogs did live up to my expectations.

But their tournament draw was disappointing. I wanted to see them play — and beat — a series of the legendary college basketball programs en route to a national championship. North Carolina A&T hardly qualified, and I must admit I felt rather foolish staying up late on a Friday night to watch the game — which the Razorbacks won easily.

As things turned out, the second–round opponent on Sunday was Georgetown, not a legend on the order of a UCLA or a Kentucky or an Indiana but a latter–day legend nonetheless.

Arkansas went on to play Michigan in the regional final a week later, then faced Arizona and Duke on a Final Four weekend that I never could have imagined. The opposition did kind of live up to my fantasy, I suppose.

Arkansas' march to the national title began 20 years ago today. I wish the Razorbacks were playing for another shot at the national championship this year. For awhile this season, I thought they would be.

They didn't make the cut, though.

However, they are facing Indiana State in the NIT tonight, and that has the potential to be a pretty good consolation prize. Indiana State won their last encounter in the 1979 Elite Eight, 35 years ago yesterday. Arkansas fans have been waiting for a rematch.

That's a long time to wait for redemption. Too bad Bird and Moncrief can't play in it. Bird always said that Moncrief's defensive performance was the best anyone ever played against him.

It's Been a Long Time Coming

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I grew up in Arkansas, and I got my B.A. at the University of Arkansas so I was indoctrinated into Razorback culture early.

Initially, my interest was exclusively football, but then Eddie Sutton came along, and I — along with hundreds of thousands of Arkansans — began following college basketball as a result.

He certainly made it interesting — and it wasn't as if we fans were doing much between football seasons, anyway.

A couple of years after his arrival, he had the Razorbacks in the NCAA Tournament for the first time in nearly 20 years. They were one and done, but that was enough to give Razorback fans a taste of the Big Dance.

The next year, Sutton coached the Razorbacks to the Final Four for only the third time ever. They lost to the eventual national champion, then beat Notre Dame in the third–place game, and Razorback fans were hooked. Expectations the next season, in 1979, were higher than they had ever been in my lifetime, even though many of the stars of that Final Four team had graduated.

It was because of those absent stars that national expectations weren't high at all. In fact, Arkansas was unranked when the season began.

But the Razorbacks still had Sidney Moncrief, who became the school's all–time leading scorer and was a consensus All–American in 1979. Larry Bird was an All–American, too, and his undefeated and top–ranked Indiana State Sycamores were waiting for the Razorbacks 35 years ago today in the Elite Eight in Cincinnati.

The winner would face DePaul in the Final Four in Salt Lake City.

You would be hard pressed to find a tighter ballgame than the one that was played on that St. Patrick's Day. Arkansas led by two points at halftime, then late in the game with the score tied, U.S. Reed was called for walking, and Indiana State was in position to take the final shot.

Everyone expected Bird to take that shot. He had scored 31 points that afternoon, more than double anyone else on his team, but, as the seconds ticked off the clock, teammate Bob Heaton took the shot, made it and sent Indiana State to the Final Four.

It was a heartbreaker for Arkansas fans. Indiana State went on to beat DePaul a week later, then lost to Michigan State in the championship game (which was the first meeting in the now–storied rivalry between Bird and Magic Johnson).

Arkansas and Indiana State haven't faced each other in a basketball game since that day 35 years ago.

Expectations were for the Razorbacks to return to the NCAA Tournament, thanks to a season sweep of Kentucky and a strong finish to the regular season. But that finish was marred by a season–ending loss at Alabama and a loss to South Carolina in the SEC Tournament apparently knocked the Razorbacks out of the NCAA Tournament.

Not long after the pairings were announced, it was announced that Arkansas had accepted an invitation to play in the NIT. Shortly thereafter, it was revealed that their first opponent will be Indiana State tomorrow night — 35 years and a day since that disappointing defeat.

Razorback fans have memories that are longer than elephants'. One wrote on Facebook today that Heaton walked just before making the game–winner. It wasn't called and, to be honest, I don't remember it. But it just goes to show how raw that wound is.

How different would that game have been if college basketball had a shot clock and the three–point shot, neither of which existed at the time? We'll never know. This is a different era with different players and different coaches.

But the fans are the same. Some have died and others have been born since that St. Patrick's Day in 1979, but the loss lives on in the collective memory of Razorback fans. They want revenge.

The game will be televised by ESPN at 8 p.m. (Central). I'm hoping for a more satisfying finish this time.

Hail to the Victors

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It was with mixed emotions last night that I watched Michigan defeat Kansas to earn a trip to the South Regional final against Florida, winner over bracket–buster Florida Gulf Coast, on Sunday.

Ironically, I suppose, I was thinking earlier this week about Michigan's last trip to the Elite Eight. Michigan faced my alma mater, the University of Arkansas, in one of the regional finals in 1994. The Razorbacks won the game and went on to face first Arizona and then Duke en route to the national championship.

The Wolverines haven't been this close to the Final Four since.

But I started thinking about that Arkansas–Michigan game this week because its 19th anniversary was Monday — and it happened that an old friend of mine in Arkansas, Steve, died of cancer that morning.

Had he known about that, I suspect it would have appealed to Steve. He was a diehard Razorback fan, and the victory over the Wolverines on March 25, 1994, surely ranks as one of the great moments in Arkansas basketball history.

That game was played during the "Fab Five" era. Until now, that was the most recent highlight for Michigan basketball, and it is a virtual certainty that none of the players on Michigan's current roster was old enough to remember it.

Tomorrow, the Wolverines will have an opportunity to go farther than any Michigan team has in 20 years. In 1993, Michigan went all the way to the national championship game but lost to North Carolina when Chris Webber tried to call a timeout in the final seconds. Unfortunately, the Wolverines no longer had one, which resulted in a technical being assessed against Webber.

Ultimately, the Wolverines lost the game — and then had to vacate their entire season when it was revealed that Webber had received payments from a booster.

No doubt the Wolverines would rather re–live the 1989 NCAA Tournament, when assistant Steve Fisher took over as head coach when Bill Frieder was fired after announcing just prior to the tournament that he had agreed to coach Arizona State the following season.

In spite of the instability, the Wolverines went on to win it all in a thrilling overtime triumph over Seton Hall.

That game was played in Seattle. This year's Final Four will be played across the continent — in Atlanta.

Nevertheless, will history repeat itself?

And, if so, how? By winning it all, a la 1989? Or blowing the opportunity, as was the case in 1993?

Or will the Wolverines come up short in the regional final, as they did 19 years ago?

All or part of the answer should be revealed tomorrow.

The Age of the Bruins

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I hear the word dynasty tossed around rather casually these days.

It seems to be applied to any team that might win a second straight championship in any sport. But two in a row simply doesn't mean that much to folks of my generation. That isn't what we think of when we think of the word dynasty.

When I was growing up, everyone knew the real definition of the word. It was visible whenever the UCLA basketball team took the court — especially in the early '70s.

In fact, in the early 1970s, the UCLA basketball team put together what is likely to be the longest Division I winning streak ever — 88 wins in a row from 1971 to 1974.

Forty years ago tonight, the Bruins were in pursuit of their second straight perfect season. Not just a national title. It had become routine for UCLA to win national titles. The Bruins weren't always undefeated, but they usually won the national championship.

Maybe that was what it took to light a fire under basketball players from whom championships were expected. A perfect record was on the line this time.

On this night in St. Louis in 1973, they were looking for their seventh consecutive national title. Think about that for a minute. Can you imagine any college program in any sport maintaining that kind of dominance for seven consecutive years?

It's really more remarkable than that. In 12 seasons — from 1963–1964 to 1974–1975 — coach John Wooden led UCLA to 10 national titles.

Now, I don't want to say anything that detracts in any way from what Wooden achieved.

But the truth is that Bill Walton was the real story of the Bruins' victory over Memphis State 40 years ago tonight. He scored 44 points, making 21 of 22 field goal attempts.

It was an amazing performance to watch. Walton was unstoppable, and so was UCLA. It was the era of the Bruins' dominance — long before Duke became a fixture in the Final Four. It was inconceivable in those days that UCLA would not win the national title.

And, in 1973, it was inconceivable that UCLA would lose — ever.

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Of course, the Bruins did lose eventually — nothing lasts forever — but not on this night in 1973.

UCLA has enjoyed a few other championship seasons since the one 40 years ago, but it seems safe to say that this night in 1973 was the program's peak — not unlike when Joe Montana and the San Francisco 49ers dismantled John Elway and the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XXIV.

There really were no more worlds to conquer.

Neither team will be commemorating the 40th anniversary of that game with a return trip to the championship. Both were invited to the tournament, but neither survived opening weekend. UCLA was humbled by Minnesota on Friday night, and Memphis (the State part was dropped many years ago) was eliminated by Michigan State on Saturday.

But even if one (or both) could have played in this year's final, it's hard to see how what happened on this night in 1973 could possibly be topped.

As Good As It Gets

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Ask any college basketball fan to list the greatest games of all time, and there are certain games that any such list is bound to include:

• The 1966 NCAA Tournament title game, in which all–black Texas Western upset favored powerhouse Kentucky.


• The 1979 title game, in which Larry Bird of Indiana State and Magic Johnson of Michigan State gave NBA fans a preview of coming attractions.


• The 1983 title game, in which Jim Valvano's North Carolina State team upset the heavily favored Houston Cougars of Phi Slamma Jamma fame.


• The 1985 title game, in which lightly regarded Villanova shocked Georgetown.

Clearly, many of the memorable games have been the ones in which championships were on the line, although there have been some truly great games played when a title was not at stake ...

... Such as the night in January 1968 when second–ranked Houston defeated top–ranked and defending national champion UCLA in the first college game ever televised nationally in prime time. Prior to that game, UCLA had won 47 consecutive games.

It was called the Game of the Century, and it is widely remembered as the precursor to the March Madness that millions celebrate every year.

And every college basketball fan will tell you that he has certain memories that are special to him — but not necessarily to others.

One of my most cherished memories from my college days was the afternoon when my alma mater, the University of Arkansas, turned back defending champion Louisville with a half–court buzzer shot.

There were so many incredible finishes on that day, wrote Tim Layden of Sports Illustrated recently, that March 14, 1981, was the day that transformed the NCAA Tournament to March Madness.

Or, at least, it was the day when that transformation began.

That may be so.

But, if there was a game that really cemented the tournament's popular image of March Madness, I think it had to be the East Regional final that was played between Duke and Kentucky on this day 20 years ago.

Kentucky, of course, is one of college basketball's elite programs, along with UCLA, North Carolina, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan State, Louisville ...

... and Duke, which may or may not have qualified as an elite program in 1992. Mike Krzyzewski had led the Blue Devils to the national title the year before, but that was Duke's first.

Duke was, however, making its fifth straight appearance in the Elite Eight when it faced Kentucky 20 years ago today so Coach K clearly had established a pattern of success — but he had not yet won the four national titles that currently have him tied with the legendary Adolph Rupp for second place in that category.

Coach K won't get to add to that tally this year, but on this day 20 years ago, he was about to return to the Final Four for the fifth straight year.

Both Duke and Kentucky cruised to their rendezvous in Philadelphia. Only once — in Kentucky's second–round clash with Iowa State — was victory achieved by fewer than 10 points.

In other words, nothing that had happened in the earlier rounds could have prepared the partisans from either side for what they were about to witness.

Duke and Kentucky had to play an overtime period to decide their duel — and, even then, it came down to a last–second shot by Christian Laettner.

There were five lead changes in the final 30 seconds. The teams combined to make nearly two–thirds of their shots in the second half and the overtime period. And Laettner's shot still makes every important college basketball highlight reel, just as Kirk Gibson's World Series homer and Dwight Clark's end zone catch always make the highlight reels in their sports.

Duke went on to successfully defend its national title against Michigan after a nail–biter of a semifinal against Indiana.

Kentucky would scale the championship heights again, but, as Alex Wolff writes in Sports Illustrated, the wound is still raw.

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"Even today, 20 years after what's widely considered the greatest college game ever played, Kentucky loyalists regard the Blue Devils' 104–103 overtime victory ... as having touched off a collective psychotic break."

Alex Wolff

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I almost missed it.

It was a Saturday. The game, as I recall, was scheduled to begin in mid–afternoon, and it so happened that a family friend was getting married that day, too.

The wedding was to take place here in Dallas. I lived in Denton, which is roughly 40 miles north of here. Through the ceremony and the reception, I kept an eye on the clock — and I finally managed to leave just before tipoff.

I listened to the first half on the radio and was home in time to see most of the second half.

Most, if not all, of the Kentucky fans who watched probably wish they hadn't seen it. But, if you are a fan of a team, you are going to feel compelled to watch its games, especially the ones in the postseason.

Fans of most teams know there is always the possibility that the game they watch will end in defeat, but fans of certain teams have been conditioned by past success to expect to win, even if the oddsmakers disagree.

For such fans, any defeat — but especially one like the one that was handed to Kentucky 20 years ago today — is awfully difficult to choke down.

And, in spite of subsequent successes, Wildcat fans still struggle with it, wincing at the bitter aftertaste.

Wolff observes that the author of a new book about the game has been told by Kentucky fans that they won't buy the book because Laettner's image is on the cover.

And even the passage of two decades has not been enough time to permit them to see that picture on their coffee tables without remembering in vivid detail the pain his fallaway jumper brought them.

The Dunk Heard 'Round the World

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Ever since I heard the news of Lorenzo Charles' death in a one–vehicle accident Monday in North Carolina, I have been thinking of the spring night in 1983 when his upstart North Carolina State Wolfpack upset the heavily favored Houston Cougars in the national championship.

I remember the night vividly. I was working as a reporter for a newspaper in central Arkansas — my first job out of college.

One of my standing assignments was to cover city and county government meetings (I wasn't alone in that; it was a small newspaper staff so everyone — even those whose job titles might make you think they were above such routine duties, like managing editor — had to cover some city and county government meetings) ...

... and such a meeting was being held that night.

But the meeting was scheduled to begin at 6:30, as I remember, and the game wasn't supposed to begin until two hours later.

I had been following the NCAA Tournament closely that year, as I tended to do at that time in my life, and I was interested in seeing the championship game — even though I was sure I knew how it would turn out.

When the meeting wrapped up earlier than I expected, I was elated. It meant I could go home and see most, if not all, of the game.

As I was walking down the hallway of the building in the direction of the exit, I recall a brief conversation I had with a city police officer who was on hand (why he was there, I do not know, unless he was assigned to provide routine security that night).

I told him I was on my way home to watch the game. He wanted to know which team I thought would win.

"Houston," I told him. "No way N.C. State can win."

But I was wrong.

Oh, Houston did race to the lead, but the Cougars squandered it with terrible free throw shooting in the second half. The game was still anyone's to win as the final seconds ticked off.

That was when one of the most iconic moments in modern sports history occurred.

With the score tied at 52–52, one of Charles' teammates fired a shot from 30 feet (it would have been a three–point shot under modern rules, but the three–pointer was still a few years away).

The shot appeared to be coming up just short of its mark when, seemingly from nowhere, Charles came into view, grabbed the ball in the air and dunked it for the winning points.

It was one of those moments when the entire world seemed to stop for maybe a split second — and tried to absorb what had just happened. I have only experienced a couple of these moments in my life, and they are never merely upsets or the unexpected.

They are unthinkable.

It was a time when 12 teams were seeded in each region (the 12th seeds had to win the equivalents of play–in games), and N.C. State had been seeded eighth in its region. That season, the Wolfpack (who lost 10 games in all) had earned the nickname of the "Cardiac Pack" for winning seven nail–biters in their last nine games just to get into the tournament.

Houston, meanwhile, was ranked #1 in the nation, was making its second consecutive Final Four appearance and had the look of a dynasty.

The 1982–83 Cougars went undefeated in the Southwest Conference, losing only three games all season — and, in fact, they returned to the national championship game the following year (but lost to Georgetown).

Six members of the team eventually were drafted into the NBA.

A stunned N.C. State coach Jim Valvano dashed madly around the court, looking for someone to hug, some way to express his delight at winning the upset of a lifetime.

It was for such a moment that the song "The Impossible Dream" was written.

Some of N.C. State's players might have ended up in the NBA, anyway, even if the Wolfpack had not won that game. But the fact is that three players were drafted into the NBA later that year, including the fellow whose lob Charles plucked out of the air and dunked for the winning points — and it is possible that some or all might not have been chosen had it not been for their victory over Houston.

Later, Charles and another teammate were drafted into the NBA as well, bringing to 11 the number of future NBA draftees who were on the court that night.

Charles' NBA career was brief, however, and the Brooklyn native had short stints with some European teams, but his basketball career had been over for more than 20 years. He was operating a bus for the rental company for which he apparently worked when it crashed in Raleigh, N.C.

Sadly, it seems, great things did not happen for Charles after that evening of almost unimaginable glory.

But if you have ever watched an NCAA Tournament game, you are almost sure to have seen in the archival footage Charles' sublime, almost tentative, dunk that clinched a championship ...

... and seized a slice of immortality.

The Times They Are A-Changin'

It probably seems odd to say this, but the defending college basketball champion is in a decline.

I am speaking, of course, about Duke, the team that beat upstart Butler in the national championship game last year.

In the last two or three decades, Duke's basketball program has sort of filled the vacuum that was left at UCLA after John Wooden retired in the 1970s. Sure, UCLA has won a few national titles since then — but nothing close to what the Bruins were doing when Wooden was running the show.

In those days, UCLA was in the national championship game almost every year. The NCAA Tournament field was much more exclusive then — typically only the conference champions and a few independents — so just being in it was an achievement for just about any other program.

But UCLA always expected to win it — and win it UCLA did. UCLA won 10 tournaments in 12 years — seven in a row between 1967 and 1973.

The closest thing we've seen to that since Wooden's retirement has been the Duke program.

Most people would tell you — and they're probably right — that Duke's coach, Mike Krzyzewski, deserves the credit. He's been the coach there for more than 30 years. He's taken Duke to 11 Final Fours (second only to Wooden), and he's won four national titles.

When he wins three games next season, he will be the most successful coach (in terms of victories) in NCAA Division I history. Barring something that is totally unexpected at this point, it is a sure bet that he will reach that milestone — probably sometime before 2011 is over.

He could have achieved it much sooner, though. If his Blue Devils had gone to the NCAA Tournament championship game, he would have won enough games to earn that distinction.

But they lost to Arizona last night, and now they must wait until next season to see him overtake the leader, Bob Knight.

During the late '80s and early '90s, Duke won half of the national titles it has claimed in the Coach K era — and made more than half of its Final Four appearances.

Those were the glory years for the Blue Devils.

Since the 1995–96 season, Duke has returned to the Final Four at a less imposing clip — roughly once every four years (and only twice in the last decade).

Far more frequently, Duke has made it to the regional semifinals (the "Sweet Sixteen"), where the Blue Devils have gone down half a dozen times since 2002. This year, it was to Arizona. In 2009, it was Villanova that eliminated Duke. In 2006, it was LSU. The year before that, Duke lost to Michigan State. In 2003, Kansas turned back Duke. The year before that, Duke lost to Indiana.

There was a time when Duke, like UCLA before, was an automatic pick for everyone's Final Four. But no more.

The times they are a–changing.

A Champ of a Different Color

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It is almost a cliche now to think of basketball as primarily a black sport.

That sounds racist, I know, but it is simply a statement of fact.

It is a recognition of the almost total transformation that basketball has experienced in the last half century, a transformation that may well have begun 45 years ago tonight when Texas Western University (now the University of Texas at El Paso), with an all–black starting lineup, won the national basketball championship over perennial contender Kentucky.

No other team, no individual coach or player has had the lasting influence on college basketball that that team had.

Black athletes were not new in America in 1966. They had been participating in professional sports for many years, and most schools outside the South had black players on their rosters, but until 45 years ago tonight, no team in any sport had fielded an all–black starting lineup in a championship game.

On that night in College Park, Md., Kentucky was making its fifth appearance in an NCAA final. The Wildcats had never lost an NCAA title game before.

The Miners of Texas Western, meanwhile, had never been in a championship game, and they were widely expected to lose that one. Many people acknowledged that Texas Western was good, but it was the first college in the South to integrate its athletic programs.

The Miners' coach, Don Haskins, made a point of recruiting black players — a fact that contributed to his inductions into both the Basketball Hall of Fame (1997) and the College Basketbal Hall of Fame (2006).

It was admired in the mid–1960s, too, but, in spite of ample evidence of black competence in all other endeavors, white athletes were still widely regarded as superior by most Southerners.

Black athletes were the great untapped natural resource in the South, but few people in the region realized the impact they would have on all sports. Even among more enlightened observers, there was a prevailing belief that an all–black lineup simply couldn't compete with an all–white lineup.

Nevertheless, the Miners won with an all–black starting lineup.

It is interesting, now, to look in the rearview mirror and see what people are saying about that time in history, that night and that team.

I was not yet old enough to be in elementary school — and my family did not own a TV set at the time — so I have no memory of it. But things were clearly changing in the South.

In my little hometown in Arkansas, for instance, segregated schooling was coming to an end that spring. Generations before me had gone through a segregated school system, but I never knew a time when blacks and whites did not attend school together.

March 19, 1966 "might just have been another day for millions upon millions," Bill Knight of the El Paso Times observes.

(That is a particularly intriguing comment for me because I mentioned this anniversary to my father at dinner the other night — but, although he is old enough to remember that night and my parents were passionate advocates of civil rights, he doesn't remember Texas Western's victory.)

"But, for the world of college basketball, it is a landmark," Knight writes. "For a basketball team, a band of brothers, it was the moment of a lifetime. And, for the city of El Paso, that day did, does and always will loom larger than the beautiful blue desert sky, will always cast a warm welcoming shadow grander than the Franklin Mountains over the city."

John Wallingford of the Tacoma (Wash.) News Tribune recalls that Texas Western came to Seattle two weeks before the championship game to play Seattle University in the regular–season finale. The undefeated Miners were ranked #2 in the nation and were assumed to be next in line for the top spot following Kentucky's loss to Tennessee earlier in the day.

But Seattle ended up handing the Miners their only loss of the season.

Hollywood didn't exactly give an honest portrayal of that "pothole" in its 2006 "Glory Road" movie retelling of Texas Western's triumph, Wallingford wrote.

That may be so, but the fact also remains that, with the Miners' victory 45 years ago today, "the complexion of the game changed for good," writes Wallingford. Whether you take a few modest liberties in telling that story (as "Miracle" did in its dramatization of the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team) doesn't change the bottom line or its inspirational quality.

In the Christian Science Monitor, Geoff Johnson and Rex Nelles have called the Miners' victory one of the NCAA's top 10 Cinderella stories of all time.

I guess you could call it a "statement game" — before anyone really knew what one was.

When they met the Wildcats 45 years ago tonight, University of Maryland junior Gary Williams was there, and he remembered that Kentucky fans treated the Miners "as if it was beneath their team to even play the Texas Western guys," wrote John Feinstein in the Washington Post when Haskins died in 2008.

Feinstein also wrote that Williams remembered that, after the game, he heard "Kentucky fans saying to one another, 'We need to get some of them.' It wasn't long afterwards that everyone began to recruit them."

The game that was played 45 years ago tonight changed everything about college basketball, Feinstein observed. "Basketball people now refer to Texas Western–Kentucky as the Brown v. Board of Education of college basketball."

I suppose it is appropriate that this 45th anniversary occurs during an NCAA Tournament that will crown its champion in the Lone Star State.

Other Texas schools have been in the Final Four, but Texas Western remains the only one to win a national championship.

And, other than a couple of U.S. Olympic teams, it is the only team enshrined in the Basketball Hall of Fame.

The Impossible Dream

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"To dream the impossible dream
To fight the unbeatable foe
To bear with unbearable sorrow
To run where the brave dare not go."

Joe Darion
"The Impossible Dream"

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At Richmond and Morehead State today, they know about Cinderella stories in the NCAA Tournament.

And, while theirs may be short–lived, their victories over Vanderbilt and Louisville, respectively, entitle them to enjoy the sensation of having beaten the seemingly unbeatable foe. They may well come crashing back to earth tomorrow.

The NCAA Tournament has a reputation for upsets. It is one of the main reasons that sports fans tune in to the games in the early rounds. They want to know who will be Cinderella this season.

Upsets were sort of uncommon in the old days of the tournament. Of course, part of that was because the field was much smaller, primarily conference champions and one or two independent programs. Until comparatively recently, there weren't enough slots for every team in the Top 20 to participate. It's kind of hard to call a victory for any Top 20 team much of an upset, even if comes against a higher–ranked team.

Still, upsets did occur from time to time.

They became more frequent when the field began to expand. That was what diminished the NIT, but it certainly brought excitement, an air of mystery, to the NCAA Tournament.

I'm not really sure when the tournament began to develop its reputation for upsets. Maybe it was in 1983 when North Carolina State upset powerful Houston in the championship game. It might even go back to Texas Western's unexpected victory over Kentucky 45 years ago tomorrow.

I do know that it was a reputation that was already established by the time the tournament began 25 years ago this week.

I was working on the sports staff of the Arkansas Gazette in those days, and I had graduated from the University of Arkansas, where I had been part of many exuberant crowds at football and basketball games.

Razorback fans were spoiled in the late 1970s and early 1980s. They were accustomed to seeing their basketball team compete in the NCAA Tournament, sometimes doing quite well.

But in the mid–1980s, Eddie Sutton was gone, Nolan Richardson had been hired but was frequently distracted by his young daughter's battle with leukemia, and the basketball program sometimes had the appearance of a rudderless ship.

In March of 1986, Arkansas fans were looking elsewhere to fill the void left by the Razorbacks, and Arkansas–Little Rock stepped up.

In the first round of that tournament, two No. 14 seeds won their opening–round games against No. 3 seeds — Cleveland State beat Indiana and UALR defeated Notre Dame. The ride didn't end for Cleveland State right away. The Vikings got to the Sweet 16 before losing to David Robinson and Navy by a single point.

But, for coach Mike Newell's Trojans, that was it. They lost two days later to North Carolina State.

That first–round game sure was memorable, though.

We had no TV in the newsroom in those days so we had to listen to the game on the radio. My memory is that just about everyone on the sports staff was pulling for UALR. It was the only Arkansas team in the tournament and, besides, who wanted Notre Dame to win?

Well, there was one Catholic guy on the staff, and I think he might have been pulling for the Irish, but he wasn't vocal about it.

I remember the Gazette's sports staffers gathered around a radio in much the same way that families must have listened to radio broadcasts during the Depression. A couple of the youngest staff members sat on the floor. The older staff members sat in chairs and listened intently as UALR built and maintained its lead.

Before long, people from the news side had gravitated to the sports department to listen to the radio.

After Newell left UALR, he spoke of his gratitude to all the people who came to the games and pulled for the Trojans in the days before their five–year postseason run that included three appearances in the NCAA Tournament. That, he said, was when he had been "selling a dream."

And, for one evening, UALR's students and fans permitted themselves to dream the impossible dream of being the ones who would cut down the nets and hoist the trophy in Dallas' Reunion Arena.

It didn't happen that way for UALR. It may never happen for UALR.

But, for that one evening, the Trojans could dream of it.

My Final Four Picks

There was a time in my life when the NCAA Tournament dominated all my waking moments.

I worked on sports copy desks for many years, and I can assure you that "March Madness" truly is insane. Think it's only crazy from the spectator's side? Wrong! I was never so exhausted — mentally as well as physically — as I was after working a night shift during the NCAA Tournament.

And, no matter who won the tournament, I was always glad when it was over.

After I left sports copy desks, I sort of left the madness behind, too. But I continued to pull for my alma mater, the University of Arkansas so I continued to be interested in the Razorbacks' fortunes. As their influence has waned, so has my interest — to the point where I no longer pay much attention to basketball — and, therefore, rarely pay much attention to th NCAA Tournament brackets.

However, for whatever reason, I have filled out a bracket this year. And I thought about posting it here — but it was just too big.

So I decided to simply summarize my predictions for you. Here goes:

• East: A lot of people have No. 1 seed Ohio State winning it all, but I don't. Maybe it's a bias on my part — a little payback, perhaps, for Ohio State's victory over Arkansas in the Sugar Bowl. Anyway, I picked No. 4 seed Kentucky to beat the Buckeyes in the Sweet 16.
  
  I don't believe, though, that Kentucky's relatively young lineup will get past No. 2 seed North Carolina in the regional final.


• Southwest: When I was younger, I didn't like to pick a No. 1 seed to make it to the Final Four. I guess it seemed too much like picking the favorite at the race track (a place I visited from time to time when I was in college and for awhile after graduation).
  
  Sure, there's always a reason — at least one and it's usually a good one, too — why the favorite is the favorite.
  
  There are a couple of regionals in this year's tournament in which I have concluded that the top seed really is the likely winner. I know that upsets happen in the tournament every year — and I have, actually, picked some upsets in this year's field — but I'm picking all the higher seeds in the Southwest to prevail.
  
  I think No. 4 seed Louisville might be a tough out in the Sweet 16 and No. 2 seed Notre Dame might cause some problems in the Elite Eight, but, when the dust settles, I think No. 1 seed Kansas will win the region.


• Southeast: As I say, I have picked two No. 1 seeds to advance to this year's Final Four, and I have identified Kansas as one.
  
  But the winner of the Southeast won't be the other.
  
  I do pick No. 1 seed Pittsburgh to advance to the Elite Eight, although I was torn over whether to pick Pitt or No. 5 seed Kansas State in the Sweet 16. And I think Pitt could be tested in the second round against No. 8 seed Butler.
  
  No, I think Pitt will fall in the regional final against No. 2 seed Florida. The Gators may struggle at times. They will probably face No. 7 seed UCLA in the second round, and UCLA might be playing with a lot of emotion since this will be the Bruins' first NCAA Tournament since legendary coach John Wooden died last summer. But that emotion stuff is likely to be more effective against No. 10 seed Michigan State than it will be against Florida.
  
  The Gators might also be tested in the Sweet 16, where I think they will face No. 3 seed BYU. Some folks think Florida will face No. 6 seed St. John's or No. 11 seed Gonzaga in the Sweet 16, but I think BYU will get past either of those teams.


• West: I don't know how this stacks up against what other people are predicting, but I've predicted the most "upsets" — i.e., the games in which the lower–seeded teams win — in this region.
  
  I think No. 9 seed Tennessee will defeat No. 8 seed Michigan in the first round. I also think No. 11 seed Missouri will beat No. 6 seed Cincinnati.
  
  But that's it. My days at the track taught me that favorites pay off more often than longshots do. So the rest of the games in the West should follow form, and I think No. 1 seed Duke will defeat No. 2 seed San Diego State in the regional final.

Which brings us to the Final Four.

All eyes may be on North Carolina and Duke as they square off on one side. That's only natural. They have a long rivalry, and they have been in many Final Fours between them, but they have competed in the same Final Four only once (1991), and they have never faced each other in one before.

This will be an historic chapter in their epic rivalry

The Kansas–Florida game may be overlooked — and I think that may well be to the benefit of the winner, Kansas. Not as much pressure.

Thus, after Duke emerges with what may be a hard–fought victory in its semifinal and Kansas defeats Florida, I predict that Kansas will win in the championship game on April 4.

Enjoy the games.

Putting the Kibosh on Louisville

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You know, when you consider what happened on this day in 1981, it is kind of ironic that the University of Arkansas fired its basketball coach yesterday.

I suppose the odds are pretty good that you don't remember where you were and what you were doing 30 years ago today.

But I do.

I was still living in my home state of Arkansas. I was a journalism student at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, the home of the Razorbacks. Regardless of religious faith, that's really Mecca for most Arkansans (and I guess you have to have lived there — or someplace similar — to understand).

On this day in 1981, I was in my hometown of Conway, Ark., which is about 120 miles to the southeast. It was spring break, and I was visiting old friends in Conway that week.

The NCAA basketball tournament got under way that Thursday, on March 12, 1981. Before it ended, John Hinckley would attempt to assassinate Ronald Reagan. Later that year, someone would shoot Pope John Paul II. Somebody else had already murdered ex–Beatle John Lennon a few months before.

In mid–March, Razorback fans rejoiced in the basketball team's opening round victory over Mercer, but then a sense of foreboding set in. The next opponent would be Louisville, the team that won the national title the year before.

Arkansas and Louisville were to face each other on Saturday afternoon, March 14, 1981, in Austin, Texas. Austin, as any long–term Razorback fan could tell you, had been the scene of many Arkansas disappointments over the years, most of them in football.

But that had been in contests with the University of Texas.

Razorback basketball had really taken off in terms of popularity in recent years. Eddie Sutton took the Hogs to the Final Four in 1978, then they were within a whisper of returning to the Final Four in 1979 before Larry Bird and Indiana State knocked them off in the regional finals.

Spring break was nearing its conclusion. I was planning to drive back to Fayetteville the next day, but on that Saturday, I went over to visit my Aunt Bess and watch the game with her.

Aunt Bess wasn't really my aunt. That's just what everybody called her, and she was probably old enough to be my grandmother. She treated me as if I were her grandson. Matter of fact, she had a grandson who was close to my age, but he lived two time zones away so I guess I was kind of her surrogate grandson.

I used to stop at her house after school on Wednesdays, and we would drink iced tea and talk for an hour or so about all sorts of topics. She was old school about a lot of things, and she did her best to pass along lessons for living.

And, like just about everyone else in Arkansas, she was a Razorback fan.

On that Saturday afternoon, we watched in dismay as the Razorbacks fell behind and trailed by a single point with about five seconds remaining. U.S. Reed dribbled the ball a couple of times, then heaved a desperation shot from midcourt as the buzzer sounded ...

... And the ball amazingly went in the basket.

The three–point shot was still several years from becoming a reality so Reed's shot was only worth two points. But that was enough to turn a one–point deficit into a one–point triumph.

I have never had a feeling like it — before or since.

Aunt Bess and I leaped up from where we had been sitting. We yelled in unison, and then we embraced.

As I have written before, Aunt Bess was devoutly religious. She saw the hand of God in everything. In hindsight, I was always envious of that sense of assurance. Aunt Bess never seemed to doubt that there was a purpose in everything, but I often did. I still do.

But Aunt Bess was certain of what she had seen.

"The Lord took it away from us," she said with a big smile, "and then he gave it back to us."

There was "a reason" for that, she told me, but, 30 years later, I'll be darned if I can figure out what it was.

Arkansas got routed by future SEC rival LSU in the next round.

Butler Didn't Do It

After last night's NCAA Tournament finale — in which Duke defeated Butler, 61–59 — the pastor of my church posted a brief comment on Facebook: "The murder mystery fan in me was really looking forward to saying, 'Butler did it.' "

In the literary world, I suppose there are few phrases that have become as cliched as "the butler did it" — even though, as I understand it, the writer who is most often credited with originating that phrase, Mary Roberts Rinehart, never actually used it in one of her books.

And, as someone who spent many years on sports copy desks, I'm sure that more than one copy editor in this great land of ours fantasized about writing a headline that said "Butler Did It" — or something equally clever — for this morning's newspaper.

It reminds me of an occasion when, as a sports copy editor for the now–defunct Arkansas Gazette, I was assigned to write the headline for the football game story in which the Arkansas Razorbacks — who had been praised in the preseason as a potential national champion — hosted the Miami Hurricanes in a game played in Little Rock. The 'Canes routed the Razorbacks that day, effectively ending all talk of a national title, even though it was only September.

As I sat in front of my computer screen, I happened to think of an old line, "It's an ill wind that blows nobody any good," and I used that as the basis for my headline, which was "An ill wind blows through Little Rock." I was — and still am — proud of that headline, the inspiration for which, I believe, originated hundreds of years ago. But I often wondered just how many people got the allusion. I'm sure there would be even fewer today.

Butler didn't do it, of course, and so copy editors were deprived of the storybook ending that many craved. Of course, with the abundance of David vs. Goliath comparisons, the game was practically drowning in allusion as it was.

Nevertheless, it is an opportunity to point out the risk that accompanies using allusions in headlines.

Don't get me wrong. Using allusions in headlines is one of the few ways that copy editors can flex their intellectual muscles, but my years on newspaper copy desks taught me that these things can backfire if you aren't certain that all of your readers will pick up on your reference.

One of my favorite bloggers, John McIntyre, a former editor for the Baltimore Sun, has written at his You Don't Say blog (and elsewhere) about an incident that occurred in the Baltimore area in 1996 that inspired such a headline that others didn't get.

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"On July 4, 1996, when President Bill Clinton visited Maryland's Eastern Shore, a bald eagle named Freedom, which had been nursed back to health after an injury, was released into the sky to commemorate the occasion.

"Unfortunately, Freedom was attacked by a couple of ospreys and ended up back in the bird hospital. When The Baltimore Sun put the story on its front page, the task of writing a headline fell to Paul Clark, one of the ablest copy editors I have ever worked with. He came up with 'Freedom's just another bird/ with nothing left to lose.'

"That headline was applauded in the newsroom and praised in the in–house newsletter. But when I offer it up as an example of the craft to my copy editing students at Loyola College, I get a roomful of blank looks. Janis Joplin singing 'Me and Bobby McGhee' is presumably the kind of music that only older people listen to."

John McIntyre

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Allusion, as Mr. McIntyre points out, "should enrich the reader's experience by providing an additional layer of meaning. But if it gets in the way of grasping the principal meaning, it is intrusive and counterproductive."

That doesn't just apply to headlines, though. When my brother and I were small, my mother was fond of making points with references to the radio programs from her childhood — i.e., "the Shadow knows" or Amos 'n' Andy or Jack Armstrong the All–American Boy — or observing, when we played games like Monopoly, that someone's stash of Monopoly cash gave the appearance that that person had been "taking a walk in Jack Benny's vault."

By the time my brother and I came along, radio was mostly music and sports, and we didn't have a frame of reference that enabled us to understand what Mom was talking about. We didn't know about the Shadow. We hadn't heard the jokes about Jack Benny's penny–pinching ways.

For most allusions to work, they must be fresh, and that requires a certain amount of judgment on the part of the writer or the speaker. Such judgment must be rendered on a case–by–case basis.

There was a time, for example, when "Where's the beef?" was a popular commercial catch–phrase that was frequently used as an allusion. In 2010, however, the reference is probably unfamiliar to nearly anyone under the age of 30.

In 1963, when Martin Luther King gave his famous "I Have a Dream" speech, he began by saying "Five score years ago ..." and most listeners immediately understood the allusion to Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address a century earlier.

When I was in junior high, my civics teacher required everyone in the class to memorize and recite the Gettysburg Address — consequently, my classmates and I would have understood King's allusion. But I don't know if teachers require their students to memorize that speech these days. Beyond a cursory study of the Gettysburg Address in their history books, most, if not all, modern young people might not get it.

Likewise, since the Watergate scandal, just about every scandal that has come along has been given the suffix "–gate." I guess most people still get that reference. Watergate remains the most notorious scandal in recent memory, having brought down a president. But I can remember, in the days when the Watergate scandal was just becoming known to the American public, that it was referred to as "another Teapot Dome," which was an allusion to a political scandal from half a century earlier. I wonder if anyone — other than history majors — would get that today.

Allusion, as Mr. McIntyre wrote, can enhance the reader's experience — but it won't work if the reader doesn't know what you're talking about.

Well, congratulations to Duke. I guess no allusion could enhance the experience of seeing last night's game — even if the ending wasn't as dramatic as the one in "Hoosiers."

Butler didn't do it, but the Bulldogs weren't losers. They did everything but win the game.

Fair? What's Fair?

I'm not much of a college basketball fan. Actually, I'm not much of a basketball fan, period.

So I feel that gives me a license to snicker at the outrage of people who are frantically filling out their NCAA Tournament brackets this week, hoping to win their office pools and complaining about the injustice of the selections.

Hey, the one good thing about the college basketball tournament — as I see it — is that the team that wins the national title really wins it. It isn't some mythical designation, as it is in football.

(Truth be told, I've always been much more of a football fan. Sometimes I wonder if that is because I've always been short — by basketball standards. No one would ever confuse me for — as one of Woody Allen's girlfriends put it in "Annie Hall" — a "pituitary case trying to stuff a ball through a hoop.")

The teams that are clearly the best in the country always get to compete in the NCAA Tournament, even if they stumble in the opening round of their conference tournaments. There was never a chance that North Carolina or Kansas would wind up playing with the also-rans in the NIT, simply because they didn't play for their conference championships.

And some marginal teams always get the chance to compete in the national tournament because they, inexplicably, got hot at the right time and won their conference tournaments, even though their performances during the regular season weren't particularly memorable.

I kind of liked the way Bob Ryan of the Boston Globe put it earlier this week. There really does seem to be something for everyone — or nearly everyone — in the NCAA Tournament.

But, while everyone seems to accept — and even anticipate — the upsets that inevitably occur, that doesn't keep them from complaining about them when they happen — and, sometimes, even before they happen.

It's kind of like that old saying about the weather. You know the one I'm talking about. Everyone complains about the weather, but no one does anything about it. We all know that the atmospheric conditions in the spring will spawn tornadoes. Likewise, we know that the atmospheric conditions from late spring until late fall are likely to produce hurricanes. That doesn't stop people from complaining when they occur.

OK, that's an extreme example. People seldom die at basketball games.

But my point is that people know these things will happen. The similarity is that no one knows where lightning will strike in the NCAA Tournament — just as no one knows where the next Hurricane Katrina will strike. The consequences are different, but the element of the unknown is the same.

Perhaps there is a certain advantage with a hurricane that people do not have with a tornado. There is usually some advance warning — a few days, at least — that a hurricane is on the way. Computer models can try to predict the path a hurricane will follow, but hurricanes are still subject to the laws of nature, and certain unexpected variables often come into play.

Upsets in the NCAA Tournament seem to be more like tornadoes. They happen without much warning — and, when they are over, the survivors are left shaking their heads and wondering what happened.

Speaking of computer models, many people seem to place the same faith in computer models when making their NCAA picks as they do in predicting the behavior of hurricanes.

The computer age really does make many things possible that were not possible even a few short years ago. But computers are just one of the tools that people can use. They can't replace human observation or human logic. They may be able to enhance them, but they can't replace them.

Matthew Futterman touches on this in the Wall Street Journal. "At first glance, it's nearly impossible not to pick Kansas over North Dakota State in the first round," he writes. "Yet, when sports forecaster AccuScore ran 10,000 computer simulations of the game between the Jayhawks (25-7) and the Bison (26-6), Kansas lost 22.6% of the time."

Does that make you more inclined to pick North Dakota State to prevail over Kansas? I would be surprised if it did. Logic still says Kansas will win that game.

Some sports writers do try to prepare their readers for the upsets to come, even if they can't pinpoint them in advance.

For example, Tom Knott of the Washington Times wrote this week that the absence of star power means there will be upsets in the tournament.

Adam Himmelsbach looks for upset trends in the New York Times by talking with coaches who pulled off such improbable victories in previous tournaments. But, as far as I can see, he never defined the formula that can absolutely propel an underdog to the next round.

Jerry Spar wrote in the Boston Herald that the regular season and the conference tournaments suggest there should be many upsets. "Off we go," he wrote, "into the great wide open."

Nevertheless, Spar gave his recipe for playing it safe in the tournament, suggesting that people who insist on filling out their NCAA brackets should pick North Carolina and Louisville for the national championship game.

And that's the thing to keep in mind, whether you're filling out the bracket and trying to devise the scenario that will win the money in your office pool or you're simply a casual observer.

Cinderella rarely wins it all.