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.

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.