ShoogarBear
04-05-2008, 03:33 PM
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writers/stewart_mandel/04/04/final.four.scene/index.html?eref=T1
Rocky road
Final Four survivor has to run unprecedented gauntlet
by Stewart Mandel
Posted: Saturday April 5, 2008 10:26AM; Updated: Saturday April 5, 2008 10:46AM
SAN ANTONIO -- There's a banner that greets you at the airport when you arrive in San Antonio this weekend. It's posted in the hotels, streamed across the exterior façade of the Alamodome and hangs above one of the tunnels to the court.
It reads: "The Road Ends Here."
Yeah, right.
The road may have ended here for the hundreds of coaches in jogging suits shuffling along the streets and piling into the Riverwalk cantinas this weekend. Their work is done; they can relax.
For North Carolina, UCLA, Kansas and Memphis, it's as if they're only now about to embark on the overnight-drive-through-the-mountains part of their trek. Want to win the national title? Just go out and beat one of the top four teams in the country. And then another one.
"Getting here was [supposed to be] the hard part," said UCLA center Lorenzo Real-Mata. "It only gets harder from here."
If you had to pick the perfect city to host the first-ever all-chalk Final Four, this is it. With the Alamodome, the Riverwalk and most major hotels all within the same, downtown cluster, you can easily tell how huge an event this truly is just by the sheer amount of people.
Walk out a door and you're immediately blasted by the rush of Kansas fans, Memphis fans, ticket scalpers, anonymous assistant coaches, high-profile head coaches (Bruce Pearl, Bob Huggins, Mark Few and Bruce Weber were among those spotted within the first few hours of arriving), star players (Michael Beasley, Drew Neitzel, Chris Lofton) and random party-goers, all brought together by the allure of college basketball's season-ending coronation.
This year, for once, everyone's here to watch the games.
"We walked on the Riverwalk [Thursday night] and everyone's talking about the Final Four," said Memphis guard Willie Kemp. "Whether it's Memphis fans, Kansas fans, they want to see their team win, but they want to see the other teams play, too."
"It's going to be a whole lot of fun to watch," promised Kansas guard Brandon Rush. "If I wasn't in it, I'd definitely watch it. Shoot, I'd probably be down here."
Forget for a moment the all-No. 1 seeds thing. It's a big deal, to be sure. However, while shuffling between locker rooms, open practices and press conferences here Friday, it hit home pretty quickly that this event is more than a pretty bracket. Walk out to the court: Boom, there's Kevin Love. Turn a corner, there's Derrick Rose. And oh, by the way, Roy Williams is holding a press conference in 10 minutes.
"I do believe it's the greatest gathering of any four teams at a Final Four," said North Carolina's Williams, who's coached in nine of them as a head coach or assistant. "I think the record will substantiate that."
Another former Final Four coach, Larry Brown, could be seen sitting on the Kansas bench during the Jayhawks' shootaround Friday. It makes sense, seeing as he led the Jayhawks to their last national title. Although he also coached UCLA. Not to mention he played for North Carolina. And Memphis coach John Calipari was once his assistant.
"I almost didn't want to come," Brown said of his conflicting interests. "But my wife convinced me -- it's a once-in-a-lifetime thing."
Yep, it's a pretty remarkable confluence -- and not just for currently unemployed, vagabond coaches. If Brown winds up back in the NBA (and you know he will), he'll probably be coaching or coaching against any number of the players in this weekend's field.
Love. Rose. Rush. Tyler Hansbrough. Darren Collison. Russell Westbrook. Darrell Arthur. Wayne Ellington.
"I was looking through the rosters [Thursday night]," said Kansas guard Russell Robinson. "This is a pretty star-studded event. I'm just happy to be a part of it."
Whichever team emerges as champion Monday night, the NCAA ought to give them more than a trophy. Four gold medals per player seems more appropriate. Maybe an Oscar, an Emmy and a Heisman Trophy while they're at it.
Suffice to say, no national champion in history will have survived as daunting a two-game gauntlet as this one. You don't just have to beat two fellow No. 1 seeds -- you have to beat a pair of opponents with at least 35 wins apiece. You have to beat two of the most respected coaches in the game. You have to end not just one, but two 10-plus game winning streaks.
"There is not going to be any doubt about who is the best team when it's over," said North Carolina guard Quentin Thomas.
That's not something you can say too often in sports these days. Every year, whoever wins college football's BCS championship, there's always at least one other team that thinks it didn't get a fair shake. The New York Giants won this year's Super Bowl despite posting the NFL's seventh-best record during the regular season. And next month, some Western Conference NBA team is going to be left out of the playoffs with a better record than nearly half the participants.
Then, throw in the fact that this isn't just any quartet of titans but one that includes three of the most recognizable brand names in the history of the sport (UNC, UCLA and Kansas). Self-deprecating Memphis coach Calipari joked Friday that "Between UCLA and Memphis, we've won 11 national titles" (the Bruins having won all 11), yet it's his Tigers that have won more games than any team in the country the past three seasons.
"There's a lot of tradition here," said Hansbrough. "And it's the four teams that have been the most consistent teams all season. They've been in the top five all year. It's fitting."
For whatever reason, college basketball nirvana decided to sprout in San Antonio this weekend. Both the participants and the spectators are probably going to be reminiscing about it for years to come.
"Guys are going to be in NBA locker rooms one day, saying 'Remember the time we went to the Final Four in '08'?" said Kansas' Robinson. "Someone's going to be angry, and someone's going to be showing off their ring."
Not just any ring -- the most hard-earned ring in Final Four history.
Rocky road
Final Four survivor has to run unprecedented gauntlet
by Stewart Mandel
Posted: Saturday April 5, 2008 10:26AM; Updated: Saturday April 5, 2008 10:46AM
SAN ANTONIO -- There's a banner that greets you at the airport when you arrive in San Antonio this weekend. It's posted in the hotels, streamed across the exterior façade of the Alamodome and hangs above one of the tunnels to the court.
It reads: "The Road Ends Here."
Yeah, right.
The road may have ended here for the hundreds of coaches in jogging suits shuffling along the streets and piling into the Riverwalk cantinas this weekend. Their work is done; they can relax.
For North Carolina, UCLA, Kansas and Memphis, it's as if they're only now about to embark on the overnight-drive-through-the-mountains part of their trek. Want to win the national title? Just go out and beat one of the top four teams in the country. And then another one.
"Getting here was [supposed to be] the hard part," said UCLA center Lorenzo Real-Mata. "It only gets harder from here."
If you had to pick the perfect city to host the first-ever all-chalk Final Four, this is it. With the Alamodome, the Riverwalk and most major hotels all within the same, downtown cluster, you can easily tell how huge an event this truly is just by the sheer amount of people.
Walk out a door and you're immediately blasted by the rush of Kansas fans, Memphis fans, ticket scalpers, anonymous assistant coaches, high-profile head coaches (Bruce Pearl, Bob Huggins, Mark Few and Bruce Weber were among those spotted within the first few hours of arriving), star players (Michael Beasley, Drew Neitzel, Chris Lofton) and random party-goers, all brought together by the allure of college basketball's season-ending coronation.
This year, for once, everyone's here to watch the games.
"We walked on the Riverwalk [Thursday night] and everyone's talking about the Final Four," said Memphis guard Willie Kemp. "Whether it's Memphis fans, Kansas fans, they want to see their team win, but they want to see the other teams play, too."
"It's going to be a whole lot of fun to watch," promised Kansas guard Brandon Rush. "If I wasn't in it, I'd definitely watch it. Shoot, I'd probably be down here."
Forget for a moment the all-No. 1 seeds thing. It's a big deal, to be sure. However, while shuffling between locker rooms, open practices and press conferences here Friday, it hit home pretty quickly that this event is more than a pretty bracket. Walk out to the court: Boom, there's Kevin Love. Turn a corner, there's Derrick Rose. And oh, by the way, Roy Williams is holding a press conference in 10 minutes.
"I do believe it's the greatest gathering of any four teams at a Final Four," said North Carolina's Williams, who's coached in nine of them as a head coach or assistant. "I think the record will substantiate that."
Another former Final Four coach, Larry Brown, could be seen sitting on the Kansas bench during the Jayhawks' shootaround Friday. It makes sense, seeing as he led the Jayhawks to their last national title. Although he also coached UCLA. Not to mention he played for North Carolina. And Memphis coach John Calipari was once his assistant.
"I almost didn't want to come," Brown said of his conflicting interests. "But my wife convinced me -- it's a once-in-a-lifetime thing."
Yep, it's a pretty remarkable confluence -- and not just for currently unemployed, vagabond coaches. If Brown winds up back in the NBA (and you know he will), he'll probably be coaching or coaching against any number of the players in this weekend's field.
Love. Rose. Rush. Tyler Hansbrough. Darren Collison. Russell Westbrook. Darrell Arthur. Wayne Ellington.
"I was looking through the rosters [Thursday night]," said Kansas guard Russell Robinson. "This is a pretty star-studded event. I'm just happy to be a part of it."
Whichever team emerges as champion Monday night, the NCAA ought to give them more than a trophy. Four gold medals per player seems more appropriate. Maybe an Oscar, an Emmy and a Heisman Trophy while they're at it.
Suffice to say, no national champion in history will have survived as daunting a two-game gauntlet as this one. You don't just have to beat two fellow No. 1 seeds -- you have to beat a pair of opponents with at least 35 wins apiece. You have to beat two of the most respected coaches in the game. You have to end not just one, but two 10-plus game winning streaks.
"There is not going to be any doubt about who is the best team when it's over," said North Carolina guard Quentin Thomas.
That's not something you can say too often in sports these days. Every year, whoever wins college football's BCS championship, there's always at least one other team that thinks it didn't get a fair shake. The New York Giants won this year's Super Bowl despite posting the NFL's seventh-best record during the regular season. And next month, some Western Conference NBA team is going to be left out of the playoffs with a better record than nearly half the participants.
Then, throw in the fact that this isn't just any quartet of titans but one that includes three of the most recognizable brand names in the history of the sport (UNC, UCLA and Kansas). Self-deprecating Memphis coach Calipari joked Friday that "Between UCLA and Memphis, we've won 11 national titles" (the Bruins having won all 11), yet it's his Tigers that have won more games than any team in the country the past three seasons.
"There's a lot of tradition here," said Hansbrough. "And it's the four teams that have been the most consistent teams all season. They've been in the top five all year. It's fitting."
For whatever reason, college basketball nirvana decided to sprout in San Antonio this weekend. Both the participants and the spectators are probably going to be reminiscing about it for years to come.
"Guys are going to be in NBA locker rooms one day, saying 'Remember the time we went to the Final Four in '08'?" said Kansas' Robinson. "Someone's going to be angry, and someone's going to be showing off their ring."
Not just any ring -- the most hard-earned ring in Final Four history.