PREFERS TEMPLE'S OFFENSE TO PRINCETON'S
SEVEN DAYS to a national championship.
March 25 to April 1, 1985
In Memphis to spend some more time with the Memphis State Tigers. The town is crazy. The basketball program seems a little shady, even to fairly naive eyes. No one knew at the time that the Tigers' appearance in the tournament would end up being vacated because the team used an ineligible player - or about the allegations of point-shaving, for that matter.
It was a classic scene: encouraging signs in every store window, desperate scramble for tickets, joyous preparations everywhere. And in the gym, coach Dana Kirk and his players were trying to sell themselves as the tournament's sentimental favorite, given that the other three teams in the Final Four - Georgetown, St. John's and Villanova - were from the big, bad, Big East.
"I think there's going to be a lot of sentimental pull for the Memphis State Tigers," Kirk said. "We're going to get the people right away that have been against the Big East all year. Some people have yelled and yelled to where they make people mad at them a little bit. Maybe we'll pull those fans over to our side."
Another day in Memphis. More people with blue tiger paws stenciled on their cheeks - like the team's radio guy, who called the regional final game that way.
In Lexington now, setting the scene. Tickets for 23,000-seat Rupp Arena are so tight that they told Adolph Rupp's family to enter the ticket lottery like everybody else. Eventually, the Rupps got some seats from the university.
Face value of the tickets was $21.50. Early in the week, scalpers were asking $300 to $400.
The Wildcats arrive in Lexington to the accompaniment of a fullcourt press from the chamber of commerce: brass band, pretty women all antebellumed up, the whole deal. "It's all really nice," said Dwayne McClain, one of the Villanova seniors. "It just shows how seriously they take their basketball in this state. But the effect of making the Final Four hasn't hit me. I'm not in awe yet . . . I'm waiting for it. I'm waiting for the door to slam in my face."
The Wildcats visited a horse farm. They walked around a mall. Meanwhile, in gift shops around town, the souvenir Final Four pennant on sale contained the names of 20 possible teams. Villanova was not among them. "They were printed up a long time ago," said the lady behind the cash register. "We haven't sold many."
The big interview day. Villanova coach Rollie Massimino charmed the huge room full of writers after kind of grumping his way through much of the season with the local media. Georgetown showed up, too. Always secretive, they chose to stay in Louisville and make the daily drive. Coach John Thompson said it wasn't to keep the team away from the media. He said, "The real significance is to establish a level of concentration to be able to work on the things you want to work on. It just happens to be my personal way of doing things."
Rupp Arena was dominated by Memphis State fans. It didn't matter. The Wildcats hung around and hung around and then watched Tigers star Keith Lee foul out with more than 10 minutes to go. They played smart, built a lead, went cold, then just confidently reeled in the game at the end, 52-45. Afterward, Kirk would complain that Massimino slowed down the game in the last tournament played without a shot clock. The papers would be full of stories about how Villanova, with all of its changing defenses, won ugly.
"We look bad, but we make the other team look worse," Wildcats forward Harold Pressley said. But that wasn't the quote that will live forever. This was:
"If they're a Cinderella team, then Cinderella wears boots," Kirk said.
At that point, there was such a thing known as the "Flutie effect" to describe an increase in enrollment and fundraising as a result of athletic success; Boston College quarterback Doug Flutie was the inspiration. On the day before the title game, the Rev. John Driscoll, Villanova's president, offered this counter: "We would not be averse to having a Massimino effect of our own. I am confident that Rollie Massimino can out-Flutie Flutie."
He might have been the only one. There was a college all-star game played that night. Three big-time players were approached for their predictions and all picked Georgetown, decisively. Detlef Schrempf looked at me like I was insane when I asked him.
"Georgetown," he said.
No chance for 'Nova?
"Not really," Schrempf said. "Georgetown would have to be off - way off - to lose that game."
Then, all-night poker followed by breakfast. After all, tipoff wasn't until past 9 p.m.
The hotel phone rang at about 10 a.m. It was terrible news: Al Severance, the 79-year-old retired Villanova coach, had suffered a massive coronary in the team hotel and died. The day of the title game had begun with tragedy for the Villanova family.
Life, death - there was a human quality to this whole Villanova run. It was embodied in the person of Jake Nevin, the longtime trainer, now in a wheelchair suffering from ALS. Nevin was courtside for the whole tournament - part friend, part talisman by the end. He used to play practical jokes on Severance back in the '50s. Now, this. It was all very real.
The game was as good as you remember, or you have read. There has been little need for historical embellishment. The Wildcats did play a near-perfect second half. They did wander around the floor after it was over chanting, "April Fools', April Fools' . . . " *
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