Twenty years ago

[VegasCatFan]

I had so little hope against Kansas that year that I planned a California getaway up near Carmel that week with my girlfriend. We were in a bar/restaurant eating and I could see the game on from a distance. Second half starts, I'm done eating, and I head into the bar with the big screen leaving my girlfriend to finish eating and to take care of the bill.

They had a bunch of chairs right in front of the big screen and I plopped down in front with my Arizona shirt and hat on. Even though my girlfriend was an ASU grad, she joined me about five minutes into the second half with about 20 other people that were in there watching the game with me. I turned them all into Arizona fans and they were all cheering along with me and agonizing over missed shots with me. One of my best game experiences ever.

The Final 4 comes the next week and I'm determined to make it down to Tucson from Las Vegas if they make the championship game. They beat Carolina and I bought airline tickets to make it to Tucson so I can get caught up in the atmosphere. Later that night I tore the cartilage in my knee and couldn't get around anywhere without crutches. Made it to the airport the next day, and that's when I learned that people on crutches get priority boarding. Woohoo! Made it to Tucson on Sunday, went to a bar that I don't remember the name of, and watched us win the championship. Couldn't hear the TV most of the time but it didn't matter, nobody really cared.

Great two week period!

[CalStateTempe]

I was 16 and read about it in the morning paper. Wasn't really a cats fan until I got to Tucson in 99.

Wife gave me a hall pass to phx or tuc if we make the ff this year. Cost is one thing but honestly I don't want to go; I'd rather watch the games with my wife, my new daughter, and my 2.5yo who is a rabid wildcats bb fan. She has her cheerleader outfit and the cheek stickers I got her last time I was in tucson. Theyve watched every game with me this season and it would be special for me to be around them should that come to pass, to watch the games win or lose.

[Bangkok Wildcat]

I was 16 and read about it in the morning paper. Wasn't really a cats fan until I got to Tucson in 99.

Wife gave me a hall pass to phx or tuc if we make the ff this year. Cost is one thing but honestly I don't want to go; I'd rather watch the games with my wife, my new daughter, and my 2.5yo who is a rabid wildcats bb fan. She has her cheerleader outfit and the cheek stickers I got her last time I was in tucson. Theyve watched every game with me this season and it would be special for me to be around them should that come to pass, to watch the games win or lose.

That is very sweet CST....good plan. As for not becoming a Cats fan till arriving in Tucson, I totally get that....I went to Amphi Jr and High School and HATED basketball (not sure why but I was only exposed to the NBA at that time) it wasn't until I set foot on campus in '85 with Tucson Legend Sean Elliott, Steve Kerr and gang that I did a complete 180 and became addicted.

Still fondly remember attending a midnight McKale welcome home to the Final Four team in 87? The place was packed just to welcome the team back and wish them future success... I really thought that team was going to win it all....they were so great.

We do have one of the greatest fan bases in college hoops no doubt!

[BearDown89]

I was 16 and read about it in the morning paper. Wasn't really a cats fan until I got to Tucson in 99.

Wife gave me a hall pass to phx or tuc if we make the ff this year. Cost is one thing but honestly I don't want to go; I'd rather watch the games with my wife, my new daughter, and my 2.5yo who is a rabid wildcats bb fan. She has her cheerleader outfit and the cheek stickers I got her last time I was in tucson. Theyve watched every game with me this season and it would be special for me to be around them should that come to pass, to watch the games win or lose.

That is very sweet CST....good plan. As for not becoming a Cats fan till arriving in Tucson, I totally get that....I went to Amphi Jr and High School and HATED basketball (not sure why but I was only exposed to the NBA at that time) it wasn't until I set foot on campus in '85 with Tucson Legend Sean Elliott, Steve Kerr and gang that I did a complete 180 and became addicted.

Still fondly remember attending a midnight McKale welcome home to the Final Four team in 87? The place was packed just to welcome the team back and wish them future success... I really thought that team was going to win it all....they were so great.

We do have one of the greatest fan bases in college hoops no doubt!

You and I are of the same vintage Bangkok Wildcat. Didn't come from a basketball family either and those Cats opened my eyes. First Final Four was '88 btw . . . Duke/Kansas and Arizona/Oklahoma.

[RichardCranium]

The 2005 Arizona/Illinois Elite Eight game is there too if you want counterprogramming.

As my best friend (RIP Maurie) used to say: FUCK IN THE DIRECTION OF OFF>

[RichardCranium]

That's a great story, BDV. And Arizona would be a beautiful name for a girl.

Ear worm alert!

Ear worm alert!

[Bangkok Wildcat]

I was 16 and read about it in the morning paper. Wasn't really a cats fan until I got to Tucson in 99.

Wife gave me a hall pass to phx or tuc if we make the ff this year. Cost is one thing but honestly I don't want to go; I'd rather watch the games with my wife, my new daughter, and my 2.5yo who is a rabid wildcats bb fan. She has her cheerleader outfit and the cheek stickers I got her last time I was in tucson. Theyve watched every game with me this season and it would be special for me to be around them should that come to pass, to watch the games win or lose.

That is very sweet CST....good plan. As for not becoming a Cats fan till arriving in Tucson, I totally get that....I went to Amphi Jr and High School and HATED basketball (not sure why but I was only exposed to the NBA at that time) it wasn't until I set foot on campus in '85 with Tucson Legend Sean Elliott, Steve Kerr and gang that I did a complete 180 and became addicted.

Still fondly remember attending a midnight McKale welcome home to the Final Four team in 87? The place was packed just to welcome the team back and wish them future success... I really thought that team was going to win it all....they were so great.

We do have one of the greatest fan bases in college hoops no doubt!

You and I are of the same vintage Bangkok Wildcat. Didn't come from a basketball family either and those Cats opened my eyes. First Final Four was '88 btw . . . Duke/Kansas and Arizona/Oklahoma.

Thanks for the correction BearDown89.....yeah, that year we won most games by large margins and dominated the Pac10......the one night Kerr goes cold from 3 was vs Oklahoma...,ughhhh. It still hurts!

[gumby]

34-41 at the free throw line in the final game. All points in OT were from FT's.

Still amazes me after 20 years.

13 more fouls on Kentucky than us. 4 Kentucky players fouled out. Why was there such a huge discrepancy?

Quicker. They were really gassed in the OT, too.

I just had this odd sense we were going to win that game. So when they tied it on that improbable three, I wasn't that worried. And that's not like me.

Duke in 2001, I felt the opposite. As soon as I heard about Arenas injury, I had a bad feeling.

[EVCat]

I grew up in Northern Arizona, and was always a huge sports fan, but college basketball hadn't really gotten me outside of the tournament because of limited access to a team I liked. My older brothers had grown up in LA County and were UCLA fans, but I just didn't like them. I was watching the FIBA tournament when Steve Kerr blew his knee...I remember the story of Kerr and hearing my uncle and aunt talk about it. They were season ticket holders through my uncle's job as an exec with Baum and Adams tire. I was sad for Kerr, but that was it. I remember watching that year's 1st round loss at a hotel at the marina at Lake Mojave during a family getaway.

But then, little KUSK TV 7 out of Prescott (I think they changed their name now to AZ TV or something like that, but still Channel 7 out of Prescott) signed up to show the Tucson Channel 11 game broadcasts for the 1987-88 season. I had this ridiculously oversized black and white TV in my bedroom, no cable (cable in the other TVs, just not my bedroom one), so I got a couple of UHF channels, a Flagstaff channel, and KUSK 7 from my dog ears. Games always seemed to tip right about the time I was hunkering down in my room to do some homework...about 7:30. So I'd flip on the game to keep me company. I saw the USSR game and that intrigued me because I was a big fan of the whole Miracle on Ice thing and familiar with the role of sport in the Soviet Union, and we just dismantled them. The Great Alaska Shootout took place largely on ESPN, but I believe the first game or two were on 7. It was Kent Derdivanis on PBP, with a call I stole at one point for 3 pointers..."Kerr to Cook back to Kerr in the corner, three ball...DOOOOOWWWWWNNNN".

The season just kept building. Now I was checking out on a girl I was hanging out with at 7 on Thursdays because I "have to get home to...do....something". I never would say "I have to go watch basketball on my 21" B/W set". It was pretty consistently Thursdays and Saturdays, too. I think the PAC may have also been a part of Big Monday on ESPN for a while, but I can't remember for sure.

That season came at the same time as a couple of friends had moved from my little town, and filled a space like a new friend. I became oddly obsessed with this team, and knew that I was going to go to Tucson for school. I think I always knew that anyway, as I was going to be limited to an in-state option, but the 87-88 team finished the sale.

God bless KUSK TV 7 in Prescott and Kent Derdivanis....

[Gimino]

20 years ago today.... Re-read the game coverage from the local papers...

Bibby responds to pressure late in win over College of Charleston

[CalStateTempe]

Gimino! You da man!

Thanks for the link.

[rgdeuce]

Wanna see something cool?


Very next page of that edition

[EVCat]

That is some quality stuff.

And to those who think the game hasn't changed that much, look at the Syracuse lineup on that 2nd story...Sherman Douglas, Derrick Coleman, Rony Seikaly, and Matt Roe was a pretty decent player too. Same team.

And we beat them...

[rgdeuce]

Thought the same thing. Then I remembered thats how things were back in the day because studs actually stuck around. I mean look at who was on that Arizona roster. The separation between the haves and the have nots was huge.

[Chicat]

Watching the first half of the UNC game and I'm not sure how they didn't run us off the court. We threw the ball all over the place and must have had ten turnovers. Plus everyone was in foul trouble. Vince Carter was dunking on us like he was in the layup line during warmups and Antawn Jamison was a beast inside. I can't believe we led for portions of that half. Sloppy sloppy sloppy. If Lute didn't have such nice hair I'm sure he would have been tearing it out.

[EVCat]

Watching the first half of the UNC game and I'm not sure how they didn't run us off the court. We threw the ball all over the place and must have had ten turnovers. Plus everyone was in foul trouble. Vince Carter was dunking on us like he was in the layup line during warmups and Antawn Jamison was a beast inside. I can't believe we led for portions of that half. Sloppy sloppy sloppy. If Lute didn't have such nice hair I'm sure he would have been tearing it out.

Billy Packer summed it up best in the middle of UNC's meltdown..."(the problem with UNC is) they are going for the spectacular as opposed to the solid."

They went straight Globetrotters and before they woke up from it, we were back in the game.

[gumby]

Watching the first half of the UNC game and I'm not sure how they didn't run us off the court. We threw the ball all over the place and must have had ten turnovers. Plus everyone was in foul trouble. Vince Carter was dunking on us like he was in the layup line during warmups and Antawn Jamison was a beast inside. I can't believe we led for portions of that half. Sloppy sloppy sloppy. If Lute didn't have such nice hair I'm sure he would have been tearing it out.

Really not a good performance, and it was our easiest game. Shammond Williams ... brick city.

[Luuuuuuuute]

I grew up in Northern Arizona, and was always a huge sports fan, but college basketball hadn't really gotten me outside of the tournament because of limited access to a team I liked. My older brothers had grown up in LA County and were UCLA fans, but I just didn't like them. I was watching the FIBA tournament when Steve Kerr blew his knee...I remember the story of Kerr and hearing my uncle and aunt talk about it. They were season ticket holders through my uncle's job as an exec with Baum and Adams tire. I was sad for Kerr, but that was it. I remember watching that year's 1st round loss at a hotel at the marina at Lake Mojave during a family getaway.

But then, little KUSK TV 7 out of Prescott (I think they changed their name now to AZ TV or something like that, but still Channel 7 out of Prescott) signed up to show the Tucson Channel 11 game broadcasts for the 1987-88 season. I had this ridiculously oversized black and white TV in my bedroom, no cable (cable in the other TVs, just not my bedroom one), so I got a couple of UHF channels, a Flagstaff channel, and KUSK 7 from my dog ears. Games always seemed to tip right about the time I was hunkering down in my room to do some homework...about 7:30. So I'd flip on the game to keep me company. I saw the USSR game and that intrigued me because I was a big fan of the whole Miracle on Ice thing and familiar with the role of sport in the Soviet Union, and we just dismantled them. The Great Alaska Shootout took place largely on ESPN, but I believe the first game or two were on 7. It was Kent Derdivanis on PBP, with a call I stole at one point for 3 pointers..."Kerr to Cook back to Kerr in the corner, three ball...DOOOOOWWWWWNNNN".

The season just kept building. Now I was checking out on a girl I was hanging out with at 7 on Thursdays because I "have to get home to...do....something". I never would say "I have to go watch basketball on my 21" B/W set". It was pretty consistently Thursdays and Saturdays, too. I think the PAC may have also been a part of Big Monday on ESPN for a while, but I can't remember for sure.

That season came at the same time as a couple of friends had moved from my little town, and filled a space like a new friend. I became oddly obsessed with this team, and knew that I was going to go to Tucson for school. I think I always knew that anyway, as I was going to be limited to an in-state option, but the 87-88 team finished the sale.

God bless KUSK TV 7 in Prescott and Kent Derdivanis....

Channel 7 (it was 27 in Phoenix) is how I started following the Cats as well! My black and white TV wasn't as awesome as yours (it was 13-inches), but I remember one of the first games I watched on it was a dismantling of asu. All I could do was laugh, and the rest is history as I've been laughing at asu ever since .

I remember Kent Derdivanis' "DOOOOOOOOOOOWN" call too. It was probably 20 years before I knew who he was, I just thought it was Brian Jeffries. I watched so many games on that little TV... Sean Rooks' heroics against UCLA to preserve the McKale winning streak, Ed Stokes' late block to beat Harold Miner and USC (I think that's who it was). Ahhh, good times.

[cpt]

One of the things that gets lost in looking back at 1997 is that our best player all year, Michael Dickerson, had a truly dreadful tournament. He couldn't make a shot from anywhere. He defended great but offensively he had nothing. It would be like Trier going cold for six straight games and others picking up the slack and us still winning it all.

[Bangkok Wildcat]

One of the things that gets lost in looking back at 1997 is that our best player all year, Michael Dickerson, had a truly dreadful tournament. He couldn't make a shot from anywhere. He defended great but offensively he had nothing. It would be like Trier going cold for six straight games and others picking up the slack and us still winning it all.

Re Dickerson, excellent point.....just rewatched Kentucky, saw UNC fir the first time and he was horrible in both games....still never seen the Kansas game yet. Announcers kept commenting on how cold Dickerson was and Lute was right to sit him out at the end of the Championship game....feel sorry for the guy but if you're going to go cold, winning it all probably helps you get over it more easily afterwards .

[Bangkok Wildcat]

The 2005 Arizona/Illinois Elite Eight game is there too if you want counterprogramming.

As my best friend (RIP Maurie) used to say: FUCK IN THE DIRECTION OF OFF>

God I hate to add to this horrific memory but my Illinois grad Buddy rolled into here on Sunday and we got trashed.....talked about our programs.....he didn't even know his Coach got fired or much about his team / program post 2005.....big difference between us as representatives of our fan bases.

I did tell him that as much as I loved him, I hated his school with a fiery passion, lol....also threw in some Bill Self hate (and his Illinois 'Thugball' rep) too, ha ha....great friend but too bad he didn't go to Arizona instead

[gumby]

I grew up in Northern Arizona, and was always a huge sports fan, but college basketball hadn't really gotten me outside of the tournament because of limited access to a team I liked. My older brothers had grown up in LA County and were UCLA fans, but I just didn't like them. I was watching the FIBA tournament when Steve Kerr blew his knee...I remember the story of Kerr and hearing my uncle and aunt talk about it. They were season ticket holders through my uncle's job as an exec with Baum and Adams tire. I was sad for Kerr, but that was it. I remember watching that year's 1st round loss at a hotel at the marina at Lake Mojave during a family getaway.

But then, little KUSK TV 7 out of Prescott (I think they changed their name now to AZ TV or something like that, but still Channel 7 out of Prescott) signed up to show the Tucson Channel 11 game broadcasts for the 1987-88 season. I had this ridiculously oversized black and white TV in my bedroom, no cable (cable in the other TVs, just not my bedroom one), so I got a couple of UHF channels, a Flagstaff channel, and KUSK 7 from my dog ears. Games always seemed to tip right about the time I was hunkering down in my room to do some homework...about 7:30. So I'd flip on the game to keep me company. I saw the USSR game and that intrigued me because I was a big fan of the whole Miracle on Ice thing and familiar with the role of sport in the Soviet Union, and we just dismantled them. The Great Alaska Shootout took place largely on ESPN, but I believe the first game or two were on 7. It was Kent Derdivanis on PBP, with a call I stole at one point for 3 pointers..."Kerr to Cook back to Kerr in the corner, three ball...DOOOOOWWWWWNNNN".

The season just kept building. Now I was checking out on a girl I was hanging out with at 7 on Thursdays because I "have to get home to...do....something". I never would say "I have to go watch basketball on my 21" B/W set". It was pretty consistently Thursdays and Saturdays, too. I think the PAC may have also been a part of Big Monday on ESPN for a while, but I can't remember for sure.

That season came at the same time as a couple of friends had moved from my little town, and filled a space like a new friend. I became oddly obsessed with this team, and knew that I was going to go to Tucson for school. I think I always knew that anyway, as I was going to be limited to an in-state option, but the 87-88 team finished the sale.

God bless KUSK TV 7 in Prescott and Kent Derdivanis....

Channel 7 (it was 27 in Phoenix) is how I started following the Cats as well! My black and white TV wasn't as awesome as yours (it was 13-inches), but I remember one of the first games I watched on it was a dismantling of asu. All I could do was laugh, and the rest is history as I've been laughing at asu ever since .

I remember Kent Derdivanis' "DOOOOOOOOOOOWN" call too. It was probably 20 years before I knew who he was, I just thought it was Brian Jeffries. I watched so many games on that little TV... Sean Rooks' heroics against UCLA to preserve the McKale winning streak, Ed Stokes' late block to beat Harold Miner and USC (I think that's who it was). Ahhh, good times.

Derdivanis to Jeffries. Transition was seamless. Both so good.