Throwback Thursday: The 1990-91 Season

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Normally, when we look at how a season plays out, a vast majority of it is based on how the postseason plays out. But this was no ordinary season – it was notable for who was allowed to play in the NCAA postseason (namely Nevada-Las Vegas) and who was not allowed to play in the postseason – in this case, Kentucky and Missouri come to mind.

As you may or may not remember, Kentucky faced a multitude of sanctions which barred them from any postseason for the 1989-90 and 1990-91 seasons. The coaching staff of Eddie Sutton and his assistants were also dismissed along with then-athletic director Cliff Hagan. Kentucky was also banned from TV in the 1989-90 season; you can click here for a more detailed article that outlines all the sanctions that Kentucky faced. That said, the Wildcats still managed to win the regular-season title under 2nd-year head coach Rick Pitino; their star players included John Pelphrey, Jamal Mashburn, Sean Woods and Reggie Hanson. Their notable wins included Notre Dame, Kansas, Louisville, LSU and Alabama. This was also the last season that the SEC would have a full round-robin schedule since Arkansas and South Carolina were scheduled to join the conference the following season. Even the coaching staff had a lot of future stars in Billy Donovan, Tubby Smith and Bernadette Maddox!

Missouri is a little more under-the-radar historically; they also were on probation for the 1990-91 season as well. They were banned from the NCAA Tournament, but were still allowed to participate in the Big 8 Tournament in Kansas City. (More details can be found here as to why Mizzou wound up on probation – two of their assistant coaches wound up being fall guys here.) Even though the Tigers had roster issues with Travis Ford transferring in the offseason (the ultimate irony here is that he transferred to Kentucky to AVOID probation; he would be eligible for UK beginning in 1991-92) and Anthony Peeler being declared ineligible for the 2nd semester; they still had a 2-time Big 8 player in Doug Smith. While the Tigers went 8-4 against nonconference foes (including a win against Notre Dame), 3 of their 4 losses were to eventual NCAA Tournament teams – Rutgers, Creighton, and Arkansas. The other loss was to cross-state rival Illinois. They beat a pair of NCAA Tournament teams in the Big 8 Tournament – Oklahoma State in double overtime and Nebraska to win the Big 8 Tournament. While the Big 8 did lose its auto bid that year, it didn’t come anywhere close to freezing the conference out of the NCAA Tournament (see Memphis State, 1987).

But the big elephant in the room comes in the form of the UNLV Runnin’ Rebels. They were the defending NCAA Tournament champions and were given an exemption from the NCAA to postpone upcoming sanctions so they could participate in the 1991 NCAA Tournament. Featuring a team that included Larry Johnson, Stacey Augmon, Anderson Hunt and Greg Anthony, UNLV ran roughshod over the regular season with an unbeaten record. This also included a win at then-#2 Arkansas; you can click here to see that game in its entirety. Other notable wins included Michigan State, Princeton, Florida State, Louisville, Rutgers and a season sweep of a New Mexico State team that was ranked in the Top 15 at the time of their two games. However, UNLV’s run to perfection was halted by the Duke Blue Devils; you can click here to relive that magical game from the NCAA On Demand vault.

The rest of the Final Four looked like a family reunion for North Carolina on the other side of the bracket; the Tar Heels would lose to former UNC assistant Roy Williams’ Kansas Jayhawks. While losing in and of itself wasn’t a shocker, Dean Smith’s ejection was a bitter pill for Tar Heel fans to swallow. It got even worse in the aforementioned nightcap; Duke would go on to upset UNLV and advance to the national championship game for the 5th time in program history. This also included 4 other trips to the Final Four that went unfulfilled for Duke, but the 5th time turned out to be a charm as Duke would defeat Kansas 72-65 for their first of 5 national titles under Mike Krzyzewski. You can click here to see the championship game. This also meant the end of a long-running joke by UNC fans as it related to Duke – they would always say that Coach K would quit after 14 holes in a round of golf because he hated the Final Four!

Next week, we flash back to prior HoopsHD Championship Week videos in honor of the upcoming Media Mock Selection Week.