Throwback Thursday: 1992 NCAA Tournament

Click here for Chad Sherwood’s Under The Radar Game of the Day (Hofstra at College of Charleston)

Click here for Chad and David’s weekly Under The Radar Podcast

1992 represented a major checkpoint in the evolution of the NCAA Tournament in many ways. This would be the 2nd time that CBS would garner “tip to trophy” coverage in the words of Greg Gumbel. UNLV finally began their postseason ban after coming short in the previous season’s title defense. A group of freshmen known as the Fab Five congregated in Ann Arbor, Michigan and gradually became one of the better stories of the season. Duke would finally play the role of the hunted throughout the course of the season.

The East regional featured a pair of heavyweights in Duke and Kentucky. While Duke came in as the favorite to win the region, Kentucky would finally be eligible for NCAA Tournament play for the first time under Rick Pitino. The Wildcats actually won the SEC regular season title the season before in 1990-91, but they were not eligible to play beyond that point. UMass and John Calipari made the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 16 years and would offer up a sneak preview of their A-10 dynasty of the 1990s. Seton Hall also had a solid team out of the Big East and would offer up an eventual matchup in the Sweet 16 between the Hurley brothers – Bobby Hurley at Duke and Danny Hurley at Seton Hall. Even La Salle and Fordham qualified for the NCAA Tournament that season – the Explorers out of the MAAC and the Rams out of the Patriot League. While La Salle did offer the Pirates a scare in the opening round, chalk held up for the most part going into a legendary regional final between Duke and Kentucky. With a game featuring numerous lead changes, Christian Laettner and Duke would get the final word with the NCAA Tournament’s most signature moment in its brief history. Click here to watch the game in its entirety courtesy of the NCAA On Demand channel.

In the West regional, the top three seeds (UCLA, Indiana, and Florida State) would advance to the regional in Albuquerque. The fourth party-crasher, to the horror of hometown New Mexico fans, would be their archrival New Mexico State Aggies. The Aggies would upset DePaul and Oklahoma to earn their spot in the Sweet 16. The Aggies did give an inspired effort in their game against UCLA before losing 85-78 to the Bruins. Indiana would defeat Florida State and set up a rematch of UCLA-Indiana; the Bruins won the season opener between the two teams. Bob Knight had caused a stir in one of his pregame press conferences earlier in the week when he brought a whip to practice; however, it was UCLA who would feel the wrath of Knight and the Hoosiers this time around. Click here for game footage of Indiana’s 106-79 blowout win; the best moment comes at 1:28:45 when Calbert Cheaney turns the tables on Bob Knight for his whipping antics earlier in the week.

The Midwest regional can best be described as the Region of Misfit Seeds. Of the top 4 seeds (Kansas, USC, Arkansas and Cincinnati), only the Bearcats would even advance to the Sweet 16 in Kansas City. The first party crasher in this region was Texas-El Paso under the leadership of legendary coach Don Haskins; their win over Kansas vaulted them to the Sweet 16 for the first time in 25 years and was their greatest win since their historic win over Kentucky in the 1966 NCAA Championship game (when they were called Texas Western). Memphis State was responsible for taking out Arkansas in the Milwaukee subregional; the locals were also treated to a classic in the following game between Georgia Tech and USC. (Click here for this tournament’s 2nd most famous buzzer beater and Al McGuire’s legendary call of James Forrest’s game winner.) And as we noted in last week’s Throwback Thursday column, Cincinnati would afvance to the Final Four after defeating UTEP and Memphis State for a 4th time that season.

In the Southeast, it looked like Ohio State was well on their way to Minneapolis after blowout wins over Mississippi Valley State and UConn in the Cincinnati subregional. North Carolina offered a little more resistance to the Buckeyes in the Sweet 16, but the Tar Heels were a year away from their own memorable championship run. Unfortunately for the Buckeyes, the elephant in the room came in the form of the Michigan Wolverines. The Fab Five opened their tournament with wins over Temple and East Tennessee State (who upset Arizona in Round 1) and would defeat Oklahoma State to set up a memorable rematch with the Buckeyes in the Elite 8 in Lexington. After the Buckeyes missed a potential game winner in regulation, the Wolverines had all the answers in overtime and would avenge their two earlier losses to Ohio State with a 75-71 win; click here to view this forgotten classic. This game also denied the Buckeyes to meet up with Cincinnati for the first time since losing to the Bearcats in the 1962 NCAA Championship.

When the Final Four convened in Minneapolis, Michigan would defeat Cincinnati in the opener 76-72. Duke and Indiana offered up what turned out to be the best game of the weekend; they would jump out to a big lead before Indiana would mount a furious comeback late in the game. Click here to see the pupil Mike Krzyzewski finally defeat his teacher in Bob Knight; Duke’s 81-78 win would be a painful one for Indiana that would linger until the Hoosiers would get their revenge a decade later in the post-Bob Knight era. When Monday night came around, Michigan would actually outplay Duke in the first half, but the Blue Devils were too much to overcome and ended up with a 71-51 blowout win. The Blue Devils won back-to-back titles for the first time since UCLA won back-to-back in 1972 and 1973. Duke’s accomplishment would not be matched until Florida won back-to-back titles in 2006 and 2007 against UCLA and Ohio State, respectively.

And finally, click here for the One Shining Moment montage.