The Madness is finally here! The reason they call it that is because there are always a few teams that you may not have heard of who shock the world with an upset of monumental proportions. Before he was known as “Darius Garland’s father”, Winston Garland was a great player at Missouri State. He led the Bears to the 1986 NIT quarterfinals while scoring 16.5 PPG but saved his best for the 1987 NCAA tourney: 24 PTS in 40 minutes in a 5-PT upset of Clemson, followed by another 24 PTS in 40 minutes in a 4-PT loss to Kansas. HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel got to chat with Winston about that magical tourney run and his All-Star son. Today marks the 35th anniversary of that unbelievable upset on March 13, 1987, so we take this time to reflect on Cinderellas from the past.
In the 1982 Indiana state title game you scored 10 PTS for Roosevelt High School but Scott Skiles scored 39 PTS in a 1-PT 2-OT win by Plymouth High School: could you tell at the time that Skiles was going to become an NBA player, and what did you think about the officiating (Plymouth had a 38-16 advantage at the FT line)? Skiles was a heck of a high school player but would not have passed the NBA “eye test” by any means back then. I remember when his Michigan State squad played Georgetown in the 1986 NCAA tourney and he put on a show with 24 PTS, at which point I thought that he did have a chance to make it. The refs were ridiculous in the title game: I think Skiles made something like 23-24 from the FT line! We played an aggressive style of pressing defense but I guess that did not fly down south.
After being named a JC All-American at Southeastern Community College you decided to transfer to Southwest Missouri State: what made you choose the Bears after getting interest from schools like Indiana/UNLV? My mom/dad did not know much about Coach Bob Knight and were totally against me going to Indiana. It was the exact opposite with the late Charlie Spoonhour: they loved his charm/charisma. Choosing the Bears was the best decision I ever made: when you transfer from a JUCO you do not want to spend a lot of time sitting on the bench behind a guy like Steve Alford!
In 1987 you were named conference POY: what did it mean to you to win such an outstanding honor? It was awesome. We had some other good players in the conference at the time like Kevin Duckworth/Mouse McFadden so it was a great feeling to win that award.
Take me through the 1987 NCAA tourney (the 1st in school history):
You scored 24 PTS in a 5-PT upset of #4-seed Clemson: what was it like to play against a box-and-1 defense, and how were you able to score so well against it? It was the 1st time that we had ever seen a box-and-1, but to my teammates’ credit they did a great job of getting me open. It actually worked in our favor because we did not have a lot of set plays on offense so we just ran a lot of motion and I got open off of some screens and made some shots.
You scored 24 PTS in a 4-PT loss to #5-seed Kansas: where does Danny Manning’s performance (42 PTS/16-26 FG) rank among the best that you have ever seen? His 42 PTS actually set a Southeast Regional scoring record: we did not have an answer for him…but if we had gone zone for a few minutes in the 2nd half then I think that we would have shocked the world.
In the summer of 1987 you were drafted in the 2nd round by Milwaukee: did you see that as a validation of your college career, or the realization of a lifelong dream of reaching the NBA, or other? When you are playing in the backyard or park growing up you come home and turn on a game and wonder if 1 day it will be you on TV. You work on your craft and persevere on making your childhood dream come true no matter where you fall in the draft.
A few months after signing as a free agent with Golden State that November you became the 1st Warrior in 5 years to record a triple-double with 20 PTS/10 REB/11 AST in a 6-PT loss to the Knicks: where does that rank among the best all-around games of your career? I was recently trying to get some footage from my 10 best games. It finally arrived last week and I got to watch the triple-double game. There were a lot of Hall of Famers out there like Patrick Ewing/Chris Mullin so my son was impressed by my performance!
You finished your rookie season #9 in the league with 87.9 FT%: what is the secret to making FTs? Practice. Kids these days practice all types of shots but hardly ever will they go to the FT line for 20-30 minutes of shooting it the same way every single time.
As a member of the Rockets in the final seconds of Game 7 of the 1993 Western Conference Semifinals, you walked onto the floor as the 6th Houston player on the court in a 3-PT OT loss to Seattle: why did you do it, and how did you avoid getting caught? I was totally into the game and did not even realize that I was that far out on the floor. I think the refs were also totally into the game and just did not see me.
Your son Darius was an named All-Star this year for the Cleveland Cavaliers: who is the best athlete in the family? My dad used to tell me all the time that my son was much better than I was at his age!
Since retiring you have worked as a prison recreation leader and a high school coach: what do you hope to do in the future? I was an assistant coach at my son’s school. I also work at GM and in the special needs program at a local high school, which has been my love for the past few years. I would like to continue coaching and would love to do some scouting again someday while watch my son keep maturing.