Finally, There Are Four

A co-worker of mine went to Wake Forest. I graduated from North Carolina. His Demon Deacons won the N.I.T. championship. The Tar Heels made it to the Final Four. I congratulate him and will happily take a semi-final loss in the NCAA Tournament over an N.I.T. title.

UNC didn't win as many as four games in a row at any point all season until consecutive triumphs over Missouri, Stanford, Tennessee and Tulsa in the NCAA's. After a disastrous 18-13 regular season and first round loss to Wake in the ACC Tournament, Bill Guthridge has taken the Tar Heels to the Final Four for the second time in his three years as head coach. To his credit, when asked how the Heels turned it on in the tournament he replied honestly, "I really don't know."

One reason might be the pleasant surprise of Julius Peppers. On scholarship to play defensive line for the football team, Peppers impressed point guard Ed Cota in campus pick-up basketball games. When UNC suffered early injuries, Cota convinced Guthridge to give Peppers a look.

Without this walk-on defensive lineman's 270 pounds of muscle, UNC would not have powered its way to Indianapolis.

The other three of the Final Four have their stories, too.

There is Michigan State, the team expected all season to return to the Final Four. Star guard Mateen Cleaves has said he returned to play his senior season to win a championship. Anything less is total failure, he is quoted as saying. No pressure, there, huh?

But the Spartans have thrived under it, responding when down by ten points at halftime against Syracuse in the Sweet 16 and then coming from behind again in the win over Iowa State that put them in the Final Four. The Iowa State win impressed me particularly because Michigan State appeared beaten in that one, down by seven and with the crowd and momentum against it before rallying to win.

Michigan State plays Wisconsin. The Badgers tied the Tar Heels for what might or might not be the dubious distinction of having the most losses (13) of any team ever to reach the Final Four. Coach Dick Bennett's complex and disciplined defense finally paid off in the tournament when it totally disassembled the offenses of teams like LSU, which looked like it had forgotten what the rules of the game were its players were so out of sorts.

Finally there's Florida. Billy "The Kid" Donovan's team always had the talent but lacked the maturity (having no seniors and just one junior in the starting lineup can do that) to handle the lofty expectations people had of the Gators early in the season.

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