"Maddening" Memories

"It's the most wonderful time of the year."  Ah yes, Andy Williams certainly got that right when he released his classic song in 1963, but why did he wait so long to record it when the NCAA Tournament actually began more than two decades earlier.

March Madness truly is a wonderful time of the year.  For me, it holds many wonderful memories.  Watching the tournament was a family affair at my house.  My two older brothers, my parents, younger sister and I would bust out the popcorn and enjoy evening after evening of hoops.

Cliff & Antoine

I grew up in Wichita, Kansas following the Wichita State Shockers as a teenager.  In 1980-81, the Shocks rode the excitement of bookend forwards Antoine Carr and Cliff Levingston, who helped WSU lead the nation in dunks, into the NCAA Tournament.  The great thing that year is that the University of Kansas was in the same bracket.  At that time, "big bad" KU would not agree to play Wichita State during the regular season.  In fact, the Kansas legislature even talked about passing a bill that would require in-state schools to play each other.  As it turned out, both teams advanced to the Midwest Regional in New Orleans.  Mike Jones hit a bomb in the final seconds and the "Battle of New Orleans" went to the Shockers.  Gold and black billboards went up all over town that simply read "66-65."  WSU ended up losing in the Midwest Region final to Louisiana State, but finished the season with a 26-7 record and major bragging rights over the Jayhawks.

In that same tournament, I watched my then "future" Alma mater in one of the greatest NCAA finishes nobody every talks about.  Danny Ainge, recently passed as BYU's all-time leading scorer by Jimmer Fredette, went coast-to-coast against in the final seconds as the Cougars knocked Notre Dame out of the tournament.  It was also the last time since this year that BYU advanced to the Sweet Sixteen.

Watching March Madness on TV is one thing, but being there in person is much, much better.  While I attended BYU during the mid 1980s, I had the chance to attend first and second round NCAA Tournament games for several years at either the University of Utah or Weber State University.  It was truly glorious--skip out of class and watch basketball all day for days with my brothers and roommates.  Among the highlights was watching St. John's University with Chris Mullin, Walter Berry and Bill Wennington roll through the West bracket and eventually into the Final Four.  I remember another year watching a well-tanned white forward at Central Michigan University who did it all--long jumpers, spin moves inside and impressive dunks.  He was Dan Marjle, who went on to be a first-round draft pick and played 14 years in the NBA.   

Kimble, Gathers & Fryer

But the most impressive performance, by far, was by Loyola-Marymount in the 1988 NCAA Tournament.  The Lions started the season with a 2-3 record, but then rolled into the NCAA Tournament with 22 consecutive victories behind the "run and gun" style preached by former Los Angeles Lakers Head Coach Paul Westhead.  Hank Gathers was the inside force while Bo Kimble and Jeff Fryer bombed away from the outside.  Incredibly, LMU averaged 110 points a game, topped the 100-point mark 20 times, and scored a season-high 164 points versus Azusa Pacific earlier in the season!  Westhead was all about having his players push the tempo to an almost incomprehensibly frantic pace, and they excelled at it.

Thousands of Wyoming fans stuffed the upper bowl at the University of Utah arena, but they were silenced in an unbelievable, jaw-dropping performance.  LMU would sprint down court, chuck up a long jumper and swish!  Kimble...swish!  Gathers...dunk!  Fryer....swish!  Swish!  Dunk!  Swish!  Swish!  Layup!  Swish!  There's really no way to describe what we saw that day.  My two brothers, two roommates and I cheered and cheered and cheered.  At times, we were so amazed all we could do is look at each other and laugh.  Wyoming fans weren't laughing.  The Cowboys were so out of sinc that off the opening tip of the second half, Wyoming had a 3-on-1 break, but stopped at the free throw line and pulled the ball out in an attempt to slow the pace.  The crowd roared in disbelief.  At the end of the 119-115 LMU victory, the entire crowd rose to its feet as one for an extended standing ovation.  The final stat line told the story.  The Lions took an amazing 82 shots and hit 42 of them, including seven 3-pointers.  Gaines, Gathers and Fryer combined for 65 points themselves.  It was truly the most amazing game I have ever seen in person. Two weeks later, a group of us Kansans huddled in our house and watched the University of Kansas beat Oklahoma for the NCAA Championship.  (Two years later, on March 4, 1990, Gathers tragically collapsed and died during a game with a heart muscle disorder.)

Fresh out of college, I took a job as a television sportscaster in Topeka, Kansas.  Little did I know then, but that began a streak of covering at least one college team in 14 consecutive NCAA Tournaments, including nine straight appearances for the Kansas Jayhawks, four trips for the Kansas State Wildcats and two trips to the NCAA Division II tournament quarterfinals for the Washburn Ichabods.  I later took another job as a sportscaster in Spokane, Washington in 1998 where I witnessed Gonzaga thrust itself onto the NCAA scene in a big way as the Zags made their first of 13 (and still counting) trips to the NCAAs.

Mark's March Madness Resume

1989   KSU lost to Minnesota (in Greensboro, NC*)

1990   KSU lost to Xavier

          KU defeated Robert Morris, lost to UCLA

1991   KU def New Orleans, Pitt, Indiana, Arkansas, N Carolina, lost to Duke in national championship (Sweet 16 & Elite Eight in Charlotte*)

1992   KU def Howard, lost to UTEP

1993   KU def Ball State, BYU, Cal, Indiana, lost to N Carolina in national semifinal (Final Four in New Orleans*)

          KSU lost to Tulane

          Washburn in Division II tournament (in Springfield, MA*)

1994   Washburn in Division II tournament (in Springfield, MA*)

          KU def Chattanooga, Wake Forest, lost to Purdue

1995   KU def Colgate, W Kentucky, lost to Virginia (Dayton, OH*)

1996   KU def S Carolina St, Santa Clara, Arizona, lost to Syracuse (Tempe, AZ*)

          KSU lost to N Mexico

1997   KU def Jackson St, Purdue, lost to Arizona

1998   KU def Prairie View A&M, lost to Rhode Island

1999   Gonzaga def Minnesota, Stanford, Florida, lost to UConn (Seattle & Phoenix*)

2000   Gonzaga def Louisville, St. Johns, lost to Purdue (Albuquerque & Tucson*)

2001   Gonzaga def Virginia, Indiana St, lost to Michigan St (Memphis & Atlanta*)

2002   Gonzaga lost to Wyoming

(Mark's NCAA Tournament road trips)

So many live shots, so many interviews, so many stories told, so many extremely long days, yet so many memories....

In 1989, I traveled with the Kansas State Wildcats to Greensboro, North Carolina.  While sitting on press row, the official game day scorecard listed the Kansas State "Jayhawks."  Ouch!

In 1991, the real Jayhawks upset Arkansas and North Carolina to earn a berth into the Final Four.  The flight home was a real kick.  The radio crew played the rebroadcast of the final minutes over the airplane speakers.  As the team charter approached Topeka, we could see throngs of people on the ground.  They held huge banners.  Thousands stuffed themselves into the terminal.  There was a band, cheerleaders and throngs of screaming fans.  It was like a rock concert, yet we were on center stage as we came off the plane.  I walked right off the plane, into the terminal, and went right on the air.

March of 1993 was madness as its most intense level.  First, I flew by myself as a "one man band" to Springfield, Massachusetts to the NCAA Division II quarterfinals with Washburn University.  While the Ichabods (yes, that's their mascot) lost their opener, I had the chance to visit the Basketball Hall of Fame. Wow, what an incredible place. 

Later that same month, the Jayhawks made another run to the Final Four.  This time, I got to the call to cover it in my hometown of New Orleans.  It was my first trip there since we moved away when I was six.  Again, I went by myself but I hooked up with a reporter and photographer from our sister station in Wichita.  Again, many live shots and many long hours.  One evening, we ate in the French Quarter.  I had crayfish, crocodile and other Cajun goodies that were scary looking, but oh so yummy.  The game was intriguing.  KU, coached by North Carolina grad and North Carolina native Roy Williams, going up against North Carolina, coached by Kansas grad and Kansas native Dean Smith.  Plus Coach Roy was an assistant under Smith before he came to Kansas.  The game was in the Superdome.  Carolina won so our stay was shorter than we and the Jayhawks hoped.

In 1994, another trip to Springfield with Washburn.  I visited Holyoke College, an all girls school, where I really wanted to get a sweatshirt, but the school was closed for spring break.  I settled for a Holyoke Sporting Goods t-shirt instead.  The Ichabods won their opener but lost in the national semifinals.

In 1995, I accompanied the Jayhawks to Dayton, Ohio.  We got up early on game day and had some time to burn so a photographer and I visited the Air Force Museum.    Wow!  I am not really a museum kind of guy, but this was fascinating.  We saw everything from the Wright Brothers first plane to space capsules that landed on the moon.  We probably spent 3 to 4 hours there and could have spent at least that much longer there. 

In 1996, we drove from Topeka to Tempe to cover the Jayhawks in the Sweet 16.  We shot a road trip story along the way.  As we drove through Flagstaff, heavy snow fell.  Just hours later, we were in the desert and loving 80 degree temperatures.  

In 1999, Gonzaga made the most thrilling NCAA run in school history.  When we were in Seattle, it did NOT rain there for the first time in three months.  The Zags fired up a huge pro-Gonzaga crowd with wins over favorites Minnesota and Stanford.  Then we traveled to Phoenix for the Sweet 16 and perhaps the greatest finish in school history.  GU beat Florida in a game that gives me the chills every time I watch it (see video link below--crummy quality, but the best I could find).  The Bullodgs just came up short to eventual national champion Connecticut in the Elite Eight.

2000 and 2001 featured return trips to the Sweet 16 for Gonzaga.  For me, that meant trips to Albuquerque and Tucson, and then Memphis and Atlanta.  In Memphis, we did not have time to visit Graceland but we did drive by at night.  We did enjoy some late night music downtown.  In Atlanta, we were exhausted because of the time difference.  We did satellite live shots for all of our newscasts--morning, noon, 5, 6, 10, and 11.  When I did a live shot for our late news, it was 2 a.m. local time.  Once again, the Zags lost to the eventual champion.  This time it was Michigan State.

My work as a sportscaster gave me the opportunity to forge solid working relationships with many fine basketball coaches.  Among them are Bob Chipman, Roy Williams, Mark Few, Lon Kruger, Dan Monson, Dana Altman and Tom Asbury. 

Bob Chipman, Roy Williams, Mark Few, Lon Kruger

The list of players is much, much longer and includes Paul Pierce, Matt Santangelo, Dan Dickau, Jacque Vaughn, Greg Ostertag, Scot Pollard, Steve and Brian Henson, Raef LaFrentz, Casey Calvary, Mike Nilson and on and on. 

Paul Pierce, Matt Santangelo, Steve Henson, Casey Calvary

So here's to the memories.  Here's to March Madness.  I just hope my brackets don't get too busted.