Right about the time that Wichita State appeared on the verge of yanking the nation’s last living bracket off of life support and Rick Pitino got that Scooby Doo/Guy Lewis look in his eyes Saturday night, a sense of normalcy returned to the NCAA tournament.
The No. 1 seed began to play like a No. 1 seed.
The No. 9 seed began to unravel.
Louisville escaped. Wichita State went home.
Pitino exhaled. What was it he had said the other day about the balance of power in college basketball? “There’s no difference between Butler, VCU, Wichita State, UCLA, Louisville, North Carolina, Duke. There’s absolutely no difference.”
That analysis wouldn’t necessarily have softened the blow had the Cardinals, after trailing by 12 points with 13 minutes left, failed to rally for a 72-68 semifinal win over Wichita State. Pitino and Louisville would have gone where no coach and program wish to go — into one of those ugly “all-time” kind of debates.
Where would this have ranked in all-time Final Four upsets? The Guy Lewis-coached Houston team losing to North Carolina State? Georgetown losing to Villanova? Kentucky getting punched out by Texas Western.
Maybe the college basketball landscape suggests that no upset is really that monumental. But Louisville seemingly had been crowned champions when the tournament started three weeks ago.
Wichita State fans wore T-shirts reading, “Fear The Wheat!”
Cute. But really? This was the program that would take down Louisville, against the backdrop of everybody discussing Pitino’s Hall of Fame credentials?
Almost, yes. The Shockers led 8-0. They led 26-25 at halftime, not because of brilliant shooting (9-for-28, 32.1 percent) but effective defense and few turnovers. In the first half, the team combined barely for more field goals (17) than fouls (16) in the first half.
It was clear by the reaction of the crowd that “Shocker Nation” — pretty much anybody not wearing red — was growing. The Shockers weren’t doing anything spectacular, as evidenced by the shooting, but they clearly weren’t intimidated by this stage — even if it had been 48 years since the school played in the Final Four (losing to UCLA by 19 points in the semis).
Pitino knew Wichita State was good. He watched them beat Virginia Commonwealth in the second game of the season and said he phoned his son, Richard, then the coach at Florida International. “I said watch out for that team. Little did I know we’d be playing them in the Final Four.”
The Shockers went one 26-minute stretch without committing a turnover. Then Louisville’s full-court press started to get to them. Five turnovers in seven possessions. Tim Henderson made consecutive 3-pointers. Luke Hancock began to drain jumpers. The Cardinals pulled together.
At one point in the half, injured guard Kevin Ware from Rockdale County, who suffered the horrific broken leg last week in the regional finals, hopped up from behind the bench and joined the Cardinals in a huddle during a timeout.
“I thought he was about to sub in for me like he always does,” guard Peyton Siva said. “He’s a part of this team. He was trying to give us whatever we needed. After the time out, I just wanted to make sure nobody ran him over because he has a bum leg.”
Hancock gave Louisville a 56-55 lead with a 3-point shot. The game stayed close, but the final blow came with eight seconds left and Louisville leading 71-68 when Hancock tied up Wichita’s Ron Baker to force a jump ball. The possession arrow was pointing to Louisville.
Afterward, Wichita State coach Gregg Marshall was emotionally drained.
“This may be the most important basketball I’ll ever coach, and it’s probably the most important game Wichita State has ever played,” he said. “It’s tough. But we didn’t say goodbye, and we didn’t say this is it. It’s just the beginning for this program.”
He should be proud. So should everybody connected to the Wichita State program. Pitino has coached against some of the game’s legends. It’s hard to be impressed.
“I’ve coached against Dean Smith. I’ve coached against Frank McGuire,” he said. “Then I went against North Carolina A&T, and I thought their coach got as much out of their players as I’ve ever seen. Then came Colorado State, Oregon and now this.”
Fortunately for him, Wichita State will be remembered only as that team that almost beat Louisville. And Pitino exhaled.
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