I plan on posting a column each week that represents great journalism, sports moments, or at least sports stories. These columns have been collected over the last few years. I apologize if The Washington Post Sports section is featured often - I grew up on Wilbon, Sally Jenkins, Kornheiser, the occasional John Feinstein, and now Mike Wise. That's a tough crew to match. In any case, I read other papers/blogs/internet sports sites now, so articles will be taken from there as well.
As I said before, I might have saved a column for its impeccable writing, to remember certain moments in sports history, or something else that made me just say - 'Damn, this is good." I'll grace the beginning of this series with someone that should appeal to all - a recollection of a wonderful sports moment just a couple years ago - the Louisville vs. WVU Final Four game. I'm an avid basketball fan and both of these teams play the brand of basketball I love. At no point has that ''brand'' of basketball been on better display than that game. This article is great for the quotes it provides. Without further ado, here is Eric Crawford's article from The Courier-Journal of Louisville, KY:
From out of The Pit
Down 20, Cardinals climb to Final Four
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- Rick Pitino said it best after his University of Louisville basketball team came from 20 points down to to beat West Virginia 93-85 in overtime yesterday.
"Greatest comeback ever," the coach scrawled on the board in the locker room. "You are now part of legend."
Legend follows Pitino, who is now the first coach to take three schools to the Final Four. It has followed him to U of L, which waited 19 years since its last national championship to return to college basketball's biggest stage.
Image also courtesy of Courier-Journal
The Cardinals (33-4) were expected to win the Albuquerque Regional final in The Pit, but they had to survive -- and take part in -- the greatest three-point shooting display in NCAA Tournament history to do it. The 29 three-pointers made by the two teams broke the tournament record of 28 set by Loyola Marymount and Michigan in a 1990 game.
West Virginia made 18 of 24 three-point attempts in regulation, then finally missed all three in overtime. The Mountaineers (24-11) had missed only seven shots in the first half and eight in the second.
"I've never beaten a team that played that well," Pitino said. "This is the gutsiest, most phenomenally tough group that I've ever been around."
They needed every bit of those qualities. When Kevin Pittsnogle hit the Mountaineers' 10th three-pointer of the first half -- and seventh in a row -- the Cardinals trailed 38-18. And they hadn't played badly.
They scrapped within 40-27 at halftime, and as they huffed their way up the long ramp to their locker room, Pitino told them, "To be down only 13 after a display like that, that's the best thing I've seen since I've been a coach."
In the locker room, he told his players this was nothing. He retold tales of comebacks past. He told them he was sure they were going to win -- even if he wasn't really sure.
"By the time we left that locker room," junior Francisco Garcia said, "we believed we were coming back, no problem."
But it was a problem. U of L scored on 19 of its final 25 possessions and still didn't pull even until its next-to-last possession in regulation.
"The only thing that surprised me was that it took so long to come back," junior Taquan Dean said. "That shows how well they were playing. We were playing great, and they never folded. We had to take it from them."
After taking the U of L job four years ago, Pitino met with his players in a small upper room at the Kentucky International Convention Center, introducing himself to them one by one as they entered. When they were all seated, he lowered the boom. He said, "You don't know me, and I sure as hell don't know you, because not one of you bothered to tell me your name."
Ellis Myles is the only one of those guys still on the team, but the Cardinals are no-names no more, having written themselves into school history.
Dean did it with the guttiest performance of a career already marked by stout efforts. The last time the Cards were in the Elite Eight, in 1997, they lost to North Carolina when a sprained ankle hobbled high-scoring guard DeJuan Wheat. Dean wouldn't be hobbled yesterday.
Even in a game where he started off cold, he drained seven three-pointers and scored 23 points. Cramping up in the late stages, he winced in pain with every move but continued to lead the team after Garcia fouled out with about four minutes left in regulation.
Senior guard Larry O'Bannon, scoreless and a non-factor in the first half, finished with 24 points and was named MVP of the regional, joining fellow Male High School alumnus Darrell Griffith and Pervis Ellison as the only U of L players ever to earn that honor.
Garcia spent the most crucial moments of the game on the bench after fouling out, but he kept the Cards in contention early and finished with 13 points and eight assists.
Myles, sidelined by a twisted ankle for a stretch of the second half, dominated the defensive lane late with a major blocked shot and several big rebounds.
And there were heroes whose names have not been prominent all season.
Pitino said that at halftime he told his players: "There is greatness in all of you, and we need it from every one of you, even if you are only on the court for a minute."
For a team that has been adjusting all season, the second half was a study in adaptation and survival. The Cards abandoned their zone defense and sacrificed their bodies in the 5,300-foot altitude with pressure man-to-man defense all over the court.
They pulled within nine in the early minutes of the half, then fell back by 12. They clawed within three with 10:29 to play, but the Mountaineers made back-to-back threes to lead by nine.
O'Bannon's three-pointer brought the Cards back within six, but Johannes Herber hit a three falling out of bounds on the other end, and the Cards seemed to sag for a moment.
But they kept coming. Beginning with Myles' tip-in with 8:39 left, U of L missed only five shots the rest of the game.
It took that kind of offensive brilliance to beat West Virginia. Back-to-back baskets by Garcia pulled the Cards within 71-67 with 4:09 left, but seven seconds later he fouled out trying to set a trap. O'Bannon's putback got the Cards within 74-71 with 3:03 left, and Otis George drilled a shot in the key to make it 74-73 with 2:04 left.
Pittsnogle answered with a three, and West Virginia led 77-73 with 1:44 left in regulation. But the Mountaineers wouldn't score again in regulation. Juan Palacios connected in the post with 1:27 left, and O'Bannon's layup in traffic tied it with 38 seconds left.
Looking to win it in the final seconds, West Virginia point guard J. D. Collins drove the lane and pulled up for a jumper, but Brandon Jenkins blocked it. Dean got the ball on a fast break but missed an off-balance 12-footer at the buzzer.
Pitino charged onto the court, pumping his fist.
"We felt at that point there was no way we were losing," Dean said.
He drilled a three 1:13 into the overtime to give U of L an 82-78 edge, and the Mountaineers began to fade. Their shots stopped falling, Myles and Palacios cleaned up the misses and the Cards put it out of reach at the foul line.
"I've been a part of some great comebacks," Pitino said, "but none has ever been so big or satisfying as this one."
Said West Virginia coach John Beilein: "This was a lifetime experience for us. The only place we lost was on the scoreboard. I don't know that we could have played better."
Before every game this season, each U of L player has touched a sign before heading onto the court. The sign bears the Final Four logo and the words, "March to the Arch."
Now they'll get to touch the real thing.
They've already touched their fans. In the stands, many were in tears.
"The character of this team, it leaves a lump in your throat," Matt Ferreri said. "These guys, they are not All-Americans, they aren't pros. But I can already tell you, the city of Louisville will never forget them."
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