I watched the UAB Blazers defeat the Kentucky Wildcats while eating a chicken Caesar wrap. It was one of the happiest moments I have had here in New Orleans.
Jumping up and down, high-fiving the Jayhawk fans next to me and chanting, “Let’s go Blazers,” I realized what makes the NCAA tournament great.
I need some way to thank the Blazers, and I will use this column to do that. The NCAAs are about three things: basketball, upsets and gambling. There are few things greater than when an obscure school you have never heard of like Nevada, Richmond, Coppin State or Valparaiso starts beating people. Usually, as in the case of Princeton, these teams end up succumbing to superior talent.
My dad had written off the UAB Blazers as a loss at halftime even though they were winning by eight points. His logic was that Kentucky had a height advantage and better shooting than UAB. In basketball, being tall is usually considered a good thing, as it helps one put the ball in the basket. UAB has only one player over 6’4″ in its starting lineup. On many occasions, a much taller Wildcat player would stick one hand in the air while three UAB players all futilely jumped around him like a big brother taunting his siblings.
The Blazer’s goal was to press Kentucky into making mistakes with the basketball. The press, ironically, was perfected by former Kentucky coach Rick Pitino, who utilized quick players and a deep bench to create confusion. Unfortunately for UAB, they do not have a deep bench. Packed with Scott Pollard look-alikes, the UAB bench was good at cheering but not much else.
Still, the Blazers kept up the press, but Kentucky powered ahead to a six-point lead with five minutes to play.
On an errant pass, Kentucky stole the ball and had a two-on-one fast break. Gerald Fitch drove down the court, looking for a game-sealing dunk. Fitch passed it to his seemingly open teammate.
But UAB guard Donnell Taylor suddenly jumped about 36 inches in the air and in one motion, intercepted the pass and chucked it the distance of the court over his head to wide open teammate at the opposite basket.
Down four, the Blazers started to hit their shots and tied the game with two minutes left. With 26 seconds to play, Mo Finely pump-faked his man into the air and hit a 20-foot jumper for the lead.
With 13 seconds on the clock, Kentucky drove down the court and Gerald Fitch launched an errant three-pointer. Two different Wildcats got rebounds but were unable to put the ball in.
An unknown team, UAB, had won me money, shocked the world, and got Kentucky back for beating my UMass Minutemen in the 1996 Final Four.
I enjoyed Christian Laettner defeating them, but this win was far sweeter. I really hate Kentucky, not as much as the Dallas Cowboys but close. With its potential for upsets and pulse-pounding action, the NCAA basketball tournament is the greatest sports postseason.
