Sunday’s double-header reminded us why the NCAA tournament is so often the best sports drama on TV. Improbable finishes happened again Sunday. Twice.
How could Kentucky’s Wildcats come back from a 17-point deficit midway through the second half to beat a talented Duke team soundly schooled in all the fundamentals by top-notch coach Mike Krzyzewski?
And how could the Stanford Cardinal, trailing by six points, make two mistakes in the final minute that left top-notch veteran analyst Al McGuire nearly apoplectic, yet still rally to beat the Rhode Island Rams?
McGuire was having a great day at the CBS Sports microphone beside play-by-play partner Tim Brando. Whether calling strategy correctly, noting that college teams don’t work the clock well in the closing seconds of halves, or arguing that players who set aggressive picks should not be allowed to protect themselves with their hands, McGuire virtually owned this game . . . until the final seconds.
“They gotta foul right away!” ex-coach McGuire shouted three times as Stanford’s defense tried to prevent the Rams from moving up court after cutting Rhode Island’s lead to 74-73 with 32 seconds left. Instead, even as McGuire was yelling, Cardinal Arthur Lee poked the ball away from Ram Cuttino Mobley to Mark Madsen, whose slam-dunk gave Stanford the lead.
– Dumb: In the ensuing bedlam, McGuire and Brando neglected to mention, as CBS cut to commercials, that Madsen had been fouled. After the break, he made a free throw to put Stanford up 76-74.
Cardinal sin No. 2 came when Stanford, up 77-74, fouled Tyson Wheeler in a final flurry beyond the three-point line, stopping the clock and giving him three free throws to tie the game. But he missed the first two, then was forced to miss the third intentionally.
– Plum: If you look for class amid the chaos, and I do, how about Krzyzewski helping Wildcat Allen Edwards to his feet after Duke fouled him to stop the clock in its futile, but only, chance to win?
The best and the blight: HBO has kept a balancing eye on college basketball during the thrill ride of tournament games.
After last week’s blistering look at the ongoing investigation into a sports betting point-shaving scandal in Arizona State’s basketball program, HBO will air a documentary at 6 p.m. Thursday on the 1996-97 “Cinderella” season for Tennessee’s Lady Vols. The back-to-back women’s basketball champions are in the title chase again in this month’s tourney.
But before that, another HBO documentary examines another college basketball scandal. “City Dump,” airing at 9 p.m. Tuesday, recalls how seven players on a gifted City College of New York team were charged with taking money to fix games over two seasons.
One aspect gives this story added edge amid the barrage of headlines that suggest corruption of athletes is strictly a problem of current society: The CCNY scandal rocked New York in 1951.
Its historical significance “cannot be overstated,” says HBO Sports Senior Vice President Ross Greenberg, executive producer of the documentary. What happened to the CCNY players “continues to occur time and time again,” Greenberg says, “because of the big-time nature of college basketball, with the accompanying infiltration of gambling into a world of vulnerable college students.”
And the winner is . . . The “Odd Couple” Oscar vs. Felix matchup boxing writers would most like to see is undefeated welterweight champions Oscar De La Hoya and Felix Trinidad battling in the ring.
Instead, Oscar vs. Oscar is the odd-couple competition we’re going to see Monday night. De La Hoya will be host and analyst on Fox Sports’ live two-hour prime-time boxing telecast beginning at 7 p.m., thereby going head-to head from 8 p.m to 9 p.m. against the first hour of ABC’s live telecast of the 70th annual Academy Award Oscar presentations.
With De La Hoya joined ringside by commentators Gil Clancy, Sean O’Grady and Fox’s “man for all reasons,” James Brown, doing blow-by-blow commentary, the main event will pit International Boxing Federation junior welterweight champion Yory Boy Campas against challenger Anthony Stephens.
Bob Arum, De La Hoya’s promoter, is optimistic about the ratings. “We have never settled for less than a victory,” he said. Although his fighter has never been an underdog, as he is in this matchup, Arum insisted, “I look for an upset victory in the ratings.”
Las Vegas would probably give him sizable odds against that.
