Kentucky Needed Rebuilding For 1997
College basketball crowns a national champion for the ages tonight.
The favorite is storied Kentucky, defending the title it won a year ago. The underdog is Arizona, attempting to become the most unlikely champion in the sport’s history.
But there’s more to savor entering tonight’s encounter at the RCA Dome. Much more.
The previous 58 NCAA Tournaments have produced a host of repeat champions: Oklahoma State, Kentucky, San Francisco, Cincinnati, UCLA and Duke. But none of those programs endured the turnover Kentucky experienced from last season to this.
“The good thing about the University of Kentucky is we don’t just rebuild, we reload,” said guard Anthony Epps, the only returning starter from the 1996 championship-game victory over Syracuse.
The Wildcats (35-4) lost four players from that team to the NBA draft. Another, guard Derek Anderson, blew out his knee in January. Of the nine players who saw time against Syracuse, only three will play tonight - Epps, Allen Edwards and All-American Ron Mercer. Of those three, only Mercer scored in last year’s title game.
Go back and check the other repeat champions. The only comparable turnover occurred from 1971 to ‘72, when UCLA returned only one starter - guard Henry Bibby. But the Bruins also added a pretty fair player named Bill Walton.
No offense intended, but Kentucky’s addition of freshman Jamaal Magloire and redshirt Jared Prickett hardly rates with UCLA’s pickup of Walton.
“It’s going to be history,” Mercer said of Kentucky’s expected title defense. “When you think about the teams that have repeated, it’s a very select group.”
Arizona’s upsetting path
Arizona can become the first team to win the NCAA championship with victories over three top seeds.
Arizona, seeded fourth in the Southeast, upset top-ranked Kansas 85-82 in the regional semifinal and advanced to the championship game by ousting North Carolina 66-58 in Saturday’s opener at the RCA Dome.
Arizona finished fifth in the Pacific-10 Conference during the regular season and no fifth-place team from any league has won a national championship.
Terry recovers
Jason Terry was back with his Arizona teammates Sunday after a visit to the hospital Saturday night.
“We were going to put him in late in the game,” Arizona coach Lute Olson said. “… I called for him to come and Ed Orr, our trainer, said he can’t go. He was feeling very, very faint, and was just very, very ill at that point.
“He was dehydrated. He was taken to the hospital. He was put on IVs to take care of the dehydration. He’s back. He had breakfast with the guys this morning.”
Mercer ready
Ron Mercer’s playing time in the semifinal was cut by cramps, but the Kentucky star said he’ll be fine for the championship game.
“I don’t think cramping will be a factor,” the 6-foot-7 forward said. “I don’t think we really have time to be tired. We have one more game left for the national championship, and I don’t think anybody is going to feel tired… . I have to go out and deal with it.”