Check out the latest "Classic Moments" on the website, a look back at TU's run 16 years ago:
http://www.tulsahurricane.com/watch/?Archive=3097
http://www.tulsahurricane.com/watch/?Archive=3097
The Great 2000 run..
- Thread starter CaneVideo
- Start date
Yeah, CBS was so deathly afraid TU-OSU was gonna be one side of the Final Four bracket and no one outside of a 90-mile radius in Oklahoma would care, I'm sure the refs were offered a few "suggestions" prior to tip-off.
Not UNC. Different year and game. That was Kentucky in st louis
Wrong team. Tayshaun Primce played for Kentucky and lit is up for 41 in the 2002 2nd round in St. Louis. Without that 41, we beat Kentucky.
That UNC team was led by Joseph Forte along with Brendan Haywood, Julius Peppers (yes, that Julius Peppers) and Ed Cora who Dick Vitale called the best PG in the country no fewer than 6,000 times during the regular season. With about 2 minutes left FR guard from Wagoner picked Best PG in the Country's pocket and went in for a jam to get TU within a couple. The officiating in this game was eerily similar to the TU-Clemson game in '97(yr?). TU shot its worst % of the season in that UNC game but played its trademark ferocious D. When you look back on 2000, 5 losses by a combined 13 pts.
TUtyp and I were walking the streets of Austin late that Friday night, being the ne'er-do-wells that we were. Forte, Cota, and Haywood were walking down the same street, clearly out past curfew. We discussed starting a li'l square-off with 'em. I wasn't worried about ole' Typ being able to handle Haywood and Cota as he is silly crazy and quite the pugilist. I was more concerned with LEC v Forte, so I thought the better of it.
Sometimes I feel like I owe everyone an apology as I doubt that two of those three guys would've played Sunday morning and there would've been a serious ruckus in the UNC camp. Anyhoo, hindsight is 20/20, I reckon.
Sometimes I feel like I owe everyone an apology as I doubt that two of those three guys would've played Sunday morning and there would've been a serious ruckus in the UNC camp. Anyhoo, hindsight is 20/20, I reckon.
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That bracket set up perfectly for us to reach the Final 4. Standford (the #1 seed) lost. Cincy (the #2 seed) had just lost Kenyan Martin. We beat a lower seeded team (UNC) in the Elite8 and we're in the Final 4. We were right there the entire game (down 2 to 6) but could never get over the hump.
That was the best and worst game in school history. I loved every second of those games, interacting with the team and coaches in the hotel. It was a lot of fun and I still think about that trip to Nashville and Austin and what should have been Indianapolis. There was a personality and attitude that those players had with the fans who traveled and came to the games. It was love and appreciation both ways. I loved that team and I'll always have a soft spot for Bill Self for the greatest moments in TU history. The teams in recent history haven't had that same attitude with the fans, or the same killer instinct on the court. It's something that's missed and we need to find a way to get back to.
Unfortunately there may have been some TU players out that night too. I think if the Bill Self of today were coaching that game , we win. And yes Dante might have played a little more.
I watched all of the game and kept trying to get us to win. UNC played a great game when we needed their average game. Self's zone offenses had not evolved to where they are now and we struggled. The slowed pace hurt us. Needed Heard to take the last three, not a guarded Shelton. Two of the refs were back in the elite eight last week 16 years later. I don't blame the game on them. Marcus needed a couple of those threes the first half and Coley just never got started with all the fouls. I was at the game as well as in Nashville and had not watched it since. My opinion at the time was a brilliant game by Peppers who gave us fits.
The TU crowd was huge and loud and the cuts to the Reynolds Center were classic. Great times........
The TU crowd was huge and loud and the cuts to the Reynolds Center were classic. Great times........
Prince was Tayshaun Prince and played for KY not UNC....someone help me Im old and might be confused
That doesn't surprise me at all, considering how many drinks I bought for a few certain players during the Self era. Hell, I bought the staff a few rounds too, although I may have just put it on Eggman's tab.
That was the game that Coley picked up 3 fouls early in the first half and we lost our interior shot blocking ability. I squarely believe that the fix was in on that game and that a Tulsa - OSU - Wisconsin - xxx final four was something CBS was not going to allow.
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