Before the 1997-98 season started... what was your expectations that season? Did any of you have any thought they might win the championship.
We were preseason #3 and never dropped below #6 in the nation.Preseason ranking was 7, which is easily the lowest of any of our national championship teams. When you look back at the top six they were absolutely stacked. Kentucky looked like SEC favorites but that’s about it.
We were preseason #3 and never dropped below #6 in the nation.
Yep…I had 96-97 in my brain. Even went to Jon’s site. I had the wrong year. You’re right.Jon Scott UK has the rankings by week for that season’s schedule here.
Love you @bthaunert but that’s not true.
IIRC, we were best of the second tier. UNC, KU, Duke and AZ were all lumped together as the favorites at the top.Low. We won but unc was the best team that year. We were like 4th best.
Ha yep! I turned ten years old at the start of the season. Going to the championship games in the two previous seasons was all I needed to expect another championship run.Well I was a kid so yeah, I delusionally thought we would win the title every season. It worked out that year but not so much the past 25 years after.
UNC was loaded yet lost to Utah. So crazy.Low. We won but unc was the best team that year. We were like 4th best.
Not a comment on what you said, but this new dark mode is awful. There's no way to tell that your first line of text is a link at all. But lines are just standard white text.Jon Scott UK has the rankings by week for that season’s schedule here.
Love you @bthaunert but that’s not true.
I'm a few years older but had a similar mindset about 1999. You just expected going far after that three year run and that loss to Michigan State in the Elite 8 in 1999 hurt so bad. It was the end of a dominant run.Ha yep! I turned ten years old at the start of the season. Going to the championship games in the two previous seasons was all I needed to expect another championship run.
UNC was loaded yet lost to Utah. So crazy.
Two top five picks in Jamison and Vince Carter. Shammod Williams as the PG. Ed Cota, NDiaye (remember his famous hoax?), and Okulaja.
UNC had a similar experience in the 97 Final Four against Arizona. They were the favorite and despite Arizona shooting 33%, they beat UNC because UNC shot 31% and Bibby hit six threes.I went to the final four that year and it was really interesting to see UNC hit the wall. To be fair, Utah had some great players. Andre Miller really took it to Cota and Doleac ate Mahktar N’Diaye’s lunch with his inside-outside game. Hanna Möttölå had a great game against Jamison as well and Alex Jensen was all over Vince Carter.
At the under 8 timeout in the second half, all the UNC players were bent over with their hands on their shorts, absolutely sucking air. Meanwhile Utah was huddled up, every player standing tall with their arms around each other.
The interesting thing is that Utah hit the wall against Kentucky. I don’t think they scored in the last 5 minutes of the game. Cameron Mills had two huge three pointers after the under 12 timeout and then Turner feasted to close the game out.
Ha yep! I turned ten years old at the start of the season. Going to the championship games in the two previous seasons was all I needed to expect another championship run.
love the way you guys handled that. take notes everyone.Yep…I had 96-97 in my brain. Even went to Jon’s site. I had the wrong year. You’re right.
I remember saying those exact words to my dad the night they lost their last game. Worst 24-4 team in the history of basketball. Man did I gladly eat those words.The worst 24-4 team in the history of basketball.
I personally didnt think we had a chance at beginning of year.
And kept thinking it would all fall apart eventually.
That it was a reason Pitino left, and he wouldn't have done near as well as Tubby was doing.
We lost to Arizona and Louisville early and it looked like we'd struggle.That team was not a favorite. Several good players, no stars.
They would have been even better with Pitino, as he was set to add Byron Mouton, who would have started at shooting guard as a sophomore for the '99 team and probably erased part of our weakness for that team - shooting (he was a 37% three point shooter at Tulane as a sophomore on 5 three point attempts per game). I could also see a scenario where Pitino redshirts Mills and brings him back as a shooter for the 1999 roster. Why? Because you'd have Sheppard, Edwards, and Mouton on the 1998 roster to play shooting guard.The worst 24-4 team in the history of basketball.
I personally didnt think we had a chance at beginning of year.
And kept thinking it would all fall apart eventually.
That it was a reason Pitino left, and he wouldn't have done near as well as Tubby was doing.
I remember like it was yesterday. They got really salty too, and started fouling with 3 minutes to go down 30.Arizona returned everyone from their 1997 championship team and then got blown out by 25 in the elite 8 by 3 seed Utah. The youngsters here don't know how absolutely shocking that was.
Yeah I thought it was possible. I looked at that team as a final four contender title as a long shot. When you have that amount of championship talent and tubby was a fantastic coach at the timeBefore the 1997-98 season started... what was your expectations that season? Did any of you have any thought they might win the championship.
Same. Except, I do remember 78. But, I was too young to really appreciate it. I’d add 84. I thought we were the best team in the country the minute that Bowie was cleared to play. I still think we were the best team in 84. Just happened to go epically cold at the worst time imaginable.I always thought we had a shot. We were on quite a run.
I only expected to win in 1996, 2012, and 2015. Not old enough to remember 1978.