Greg Hansen's Guide to the Sweet 16
- Updated
Star sports columnist Greg Hansen tells you what to watch for during the upcoming NCAA Tournament's Sweet 16.
Arizona’s three greatest Sweet 16 moments *Not including the stunning 2011 dismantling of 32-5 Duke*
- Greg Hansen
1. Sweet Revenge, 1997, Jefferson Civic Center, Birmingham, Alabama. Arizona felt it owed No. 1 seed Kansas, which entered the NCAA tournament 32-1. A year earlier in the Denver Sweet 16, the Jayhawks rallied from a 13-point deficit to beat Arizona 83-80 on a 3-pointer by current Stanford coach Jerod Haase with 36 seconds remaining.
“Tell Lute I really feel for him,” said KU coach Roy Williams. “I really do.”
A year later, it was Lute Olson comforting Williams, who wept in the Kansas locker room.
Arizona won 83-80, which some insist is the most significant victory in school history, making possible an unexpected run to the national championship. Mike Bibby, Miles Simon and Michael Dickerson combined for 58 points as Haase, their tormentor a year earlier, scored just two points.
Arizona’s three greatest Sweet 16 moments *Not including the stunning 2011 dismantling of 32-5 Duke*
- Greg Hansen
2. Supreme Salim, 2005, Allstate Arena, Chicago. With Arizona trailing Oklahoma State 78-76 with 12 seconds remaining, Salim Stoudamire spoke up in a tense time-out. “I’m going to do it,” he told his coaches and teammates. “It’s on me.”
Stoudamire drilled a jumper with 2.8 seconds remaining to beat the No. 2 seed Cowboys 79-78.
OSU coach Eddie Sutton said “my heart dropped … by, golly, they shot 66 percent for the game. They shot 70 percent in the first half. That’s pretty remarkable.”
Arizona’s three greatest Sweet 16 moments *Not including the stunning 2011 dismantling of 32-5 Duke*
- Greg Hansen
3. Herm’s Heroics, 1976, Pauley Pavilion, Los Angeles. Arizona was a serious underdog to 34-2 UNLV, the No. 2 seed, but shooting guard Herman Harris had the night of his life, scoring 31 points, including 16 of the UA’s final 27 in regulation.
Arizona won 114-109 in overtime as Arizona made 11 consecutive free throws after starters Jim Rappis and Al Fleming fouled out. UNLV could’ve put the game away with 24 seconds left in regulation, but Boyd Batts missed the first of a one-and-one foul shot situation. Harris then tied the game with six seconds to play.
The victory over Jerry Tarkanian’s Rebels was deemed the greatest win in school history at the time.
- Greg Hansen
1. The Bay Area has been the site of 12 NCAA Tournaments from 1939 to 2017. The host sites have been all over the Bay: at the Cow Palace in Daly City, at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum, at Harmon Gym in Berkeley, at the Old Pavilion in Palo Alto, at the old California Coliseum in San Francisco, and in 2002, 2007, 2010, 2013 and 2017 in downtown San Jose, which is now called the SAP Center. Arizona’s lone appearance in San Jose was a 2002 Sweet 16 loss to Oklahoma.
- Greg Hansen
2. Former UA athletic director Greg Byrne said that McKale Center’s future as a NCAA site is unlikely. He believes that staging games in Tucson diminishes the chance for UA fans to travel to a West site and, therefore, limit fan support. Is he right? In the Pac-12 era, Tucson has been a host site seven times. Arizona is 11-2 in those games encumbered by a McKale sub-regional.
- Greg Hansen
3. The competition has increased. Denver, Salt Lake City, Portland, Seattle, Sacramento, Boise, Spokane, San Diego and now Eugene are active bidders for first-weekend games. Salt Lake City last week made bids to host NCAA games in 2019, 2020 and 2021. If the NCAA’s relationship with Las Vegas ever thaws, T-Mobile Arena would be a good fit for a West Regional.
- Greg Hansen
The combined records of Arizona and its Sweet 16 opponent, in order of games won:
63-8: Arizona (32-4) vs. San Diego State (31-4) in 2014
61-11: Arizona (29-7) vs. Duke (32-4) in 2011
58-10: Arizona (29-3) vs. UNLV (29-7) in 1989
57-11: Arizona (33-2) vs. Iowa (24-9) in 1988
56-9: Arizona (27-5) vs. Kansas (29-4) in 1996
56-17: Arizona (33-3) vs. Xavier (23-14) in 2015
55-10: Arizona (21-9) vs. Kansas (34-1) in 1997
55-11: Arizona (27-5) vs. Louisville (28-6) in 1994
55-17: Arizona (32-4) vs. Xavier (23-13) in 2017
- Greg Hansen
Bob Huggins, West Virginia: Age 63. Career record: 746-302. Sweet 16s: This is his eighth. Comment: An old-fashioned job-hopper, Huggins bounced from Akron to Cincinnati to Kansas State and finally back to his alma mater, West Virginia.
- Greg Hansen
Mark Few, Gonzaga: Age 54. Career record: 500-112. Sweet 16s: This is his seventh. Comment: The son of a Presbyterian minister from near the University of Oregon campus grew up wanting to be a baseball player.
- Greg Hansen
Chris Mack, Xavier: Age 47. Career record: 163-77. Sweet 16s: This is his fourth. Comment: He replaced Sean Miller at Xavier in 2010-11 and has become one of the first names mentioned when a Power 5 Conference coaching job becomes available.
- Greg Hansen
Sean Miller, Arizona: Age 48. Career record: 340-112. Sweet 16s: This is his seventh. Comment: In his eight UA seasons, Miller has won more games, 220, than Lute Olson, 190, did in his first eight Arizona years.
- Greg Hansen
1991 in Seattle. The combined record of the teams was 114-17, with all top four seeds reaching the Kingdome. UNLV was 32-0; Arizona 28-6; Seton Hall 24-8; Utah 30-3. The Rebels were a runaway winner after Seton Hall bounced Arizona 81-77.
- Greg Hansen
1989 in Denver. It was a Hall of Fame coaching showdown with Indiana’s Bob Knight, Arizona’s Lute Olson and UNLV’s Jerry Tarkanian. Seton Hall’s P.J. Carlesimo, who wasn’t bad, was the fourth. The combined record of the teams was 111-24. Seton Hall advanced.
- Greg Hansen
2011 in Anaheim. For the only time in UA Sweet 16 history, all four teams at the site went on to be 30-game winners. Combined final record: 128-25. UConn surprised most to win the national title and finish 32-9. Duke was hammered by Arizona in the Sweet 16 to finish 32-5. San Diego State, in the best year its history, finished 34-3.
- Greg Hansen
1. Hunt-ing Season, McNichols Arena, Denver, 1989. Sean Elliott’s final game as a Wildcat was a tearjerker. The 29-3 Wildcats seemed to survive a fierce defensive battle, leading Tark’s Rebels 67-65 with 15 seconds to play.
But after a traveling call on Arizona, the Rebels worked the ball to shooting guard Anderson Hunt, who banged into UA guard Kenny Lofton, knocking Lofton to the ground. Or was it a flop? Referee Ed Hightower did not make a call.
Hunt released a 3-pointer as the clock went from 4 to 3 seconds.
“The second it went off his hand,” Olson said, “it looked like it was dead-center to me. It was going in.” And it did. UNLV won 68-67.
Olson was asked if it was bitter, the end of a two-year run behind Elliott, the national player of the year, and a 64-7 record.
“Bitter?” he replied. “Let’s see a show of hands. How many of you would think it was bitter?”
- Greg Hansen
Arizona’s Sean Miller, UCLA’s Steve Alford, Purdue’s Matt Painter and Florida’s Mike White are the only four Sweet 16 coaches who played in the NCAA tournament.
Here’s how the four coaches did in the NCAA tournament:
- Greg Hansen
Miller: In five games at Pitt from 1988-91, Miller averaged 7.4 points and had 35 assists. He shot just 10 for 36 from the field and made 8 of 24 three-point attempts. His team did not advance to the Sweet 16.
- Greg Hansen
Alford: In 10 games for Indiana, Alford averaged 21.3. His Hoosiers won the 1987 national championship as he scored 117 points. His top NCAA game ever might’ve been a 1984 game when he scored 27 points against Michael Jordan (who scored 13) and North Carolina.
- Greg Hansen
- Updated
Painter: As a Boilermaker guard, Painter played in two losing NCAA games, scoring nine points.
- Greg Hansen
White: The son of Duke athletic director Kevin White was a guard at Ole Miss in the late 1990s. He played (and lost) in the famous buzzer-beating shot by Valpo’s Bryce Drew in 1998. White scored seven points in five NCAA games.
- Greg Hansen
The Pac-12 has only won 27 games in the Sweet 16 since the league added Arizona and Arizona State in 1978-79. Here’s the list:
Arizona 10-6. UA’s Sweet 16 foes a who’s who of college hoops: Duke, Kansas, Louisville, Notre Dame.
UCLA 8-7. Hard to believe Bruins are just over .500.
Utah 2-6. Utes took down No. 1 Stanford in 1997 Sweet 16.
Stanford 2-3. The Cardinal limited No. 2 seed Purdue to 31 percent shooting to win a 1998 upset.
Oregon State 1-0. Only Sweet 16 win for OSU in the Pac-10/12 era was against Idaho in 1982.
Oregon 3-1. Ducks might consider last year’s Sweet 16 win over Duke as most important game of their modern years.
Arizona State 0-1. The Sun Devils had players named Veal, Bacon and Capers in their lineup in a 1995 Sweet 16 loss to top-seeded Kentucky 97-73.
Cal 0-2. The Bears didn’t get an easy path, losing to No. 2 Kansas in 1993 and No. 1 North Carolina in 1997.
Washington 0-5. The Huskies’ best chance to win a Sweet 16 game was in 2006 when they led No. 1 UConn 45-40 at half but lost 98-92.
Washington State 0-1. The Cougars reached the Sweet 16 in 2008 but only shot 31 percent in a 60-47 loss to No. 1 North Carolina.
USC 1-1. The Trojans upset No. 2 seed Kentucky in 2001 as David Bluthenthal scored 27 points and made six treys.
Colorado 0-0. The Buffaloes last played in a Sweet 16 game in 1969, and lost it to rival Colorado State.
- Greg Hansen
Wisconsin 77, Florida 72
No one in Tucson is likely to pick against the Badgers.
South Carolina 84, Baylor 80
Beating Duke put the Gamecocks on the map.
Final Four qualifier: South Carolina
- Greg Hansen
Kansas 83, Purdue 74
The Jayhawks get some
home-cookin’.
Oregon 77, Michigan 70
Best story in the tournament goes home.
Final Four qualifier: Kansas
- Greg Hansen
North Carolina 72, Butler 60
Tar Heels hold ACC’s reputation
to the end.
UCLA 92, Kentucky 90
Most entertaining game
of March.
Final Four qualifier: North Carolina
- Greg Hansen
Arizona 72, Xavier 65
Musketeers miss injured point guard Edmond Sumner.
West Virginia 67, Gonzaga 64
Mountaineers are the best team the Zags have seen in months.
Final Four qualifier: Arizona
- Greg Hansen
North Carolina: 28
Duke: 25
Kentucky: 25
Kansas: 22
Louisville: 21
UCLA: 19
Syracuse: 18
Arizona: 18
Michigan State: 17
Indiana: 17
More like this...
Arizona’s three greatest Sweet 16 moments *Not including the stunning 2011 dismantling of 32-5 Duke*
- Greg Hansen
1. Sweet Revenge, 1997, Jefferson Civic Center, Birmingham, Alabama. Arizona felt it owed No. 1 seed Kansas, which entered the NCAA tournament 32-1. A year earlier in the Denver Sweet 16, the Jayhawks rallied from a 13-point deficit to beat Arizona 83-80 on a 3-pointer by current Stanford coach Jerod Haase with 36 seconds remaining.
“Tell Lute I really feel for him,” said KU coach Roy Williams. “I really do.”
A year later, it was Lute Olson comforting Williams, who wept in the Kansas locker room.
Arizona won 83-80, which some insist is the most significant victory in school history, making possible an unexpected run to the national championship. Mike Bibby, Miles Simon and Michael Dickerson combined for 58 points as Haase, their tormentor a year earlier, scored just two points.
Arizona’s three greatest Sweet 16 moments *Not including the stunning 2011 dismantling of 32-5 Duke*
- Greg Hansen
2. Supreme Salim, 2005, Allstate Arena, Chicago. With Arizona trailing Oklahoma State 78-76 with 12 seconds remaining, Salim Stoudamire spoke up in a tense time-out. “I’m going to do it,” he told his coaches and teammates. “It’s on me.”
Stoudamire drilled a jumper with 2.8 seconds remaining to beat the No. 2 seed Cowboys 79-78.
OSU coach Eddie Sutton said “my heart dropped … by, golly, they shot 66 percent for the game. They shot 70 percent in the first half. That’s pretty remarkable.”
Arizona’s three greatest Sweet 16 moments *Not including the stunning 2011 dismantling of 32-5 Duke*
- Greg Hansen
3. Herm’s Heroics, 1976, Pauley Pavilion, Los Angeles. Arizona was a serious underdog to 34-2 UNLV, the No. 2 seed, but shooting guard Herman Harris had the night of his life, scoring 31 points, including 16 of the UA’s final 27 in regulation.
Arizona won 114-109 in overtime as Arizona made 11 consecutive free throws after starters Jim Rappis and Al Fleming fouled out. UNLV could’ve put the game away with 24 seconds left in regulation, but Boyd Batts missed the first of a one-and-one foul shot situation. Harris then tied the game with six seconds to play.
The victory over Jerry Tarkanian’s Rebels was deemed the greatest win in school history at the time.
- Greg Hansen
1. The Bay Area has been the site of 12 NCAA Tournaments from 1939 to 2017. The host sites have been all over the Bay: at the Cow Palace in Daly City, at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum, at Harmon Gym in Berkeley, at the Old Pavilion in Palo Alto, at the old California Coliseum in San Francisco, and in 2002, 2007, 2010, 2013 and 2017 in downtown San Jose, which is now called the SAP Center. Arizona’s lone appearance in San Jose was a 2002 Sweet 16 loss to Oklahoma.
- Greg Hansen
2. Former UA athletic director Greg Byrne said that McKale Center’s future as a NCAA site is unlikely. He believes that staging games in Tucson diminishes the chance for UA fans to travel to a West site and, therefore, limit fan support. Is he right? In the Pac-12 era, Tucson has been a host site seven times. Arizona is 11-2 in those games encumbered by a McKale sub-regional.
- Greg Hansen
3. The competition has increased. Denver, Salt Lake City, Portland, Seattle, Sacramento, Boise, Spokane, San Diego and now Eugene are active bidders for first-weekend games. Salt Lake City last week made bids to host NCAA games in 2019, 2020 and 2021. If the NCAA’s relationship with Las Vegas ever thaws, T-Mobile Arena would be a good fit for a West Regional.
- Greg Hansen
The combined records of Arizona and its Sweet 16 opponent, in order of games won:
63-8: Arizona (32-4) vs. San Diego State (31-4) in 2014
61-11: Arizona (29-7) vs. Duke (32-4) in 2011
58-10: Arizona (29-3) vs. UNLV (29-7) in 1989
57-11: Arizona (33-2) vs. Iowa (24-9) in 1988
56-9: Arizona (27-5) vs. Kansas (29-4) in 1996
56-17: Arizona (33-3) vs. Xavier (23-14) in 2015
55-10: Arizona (21-9) vs. Kansas (34-1) in 1997
55-11: Arizona (27-5) vs. Louisville (28-6) in 1994
55-17: Arizona (32-4) vs. Xavier (23-13) in 2017
- Greg Hansen
Bob Huggins, West Virginia: Age 63. Career record: 746-302. Sweet 16s: This is his eighth. Comment: An old-fashioned job-hopper, Huggins bounced from Akron to Cincinnati to Kansas State and finally back to his alma mater, West Virginia.
- Greg Hansen
Mark Few, Gonzaga: Age 54. Career record: 500-112. Sweet 16s: This is his seventh. Comment: The son of a Presbyterian minister from near the University of Oregon campus grew up wanting to be a baseball player.
- Greg Hansen
Chris Mack, Xavier: Age 47. Career record: 163-77. Sweet 16s: This is his fourth. Comment: He replaced Sean Miller at Xavier in 2010-11 and has become one of the first names mentioned when a Power 5 Conference coaching job becomes available.
- Greg Hansen
Sean Miller, Arizona: Age 48. Career record: 340-112. Sweet 16s: This is his seventh. Comment: In his eight UA seasons, Miller has won more games, 220, than Lute Olson, 190, did in his first eight Arizona years.
- Greg Hansen
1991 in Seattle. The combined record of the teams was 114-17, with all top four seeds reaching the Kingdome. UNLV was 32-0; Arizona 28-6; Seton Hall 24-8; Utah 30-3. The Rebels were a runaway winner after Seton Hall bounced Arizona 81-77.
- Greg Hansen
1989 in Denver. It was a Hall of Fame coaching showdown with Indiana’s Bob Knight, Arizona’s Lute Olson and UNLV’s Jerry Tarkanian. Seton Hall’s P.J. Carlesimo, who wasn’t bad, was the fourth. The combined record of the teams was 111-24. Seton Hall advanced.
- Greg Hansen
2011 in Anaheim. For the only time in UA Sweet 16 history, all four teams at the site went on to be 30-game winners. Combined final record: 128-25. UConn surprised most to win the national title and finish 32-9. Duke was hammered by Arizona in the Sweet 16 to finish 32-5. San Diego State, in the best year its history, finished 34-3.
- Greg Hansen
1. Hunt-ing Season, McNichols Arena, Denver, 1989. Sean Elliott’s final game as a Wildcat was a tearjerker. The 29-3 Wildcats seemed to survive a fierce defensive battle, leading Tark’s Rebels 67-65 with 15 seconds to play.
But after a traveling call on Arizona, the Rebels worked the ball to shooting guard Anderson Hunt, who banged into UA guard Kenny Lofton, knocking Lofton to the ground. Or was it a flop? Referee Ed Hightower did not make a call.
Hunt released a 3-pointer as the clock went from 4 to 3 seconds.
“The second it went off his hand,” Olson said, “it looked like it was dead-center to me. It was going in.” And it did. UNLV won 68-67.
Olson was asked if it was bitter, the end of a two-year run behind Elliott, the national player of the year, and a 64-7 record.
“Bitter?” he replied. “Let’s see a show of hands. How many of you would think it was bitter?”
- Greg Hansen
Arizona’s Sean Miller, UCLA’s Steve Alford, Purdue’s Matt Painter and Florida’s Mike White are the only four Sweet 16 coaches who played in the NCAA tournament.
Here’s how the four coaches did in the NCAA tournament:
- Greg Hansen
Miller: In five games at Pitt from 1988-91, Miller averaged 7.4 points and had 35 assists. He shot just 10 for 36 from the field and made 8 of 24 three-point attempts. His team did not advance to the Sweet 16.
- Greg Hansen
Alford: In 10 games for Indiana, Alford averaged 21.3. His Hoosiers won the 1987 national championship as he scored 117 points. His top NCAA game ever might’ve been a 1984 game when he scored 27 points against Michael Jordan (who scored 13) and North Carolina.
- Greg Hansen
White: The son of Duke athletic director Kevin White was a guard at Ole Miss in the late 1990s. He played (and lost) in the famous buzzer-beating shot by Valpo’s Bryce Drew in 1998. White scored seven points in five NCAA games.
- Greg Hansen
The Pac-12 has only won 27 games in the Sweet 16 since the league added Arizona and Arizona State in 1978-79. Here’s the list:
Arizona 10-6. UA’s Sweet 16 foes a who’s who of college hoops: Duke, Kansas, Louisville, Notre Dame.
UCLA 8-7. Hard to believe Bruins are just over .500.
Utah 2-6. Utes took down No. 1 Stanford in 1997 Sweet 16.
Stanford 2-3. The Cardinal limited No. 2 seed Purdue to 31 percent shooting to win a 1998 upset.
Oregon State 1-0. Only Sweet 16 win for OSU in the Pac-10/12 era was against Idaho in 1982.
Oregon 3-1. Ducks might consider last year’s Sweet 16 win over Duke as most important game of their modern years.
Arizona State 0-1. The Sun Devils had players named Veal, Bacon and Capers in their lineup in a 1995 Sweet 16 loss to top-seeded Kentucky 97-73.
Cal 0-2. The Bears didn’t get an easy path, losing to No. 2 Kansas in 1993 and No. 1 North Carolina in 1997.
Washington 0-5. The Huskies’ best chance to win a Sweet 16 game was in 2006 when they led No. 1 UConn 45-40 at half but lost 98-92.
Washington State 0-1. The Cougars reached the Sweet 16 in 2008 but only shot 31 percent in a 60-47 loss to No. 1 North Carolina.
USC 1-1. The Trojans upset No. 2 seed Kentucky in 2001 as David Bluthenthal scored 27 points and made six treys.
Colorado 0-0. The Buffaloes last played in a Sweet 16 game in 1969, and lost it to rival Colorado State.
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