2001 Final Four coverage 'the best gig in Tucson journalism'

Or, as I wrote in a journal on April 2, 2001, it was "the best gig in Tucson journalism."

In March 2001, after the Wildcats beat Illinois to qualify for the Final Four, I went to then-managing editor Bobbie Jo Buel and boldly suggested that I should go to the Final Four and cover the scene as a representative of the Star's metro section.

I reasoned that, since the games were in Minneapolis, I could cover it well because I knew the city, having moved from there to Arizona only six years before. And I said I would start with a story about Lute Olson's roots there, in the city where he went to Augsburg College and still had family.  

Sold!

And it wasn't cheap. At that late date, with so much demand for flights, my ticket alone cost the Star $1,800. After inflation, that's $3,383 in today's dollars. We also had several sports reporters, a columnist and photographers there, as well. 

Photographer David Sanders and I woke up the first morning to gloomy late-March skies and a thin new layer of snow over old gray ice and snow piles. 

This played a role in a dicey moment. 

Luckily, one of Olson's friends from Augsburg, Wes Bodin, was still living in the Twin Cities, as was his basketball coach, Ernie Anderson and football coach Edor Nelson. Sanders and I interviewed Bodin, 68 at the time, at Augsburg, a school in the middle of the city. 

Needing a stronger photo than a simple head shot, the ever-diligent Sanders had Bodin walk into a square in front of the college, an uninspiring winter scene full of bare trees and icy paths. I winced as Bodin walked into the park, fearing he would slip, crash and break a hip, all our fault.

But he retained some of his old athleticism and carefully clambered into a spot where Sanders could get the shot. 

Anderson and Nelson left me with a couple of sharp images of Olson's time in college. One was of the Armory building where Augsburg played basketball. In the 1950s, it still served as an armory, as well as a basketball arena, so sometimes there would be tank tracks on the floor when they went to play.

Also, dancing had been prohibited at the conservative college up until a policy change in Olson's years, Nelson said. Before that, the students were allowed to play what they called "folk games" or "rhythm games." Even card-playing was discouraged. 

Like going to church

My beat at the time was covering Arizona-Mexico border-related stories during those years. The Tucson Citizen had a strong young reporter competing with me on that beat, Susan Carroll.

For reasons I don't entirely remember, probably related to the Star and Citizen being run under a joint operating agreement at the time, Susan and I ended up sitting next to each other in the 18th row for the games. 

They were great seats, but each of us had the job of reporting on the fan experience, which was a bit awkward since we were sitting adjacent to the exact same fans and wanted to get different material. Walking around the stadium to do interviews helped. 

But one nice thing about sitting among the fans is that we weren't restrained by the standards that sports writers abide by — not to cheer and all that. In the first half of the semifinal against Michigan State, it was a back-and-forth game, which meant a lot of standing up and sitting down. 

"It's like a Catholic Church service," said Britni Cooper, who was sitting near me. "Up and down, up and down."

The second half, when Arizona ran away with the game, was just a rollicking good time. 

Whose side are you on?

With my story on Olson's roots done, and the semifinal over, I searched for other stories to cover. Since Duke had won the other semifinal and would play Arizona in the final, I went to a Duke rally to talk with their fans.

Now, I despise Duke as much as any other normal college basketball fan. But I was a bit curious about what makes those fans tick.

It turns out that even back then, Duke fans were admittedly "jaded" about going to Final Fours and winning championships.

"We're kind of spoiled," one fan told me. "We're kind of used to being here, and we expect to win, too."

It was a short feature story that was published on Monday morning, April 2, the day of the championship game. I didn't know where in the paper it had run until I started getting angry emails from UA fans. 

We had run a story about Duke fans on the front page of the Star the day of the championship. Now Arizona fans were mad at me.

Duke downer

The championship game was a letdown. Anyone who remembers it can tell you about the shocking officiating, favoring Duke, in the first half. Then came the rain of 3-pointers by Duke's Mike Dunleavy Jr., who scored 18 points in the second half and buried Arizona's repeated attempts at a comeback.

The aftermath also had a few ugly moments. Somehow, a couple of Duke fans were seated among Arizona family members, including Olson's sister and brother-in-law, as well as the wife of associate head coach Jim Rosborough. One of the fans went after Olson's brother-in-law, and the other pushed Rosborough's wife after the game.

It was all a big bummer. 

Olson's son-in-law, John Brase, put a philosophical and meteorologically accurate point on the disappointing result: "The sun will come up tomorrow. Maybe not in Minneapolis, but it will come up."

It's crazy to me that it's taken Arizona 25 years to get back to a Final Four and wonderful that younger fans will get the opportunity to witness it. The only regret I have is that Arizona won't get a chance at revenge against Duke.