Thursday, we took a stroll down Memory Lane and looked at one of two Final Fours with a very strong connection to the 2015 Final Four. The 1991 Final Four evoked an obvious UNLV-Kentucky comparison across 24 years, but there was so much more that tied together the past and the present.
The other Final Four from the history books with a clear set of connections to 2015 is the 1999 big-dome bash, held at Tropicana Field. Let’s step into the last Final Four held in the previous century:
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The foremost way in which the 1999 Final Four strikes a chord with present-day college basketball fans is that it’s the only previous time in which Mike Krzyzewski and Tom Izzo coached against each other in the Final Four. Coach K and Izzo have shared the stage at three Final Fours in the past, and Saturday’s national semifinal will mark occasion number four. However, only 1999 marks a prior occasion in which these giants stared each other down on the last weekend of the NCAA tournament.
In 2001, Arizona prevented Michigan State from facing Duke in the title game. In 2010, Butler did the same. In 1999, though, Duke-Michigan State was a national semifinal, just as it is this year. Izzo was making his maiden voyage to college basketball’s showcase weekend. This is one reason why the Spartans were an even bigger underdog to Duke than they are in 2015 — the legend of Tom Izzo had not yet been cemented.
The biggest reason Michigan State was a substantial underdog to Duke in 1999 was that the Blue Devils were loaded: Elton Brand, Corey Maggette, Trajan Langdon, and William Avery populated the roster. Though not unbeaten, it is reasonable to say that Duke towered over the other teams in St. Petersburg, Florida, before the first game tipped off on Semifinal Saturday.
It’s not as though Michigan State was unique or isolated in being an underdog to Duke — everyone else was (or would have been) a dog against the Devils at that Final Four. A detail which underscores Duke’s primacy heading into that Final Four is that, much like this year, the foursome gathered at the Trop was comprised of three No. 1 seeds and a mid-level seed. Ohio State wasn’t a 7 as Michigan State is this year, but the Buckeyes were a 4 seed that caught fire in the regional, disposing of a top seed (Auburn) and a No. 3 seed (St. John’s) to make its way to St. Pete.
That Ohio State carried the banner for the Big Ten represents another parallel with Michigan State this season. That the 1999 Final Four produced two Big Ten representatives further solidifies the connection with this year’s free-Four-all.
One other detail about that Duke-Michigan State game from 1999 shows how the NCAA tournament has evolved. You might recall that Michigan State wore home whites in that battle of No. 1 seeds 16 years ago (the equivalent of what will happen between Wisconsin and Kentucky in this year’s semifinal between a Big Ten team and an old-money power with blue and white colors). Back then, the 1-68 seed list had not been developed, so Michigan State was arbitrarily chosen as the team which wore home whites. In 2015, Duke would have easily been higher on the seed list than the Spartans and would have therefore worn whites as the No. 1 overall seed in the tournament. Times have changed… even though the image of Coach K’s presence on the sideline is seared into the mind’s eye.
Since that 1999 semifinal, Izzo and Michigan State have actually reached more Final Fours than Coach K and Duke (6-4), but Krzyzewski has won more national titles (2-1) and has produced far more highly-seeded teams. Izzo and Michigan State have gained a top-two seed only twice (!!!) since 2001. Coach K and Duke? 11 times. This collection of stats might diminish Izzo on a November-through-February level, but it certainly does enhance what he’s been able to do in March. Conversely, Coach K — while now tied for the most Final Fours of all time (12, with John Wooden) — emerges as an even better regular-season coach (if that’s possible) when one contemplates how frequently the Blue Devils have been a top-two seed in the Big Dance.
That 1999 semifinal marked Coach K’s eighth Final Four, one more than the seventh Final Four Izzo will coach in this year. Only three men have made more than seven Final Fours, and Krzyzewski arrived at that gleaming, glittering distinction 16 years ago.
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Now, to the matchups.
Michigan State-Duke 1999 was the equivalent of Wisconsin-Kentucky 2015… and not just because these were matchups of No. 1 seeds.
Duke inhabited the position of Kentucky, albeit without the chance to complete an unbeaten season. The Blue Devils had the most NBA-ready players and were seen as the clear team to beat at that Final Four. Standing in their way was an opponent from the Big Ten, one viewed as resourceful but not necessarily imposing. It might not have been a surprise when Michigan State beat Kentucky in a thrilling Elite Eight game in St. Louis the week before, but the fact that Kentucky carried a roster full of veterans and was defending its national title certainly caught some portions of the college basketball community off guard. One week after coming through under pressure against a formidable bunch of Wildcats, everyone in the sport wondered if Michigan State had another great game in its fuel tank. The questions surrounding Michigan State back then are the questions facing Wisconsin today, one week after the Badgers beat a different band of Wildcats, those from the University of Arizona.
The first semifinal between Ohio State and Connecticut rather cleanly put the Buckeyes in the role Michigan State occupies in 2015. Connecticut is a more complex team relative to 2015. On one powerful level, the Huskies can’t claim to stand in the shoes Duke will wear in this Saturday’s opening semifinal. On other level, though, the comparison between 1999 UConn and 2015 Duke fits quite well.
In 1999, Connecticut was making its first Final Four appearance under Jim Calhoun. The moment the coach and the whole state of Connecticut had been waiting for over the course of a decade — pretty much since Christian Laettner broke the Huskies’ hearts in the 1990 East Regional final — had finally arrived. Duke’s 2015 semifinal against a mid-level seed from the Big Ten carries no such historical significance.
Similarly, whereas 2015 Duke is coached by a certified legend with multiple national titles to his credit, 1999 UConn was trying to win Jim Calhoun’s first title. These two teams — 2015 Duke and 1999 UConn — arrived at their Final Four semifinals from the opposite sides of the tracks in a larger historical context. Seen through this lens, their stories diverge to a considerable extent.
Here’s where 2015 Duke and 1999 UConn are strongly similar, beyond the fact that they drew mid-level seeds from the Big Ten in the Final Four’s opening game: They were the aspiring champions in one half of the bracket, hoping to get their shot at the big dog from the second semifinal.
Higher seeds are hardly assured of winning at the Final Four — consider last year’s semifinals, in which a 7 and an 8 took out a 1 and a 2. What helped UConn avoid an upset against Ohio State in 1999 — and what might help Duke focus enough to beat Michigan State in 2015 — is that Saturday was seen as a stepping stone to a date with a goliath.
Everyone wanted a piece of Duke in 1999, the ability to take a home-run cut at the Blue Devils. Similarly, any team with visions of greatness in this 2015 wants to test itself against John Calipari’s Kentucky crew. In 1999, the Huskies didn’t play flawlessly against Ohio State, but Jake Voskuhl and the rest of that UConn roster were thoroughly determined to get to Monday night and earn what they hoped would be a chance to beat Duke. Whereas many higher-seeded teams freeze in the Final Four spotlight, others go after their opportunity with a measure of well-channeled desperation. Connecticut was that team against Ohio State, and that’s why the Huskies earned their date with Duke, the Kentucky of 1999 and (very possibly) a better team if stacked against the Wildcats.
UConn defeated Duke, of course. Today, 16 years later, we’ll see:
A) If Duke — in UConn’s position today — can earn a shot at Kentucky.
B) If the Blue Devils can follow the path carved out by Khalid El-Amin and Richard Hamilton in that Monday night upset of one of the best Duke teams of all time.
A nation will be eagerly watching, as a line is drawn from Tropicana Field to Lucas Oil Stadium, across the sands of time.
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Ohio State as Michigan State.
Michigan State as Wisconsin.
Connecticut as Duke.
Duke as Kentucky.
The 1999 Final Four and the 2015 Final Four feature two of the same schools and two of the same coaches as the ones you’ll see this weekend. These Four-somes share a second Big Ten team and a school known for closing the sale in March. If there’s a revealing difference between 1999 and 2015, it’s that Connecticut was just beginning to write its story as a program, while 2015 Kentucky is on the verge of completing one of the greatest chapters in college basketball since 1976. However, when seen from a broader vantage point, so much about these Final Fours is shared across 16 years of history… far more than just Coach K and Tom Izzo coaching against each other for the second time at a Final Four.
The history of college basketball has a way of re-emerging at certain Final Fours. The 1999 Final Four has certainly been brought back to life on this Easter weekend by the creation of 2015’s Saturday night celebration. It’s a party as extravagant as any of the Easter Vigils that will occur at the very same time.
