From the Spotlight Archive:
This feature appeared in March 1998
Tournament Result:
Kentucky - 78
Utah - 69
Quiz Winner:
Shelby Riggs
The madness is over.
Tubbyball ruled the day. While Utah put forth a Herculean effort, the depth of coach Tubby Smith's Kentucky Wildcats and the Utes' inability to score in the game's waning moments proved too much for Rick Majerus' and Co. Kentucky beat Utah, 78-69, at the Alamodome in San Antonio thanks to the Wildcats second-half transformation.
The Wildcats' D tilted the court in their favor down the stretch, allowing them to come back from a 10-point halftime deficit, something that had never been accomplished in the National Championship game before. After getting outrebounded, 24-6, by the Utes in the first half, Kentucky crashed the glass heavy in the second stanza winning the rebounding war, 18-15.
Utah seemed to tire and could manage just one basket during the game's last 5 minutes, 53 seconds and missed 15 of their last 18 field goal attempts.
After the game, Majerus second-guessed himself saying, "I should have played the bench a little bit more. Lombardi was right. Fatigue makes cowards of us all."
Final Four Most Outstanding Player Jeff Sheppard's clutch play late in the game cinched it for the 'Cats who take home their second national title in three years.
Utah beat a heavily-favored North Carolina team, 65-59, in the National Semifinals to advance to their first National Final since 1944, while Kentucky edged out Stanford, 86-85 in overtime, to get to the Final Four championship for the third year in a row.
Quiz Answers
Correct answers are in bold text.
1. Who is the last player to win the Wooden award and the national championship in the same year?
Ed O’Bannon
Christian Laettner
Larry Johnson
Danny Manning
2.Who is the only three-time winner of the NCAA Tournament’s Most Outstanding Player Award?
Bill Walton
Christian Laettner
Lew Alcindor
Austin Carr
3.Which active coach has won the most NCAA National Championships?
Mike Krzyzewski
Dean Smith
Rudy Keeling
Bobby Knight
4.Only six coaches have played and coached in a Final Four. Which one of this year’s FF coaches played in the 1958 Final Four as member of Kansas State?
Bill Guthridge
Rick Majerus
Mike Montgomery
Tubby Smith
5.This player holds the record for most points scored in a Final Four game with 58. Who is he?
Bill Bradley (1965)
Strom Thurmond (1901)
Bill Walton (1973)
Michael Jordan (1983)
6.Which Division I school has made the most appearances (20 and counting) in the tournament without a trip to the Final Four?
UConn
Prairie View A&M
Missouri
BYU
7.Who is the only Heisman Trophy winner to play in a Final Four?
Charlie Ward, Florida St.
Terry Baker, Oregon St.
Johnny Lujack, Notre Dame
Doug Flutie, Boston College
8.Who is the only coach to lead four different schools into the tournament?
Eddie Sutton
Rick Pitino
Henry Iba
Jerry Tarkanian
9.Who was the first sitting president to attend the Final Four?
Richard Nixon
Ronald Reagan
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Bill Clinton
10.How do you spell Duke’s Coach K.’s last name?
Kryzewski
Kyzrewzki
Kryzefski
Krzyzewski
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