The knee-jerk thing for a geezer like myself to say after Saturday’s Gonzaga-UCLA classic is that great as it was, it still doesn’t quite measure up to the 1992 Duke-Kentucky regional final. Gotta maintain perspective when it comes to a discussion of college basketball’s best games ever, after all. Gotta respect history. Gotta defend against the scourge of recency bias.
But then again, maybe it does.
What, really, did Saturday’s game lack? As with the Blue Devils’ 104-103 overtime defeat of the Wildcats all those years ago, the Zags’ 93-90 escape against the Bruins — also in OT — featured a stunning, buzzer-beating denouement. In the case of a former, it was Christian Laettner’s foul-line jumper after a pristine 75-foot inbounds pass by Grant Hill. In the case of the latter, it was Jalen Suggs’ just-inside-midcourt jumper (with, by the way, Hill watching, as part of the CBS broadcast crew).
There were, in the case of both games, surpassing performances all over the place. There were once-proud programs in the unaccustomed roles of plucky underdogs. And there were great teams pushed to their very limits, and responding accordingly.
There were so many little things, too. Laettner, having the presence of mind to actually make a move after he caught Hill’s bullet. Suggs not merely throwing the ball toward the hoop, but launching his attempt with flawless form — Stephen Curry– and Damian Lillard-like, really — then looking for all the world like he knew the shot was true.
There was also the game-long excellence by the night’s heroes. You had Laettner making every shot — all 10 from the field, all 10 from the line, en route to 31 points — and needing to. (While also cementing his place as an all-time villain, as a result of his stomp to the chest of a fallen Wildcats reserve named Aminu Timberlake.)
And you had Suggs shrugging off apparent injuries to his ankle, hand and ribs to collect 16 points, six assists, five rebounds and a block, the latter part of a remarkable sequence in the final two minutes of regulation. Not only did the 6-4 point guard reject a point-blank attempt by 6-9 Cody Riley, but he also chased down the loose ball and delivered a pinpoint 30-foot bounce pass on the run to Drew Timme for a dunk.
Speaking of which, Timme accumulated 25 points, and I found myself wondering how his skill set might translate to the NBA. One one hand, his low-post footwork is masterful. On the other, so few pro-basketball bigs play with their backs to the basket anymore, and those that do are far more imposing than Timme — i.e., Joel Embiid and his ilk would probably throw his junk back to midcourt. Doesn’t Timme need to develop his perimeter shot if he hopes to be a significant factor at the Next Level? In other words, is he just Cody Zeller, or something more?
In all, five Zags scored in doubles, as did four Bruins. UCLA’s top scorer, with 29 points, was the incomparable Johnny Juzang, who delivered one big shot after another, none bigger than the stick-back with 3.3 seconds left in the extra period that set the stage for Suggs.
Maybe — maybe — this game gets the smallest of nods over Duke-Kentucky ‘92 because it was a national semifinal, as opposed to a regional final. (And let’s remember that the 31-0 Zags, who face Baylor for title Monday night, are seeking to become the first undefeated champ since Indiana in 1976.)
But the counter-argument — that Duke loses if Laettner misses, while Gonzaga merely goes to another overtime if Suggs does — is also valid. And the stakes for those Blue Devils were also considerable; they were bidding to become the first repeat champ since UCLA, nearly two decades earlier, a quest they ultimately fulfilled.
So, again, I just don’t know.
What I do know is that it doesn’t take long to call the roll for the list these two games are. Others deserving of best-ever mention are the 2016 Villanova-North Carolina championship game, which ended with a dagger by the Wildcats’ Kris Jenkins, and (for old-timers’ sake) the 1974 ACC final — N.C. State 103, Maryland 100 — as it featured all-timers like David Thompson and John Lucas, and came in an era when only one ACC team made NCAAs. Certainly there are others as well. (N.C. State-Houston in 1983? Villanova-Georgetown in 1985? Kansas-Memphis in 2008?)
The other thing I know is that all of us were the better for having watched Saturday’s proceedings. That it was jump-off-the-couch theater. That it is proof once again that sports are the best reality show, and it’s not particularly close.