I was a teenager living in NJ at the time and became a big Jacksonville fan, led by Artis Gilmore. Unlike today's guard dominated tournament, big men ruled. In the field of 16, UCLA won the championship the year after Kareem graduated, led by Sidney Wicks. The Dolphins made it to the final after defeating St Bonaventure, whose top player Bob Lanier became the first player drafted despite a knee injury. The other first time semifinalist was New Mexico State who was led by future first round pick Sam Lacey. https://www.ncaa.com/news/basketbal...-four-stands-alone-college-basketball-history
Not a single 1, 2, or 3 seed . . . what a nutty tourney. UConn may have been a contender prior to the first round, but the others?
UConn has to be the odds on favorite. They have size and skills. But you need to play them and anything can happen. Who would have thought that Villanove could have beaten that Georgetown team? SD State versus FAU should be a close game. Both playing well and evenly matched.
Agreed. Anything can happen in a single game. But I think Villanova and Georgetown were both Big East teams and, if so, play each other twice during the season . . . so a conference foe has much more familiarity with a stronger team.
