IN the most improbable finals matchup ever, it will be the Midwest Region eighth-seeded Kentucky Wildcats versus the East Region seventh-seeded Connecticut Huskies for this year’s U.S. National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I championship.
The titular duel will be played today, April 8 (Manila time), at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. During the Final Four (or national semifinals) of this one-loss-and-you’re-out tournament, which was witnessed by an all-time record crowd of 79,444 at the AT&T Stadium, Kentucky (29-10) knocked off West second seed Wisconsin, 74-73, while Connecticut (31-8) trounced nationally top-ranked and South top-seeded Florida, 63-53, to halt the Gators’ 30-game winning streak.
Aaron Harrison, one of five freshmen in Kentucky’s starting lineup, nailed a three-pointer with 5.7 seconds remaining to give the Wildcats their second finals trip in three seasons under head coach John Calipari, the former New Jersey (now Brooklyn) Nets bench tactician.
It was also Harrison who canned a triple with 2.3 seconds left that lifted Kentucky to a 75-72 triumph over Michigan in the Midwest finals for the school’s 16th Final Four appearance overall – third-most in NCAA tournament history behind North Carolina (18) and UCLA (17).
With Kentucky in the finals, it marks the first time that an all-freshman starting lineup has made it that far since the Fab Five headed by Chris Webber, Juwan Howard and Jalen Rose helped the Michigan Wolverines secure a runner-up finish in 1992 (losing to Duke in the championship game).
This will also be the first time since 1966 that two teams that were not in the tournament the year before clash for the title. The 2014 finals pairing between a seventh seed and an eighth seed is the biggest longshot ever since the U.S. NCAA tournament was established in 1939.
Before this year’s competitions began, the odds on Kentucky and Connecticut winning the national crown according to the Las Vegas Superbook were: Kentucky, 40-1, and Connecticut, 100-1.
In contrast, the odds on Florida and Wisconsin were 4-1 and 20-1, respectively. Both UConn and Kentucky have won multiple NCAA championships in the past.
The Huskies romped away with the NCAA title in 1999, 2004 and 2011. Kentucky, on the other hand, owns the second most number of championships in NCAA Division I annals, with eight. Only the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) Bruins, at 11, have more. The Wildcats last took the national title in 2012.
April 9 is a “red-colored” national holiday as we Filipinos commemorate the fall of Bataan to the invading Japanese military forces during the four-year World War II hostilities. During my younger days, the holiday was called “Bataan Day.” Now, it’s called “Araw ng Kagitingan” or “Day of Valor.”
In the local sports scene, April 9 also is a special date to basketball fans. That’s because the first game (and playdate) in the hallowed history of Asia’s first and oldest professional league, the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA), was held on April 9, 1975.
On that day, an estimated crowd of 18,000 trooped to the Araneta Coliseum to witness a doubleheader that featured Mariwasa Noritake vs. Concepcion Carrier and Toyota vs. Universal Textiles. Nine trailblazing franchises bonded together to take part in the PBA’s inaugural campaign in 1975.
These are the CFC (Consolidated Foods Company) Presto Ice Cream Makers, Crispa-Floro Redmanizers, Concepcion Carrier Weathermakers, Mariwasa Noritake Porcelain Makers, Royal Tru-Orange Orangemen, Seven-Up Uncolas, Tanduay Distillers, Toyota Comets and Universal Textiles Weavers.
Months earlier, the nine clubs had ceded from the Manila Industrial and Commercial Athletic Association (MICAA), the country’s premier commercial-post graduate league at the time.
Founded in 1938, the MICAA was organized by companies dealing in sporting goods and equipment and consumer products.
The league enjoyed tremendous success through the early seventies but a disagreement with the Basketball Association of the Philippines (BAP) – then the country’s amateur basketball-governing body and a member of the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) – over financial matters spurred the group to break away from the BAP and establish a professional league that it would call the Philippine Basketball Association in March 1975.
With their pro status, the top players from the PBA were no longer eligible to suit up for the national team in international competitions (until the FIBA instituted an open-basketball policy in 1990).
The opening-day games on April 9, 1975 saw Mariwasa Noritake beating Concepcion Carrier, 101-98, and Toyota taking down U-Tex, 105-101.
American import Israel (Cisco) Oliver, he of the old Alaska Milk commercial fame (along with a little boy named Wilfred Uytengsu, now the Alaska Aces team owner), topscored for the winning Noritake squad with 48 points.
The Rifleman Adriano (Jun) Papa, a former Ysmael Steel Admiral and Crispa Redmanizer in the old MICAA, added 17 markers for the Porcelain Makers.
Carrier got 24 points from The Ironman Jimmy Noblezada; 17 from Olympian Jimmy Mariano; and 10 from 1972 RP Youth teamer Gregorio (Joy) Dionisio.
Though he played on the losing side, Dionisio, a 5-foot-10 guard, carved his name in the PBA record books as the first player ever to score a field goal (and points) in the league.
In the main game of a doubleheader, Toyota collected its first victory in franchise history as five Comets tallied in twin digits – Rodolfo (Ompong) Segura, 23; Francis (Mr. Clutch) Arnaiz, 22; Alberto (Big Boy) Reynoso, 17; Ramon (El Presidente) Fernandez, 13; and Robert (Sonny) Jaworski, 11.
U-Tex, on the other hand, was bannered by former national team members Danilo Florencio, Lawrence Mumar, Rudolf Kutch and Arturo (Turing) Valenzona, and Edgardo (Egay) Gomez, Jaime (Jimmy) Otazu, George Lizares and Virgilio (Billy) Abarrientos, an uncle of future PBA playmaker Johnny Abarrientos and the smallest player in PBA annals at 5-foot-5.
The Weavers’ head coach during the first of three conferences in PBA Season One was the legendary Carlos (Caloy) Loyzaga.
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