WholeHogSports
RAZORBACKS’ 1978 FINAL FOUR RUN : Climbing the ladder
Posted on Sunday, April 6, 2008
URL: http://www.wholehogsports.com/adg/221939/
FAYETTEVILLE — It wasn’t a happy 41 st birthday for Eddie Sutton on March 12, 1977.
That was the day after Wake Forest ended Sutton’s third season as Arkansas’ coach by beating the Razorbacks 86-80 in Norman, Okla., in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament.
Sutton called it his most disappointing loss in 18 years of coaching.
The Razorbacks, who finished the season 26-2, blew a 13-point halftime lead and committed 23 turnovers, including 15 in the second half when they struggled against the Demon Deacons’ press.
Sutton said he felt disappointed for seniors Steve Stroud and Ray Buckner and for the fans, and because “the writers in the East are going to think we’re just another Southwest Conference team. We know we’re as good as those ACC [Atlantic Coach Conference ] teams.”
It was the Razorbacks’ first NCAA Tournament game since 1958.
“It was a learning experience,” Sutton said. “Next year, if we get to the NCAA Tournament, it will be different.”
Sutton had that right.
Arkansas made it all the way to the Final Four in 1978, a 30-year anniversary the Razorbacks and their fans celebrated this weekend as Kansas, Memphis, North Carolina and UCLA convened in San Antonio.
“A lot of us felt we were better in 1977, but we didn’t have the experience and expectations we did in 1978,” said Jim Counce, a senior forward in 1978. “The Final Four — that’s where we thought we were going.
“ It was fueled by the disappointment of the Wake Forest loss. Winning the conference championship and tournament were big goals [in 1978 ], but the most important goal was to get deep into the NCAA Tournament and get to the Final Four.”
Counce was among four returning starters in 1978 along with seniors guards Ron Brewer and Marvin Delph and junior Sidney Moncrief. Junior Steve Schall replaced Stroud as the starting center.
“We knew we had a chance to do something very, very special,” Brewer said. “We were on a mission. “ We had a veteran team that played well together. It was a good group of guys on the same page, and that was to play as well as we possibly could and win games.” Delph said the Wake Forest loss served as motivation throughout the off-season. “That was the only game I ever played in a Razorback uniform where I felt like we gave the game away,” Delph said. “We felt like Wake Forest didn’t beat us, that we beat ourselves. “ All of us dedicated ourselves that summer to work hard and get better and come back the next year with the right attitude and a great work ethic.”
CONSOLATION PRIZE At the Final Four in St. Louis, the Razorbacks lost to Kentucky 64-59 and beat Notre Dame 71-69 on Brewer’s last-second shot to finish 32-4 and tie what at the time was an NCAA record for most victories in a season.
“The guys on that team are always in my thoughts, even if we haven’t talked in a long time,” Moncrief said. “We were like brothers.
“ I’ll always remember how much of a team we were, how well we played together, how well-coached we were, and how disciplined we were and how committed we were to winning.”
Arkansas has made 23 more NCAA Tournament appearances since 1978, including reaching the Final Four in 1990, 1994 and 1995 under Coach Nolan Richardson and winning the 1994 national championship. But 1978 represented a turning point for the modern era of basketball for the Razorbacks. “The thing that makes what we did special is that our team was the foundation of what’s going on at Arkansas right now,” Delph said. “Had we not had the success we did, Arkansas basketball might still be in the doldrums today. “ Coach Richardson never would have come to Arkansas. “ That’s something every member of the team can be proud of, the fact that Arkansas basketball today is a direct result of what we did in 1978.” Sutton coached Oklahoma State to Final Four appearances in 1994 and 2004, but said 1978 might be his favorite year of all. “It wasn’t just that we had a great team, but we had marvelous people,” Sutton said. “Nobody represented Arkansas better than those guys did, and we really won over the people of Arkansas. “ Not only did we win, but we did it with class. That was a fun time.”
BEST IN THE WEST Strange as it might sound now, the 1978 Razorbacks were not assured of an NCAA Tournament bid despite their No. 4 national ranking and 28-3 record after losing to Houston 69-68 in the Southwest Conference Tournament semifinals. Houston beat Texas in the final to gain the SWC’s automatic NCAA bid. Never had the conference sent more than one team to the NCAA Tournament, which in 1978 featured a 32-team field with just 11 at-large bids. “We’re thinking, ‘Oh my God, we’re ranked in the top five and we may not even get invited to the NCAA Tournament, ’” Counce said. “But everything worked out.” Arkansas got an at-large bid, a first for an SWC team, but was sent to the loaded West Regional, which included six of the top 13 teams in the national polls. Arkansas dropped to No. 6 after losing to Houston and was joined in the West by No. 2 UCLA, No. 4 New Mexico, No. 8 Kansas, No. 10 North Carolina and No. 13 San Francisco.
The Razorbacks, Jayhawks and Tar Heels all won or shared their regular-season conference titles, but were shipped West after losing in their conference tournaments.
New Mexico figured to have a huge advantage because the West Regional semifinals and final were played at the Lobos’ home arena in Albuquerque, N. M.
But the Lobos were upset by Cal State-Fullerton 90-85 in a firstround game at Tempe, Ariz., and never got to play at home in “The Pit.”
Arkansas beat Big Sky champion Weber State 73-52 in Eugene, Ore., and advanced to the regional semifinals against UCLA.
The Bruins had won 10 NCAA titles in an 11-year span from 1965-1975 and in 1978 swept through their Pacific-10 Conference schedule with a perfect record. UCLA was a heavy favorite to win the regional after New Mexico was eliminated, featuring stars such as David Greenwood, Roy Hamilton, Brad Holland and Kiki Vandeweghe.
“For the most part, we were dismissed by the national press as being kind of a regional anomaly and when we played UCLA, we’d find out what real basketball was like,” Counce said. “I think there even was a small amount of doubt among ourselves as to whether we were good enough to play with UCLA. “ I thought Coach Sutton did a great job of getting us prepared to play and convincing us we were going to win the game. “ As a matter of fact, before the game Coach Sutton said, ‘There will not be an upset in this game because y’all are better than UCLA and if you play to your capabilities, you’ll win.’”
The Razorbacks won 74-70, led by Delph’s 23 points, with Moncrief adding 21 and Brewer 18.
UCLA rallied from a 42-29 halftime deficit to take a 60-58 lead with 7: 34 left on a dunk by Vandeweghe, but the Razorbacks moved ahead to stay on two free throws by Brewer and Delph’s jump shot.
“When we defeated the Bruins, that established Arkansas as being one of the elite programs in college basketball,” Sutton said. “Everybody knew then that the Razorbacks were for real.”
Counce said he still can remember how the Razorbacks felt after the game.
“The shared sense of accomplishment in the locker room, you simply can’t match it,” Counce said. “Everyone knew we had done something really important.”
Arkansas expected to play San Francisco and Bill Cartwright in the regional final, but the Dons were upset by Cal State-Fullerton 75-72.
Moncrief suffered a mild concussion late in the UCLA game when he hit the floor hard after being fouled by Greenwood and said he was “a step slow” in the regional final, though he played 39 minutes.
The Razorbacks jumped ahead of the Titans 39-24, but Cal State-Fullerton came back to take a 58-57 lead on Keith Anderson’s basket with 1: 42 left.
Brewer hit a long jump shot for a 59-58 Arkansas lead and the Razorbacks forced Anderson into a turnover — newspaper accounts had Brewer, Counce and Moncrief combining for the steal — and got a layup from Counce for a 61-58 victory and Final Four spot.
BIG BLUE IN ST. LOUIS Arkansas was joined at the Checkerdome in St. Louis by Kentucky, Duke and Notre Dame. “It was like a dream to be there,” Counce said. “There were 10, 000 people to watch us practice.” Duke beat the Fighting Irish 90-86 in the first semifinal game, then the Razorbacks went against the No. 1 Wildcats.
Schall drew four fouls in the first half, forcing Arkansas to abandon its usual man-to-man defense for zone much of the game, but Kentucky was clinging to a 61-59 lead with less than two minutes left when Kyle Macy threw over the Razorbacks’ press and hit Jack Givens for a layup to put the Wildcats ahead 63-59.
Arkansas couldn’t score on its next two possessions, and Kentucky went to win 64-59 and beat Duke 94-88 for the national championship.
“Arkansas had an outstanding team and gave us our toughest game in the tournament,” Macy said at this year’s SEC Tournament, where he was honored as Kentucky’s legend. “When I hit Jack with the long pass, that gave us the cushion we needed.”
Arkansas shot 47. 7 percent from the field for the game (21 of 44 ), but Delph lamented the Razorbacks’ 10-of-23 shooting in the second half.
“Some of that had to do with Kentucky, but a lot of it had to do with us just missing wide-open shots,” Delph said. “It seemed like Casper the Ghost was up there on the rim blowing our shots out of the basket.”
While the Razorbacks were denied a national championship, Moncrief and Brewer, who both had lengthy NBA careers, said being part of the Arkansas team that made the 1978 Final Four stands out among their basketball thrills.
“We certainly helped put Arkansas basketball on the map,” Moncrief said. “And that’s still a source of pride today.”