By Woodrow Carroll
With COVID-19 (coronavirus) putting sports events in a state of suspended animation, we need to view the sports world from a different perspective.
We know that the NCAA men’s basketball tournament would be going full force this week were it not for the virus.
So, let us touch on the fringe as best we can.
Iona College hires Rick Patino! Former University of Kentucky and Louisville University head coach Rick Patino, 67, was named men’s head basketball coach at Iona College Saturday.
Iona College, in New Rochelle, N.Y. in greater New York City area, with a 3,300 undergraduate enrollment, is getting a winner with baggage. Lifetime, Patino’s record is 770-271 as a head coach and is a proven winner. The downside is Patino’s history of investigations by the NCAA for a litany of questionable actions.
Iona is a college, not a university. Iona is in the 11-team Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference. The school nickname is the Gaels which refers to gaelic antecedents.
Patino has taken three teams to the NCAA Final Four. In 1987, Patino guided the Providence Friars to the Final Four semifinals. A most interesting tournament, because each of the Final Four head coaches ultimately won a national championship.
Indiana University under Bob Knight beat Syracuse, 74-73, in the 1987 championship game thanks to Keith Smart’s game-winning shot. The championship was Knight’s third and final. Indiana won championships in both 1976 and 1981.
Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim had to wait until 2003 before laying claim to the tournament after runner-up finishes in both 1987 and 1996. Boeheim’s 1987 squad lost to Knight’s team and his 1996 team lost to Patino’s Kentucky. It was a modicum of revenge for Pitino, whose 1987 Providence club had lost to Syracuse in the semifinals. Led by Carmelo Anthony, Syracuse edged Kansas, 81-78, in the 2003 championship game.
Prior meeting Syracuse for the championship in 1987, Indiana had to dispense with UNLV, 97-93.
Head coach at UNLV in 1987 was Jerry Tarkanian. Three years later, Tarkanian’s UNLV Runnin’ Rebels devastated Duke, 103-73, in the 1990 NCAA championship game in the largest margin of victory in a championship game.
There is always a backstory. In the 1987 NCAA Tournament the best backstory might have been Delray Brooks.
In 1984, Brooks was Mr. Indiana Basketball after a stellar high school career at Michigan City Rogers High School. Brooks went to Indiana University and played for two seasons under Knight. Knight and Brooks, however, collided, and Brooks transferred to Providence.
Patino’s Providence Friars’ team with Brooks starting, surprised, and reached the Final Four in 1987. Prior to the semifinal game, Brooks let the world know that after beating Syracuse, he would show everyone what Indiana missed out on after he left the school.
Syracuse failed to oblige Brooks. Syracuse beat Providence, 77-63.
Brooks and the Friars never scaled the heights again. Patino returned to the NBA where he had coached after two seasons at Providence. Brooks’ teammate, Billy Donovan, who coached Florida to back-to-back NCAA championships in 2006 and 2007, was graduated and things went downhill rapidly for Providence after 1987.
Brooks did lead the Friars in scoring, 13.5 ppg, as a senior in the 1987-1988 season, but, the team suffered through a losing campaign. Post Providence, Brooks failed to catch on in the pros and today is employed by the South Bend, Ind. School District.