Glad we hired Keith Smart as an assistant coach. Anecdotally, I actually saw him hit the winning shot for Indiana in the Final Four. Very memorable shot in a memorable Final Four (even though I had no rooting interest in any of the teams–Syracuse, Indiana, UNLV, and Providence). Got tickets from my Uncle via the lottery. They were SO high up my binoculars needed binoculars. I have been in the upper part of the upper level in domed stadiums before, but this was ridiculous. It took me 20 minutes to walk to the Super Dome from my French Quarter hotel, and longer than that to walk from the bottom of the Super Dome up to my seat. My friend said sarcastically “Your Uncle must know some people in high places”. To top if off, to everyone’s shock and surprise, it snowed that weekend, first time in 100 years in New Orleans. And after walking to my seats for the semifinals and the finals, I felt awfully tired, went to a doctor, and found out that I had strep the whole weekend (I had gotten it from the last person I saw back home, who congratulated me for going, right before I got on the plane).
By the way, on the way to the Superdome for the Final game, we took a short cut by walking through a hotel lobby, By chance, the Syracuse team was in the lobby getting ready to walk over to the game. And a small number of Syracuse fans were around them. The players were the most uptight people i have seen in my life. The circumstances merited focus and seriousness, but they seemed scared stiff. To break the tension a fan said “Be nice, please don’t beat them too badly”. And not one player cracked even a hint of a smile.