I had missed this when it appeared at SI.com more than two years ago, but Charlie Pierce, who knows his way around a sports story when he’s not writing political commentary for Esquire.com, and who also knows Milwaukee basketball, wrote this explanation. It cites the Elite Eight game between the Hogs and Indiana State as much as anything Super Sid ever did in Bucks green.
Thanks, Swine. Glad to get to read about one of the greatest Hogs ever.
Ii have a lot of stories about the game and the journey to get to Cincinnati. We had a flight that left around 6:30 AM . We boarded the plane. We sat at the gate for 10-15 minutes. The Captain announced that the plane needed to be checked and that we would be late leaving Little Rock. I started wondering about our connecting flight from Atlanta. Well, the Captain made the announcement that they were canceling the flight. The plane is full and we are toward the back. By the time I could try to get a ticket agent, all the tickets that got you to Cincinnati were sold out. I did find a flight to Nashville that got there around 1:00 PM. We hurried to Cincinnati, arriving at the parking garage about 30 minutes to tip. We made it on time and watched Arkansas beat a good Louisville team. Indiana State also won, setting up the game to go to the Final Four.
The game was close and Bird was throwing them in from all over. Sidney kept us in the game and at around the 8 minute break, Sutton put Sidney on Bird. In the best display of ultra aggressive ball denial, Sidney held Bird Scoreless for the last 8 minutes. The game was tied and Arkansas had the ball. With less than 1 minute to play, U S Reed was fouled ( it was called a travel on Reed). Indiana State got the ball and took the last shot. Indiana State had a lucky bounce on the rim at the buzzer to win the game. Normally, I am sick after a loss. Not this time. I knew that I had just watched a great college basketball game and witnessed the best 8 minutes of defense ever played by a college player : Sidney Moncrief.
And yes, he is overdue for his induction.