Final Four Notes
by Mike Douchant
Special to CBS SportsLine
March 24, 1997
Watch for new installments featuring notes surrounding the Final Four every day this week, exclusively on CBS SportsLine: In this package, we cover:
Who do you want on the bench in a close game?
Even Ray Charles can see close counts in more than just horseshoes, hand grenades and what remains of drive-in movies.
In the wake of four overtime games in the 1997 regionals (six in the tourney's first four rounds), everyone knows the NCAA Tournament seems to have a steady diet of peppy cliffhangers.
In an eight-year span from 1982-'89, five champions won at least two playoff games by one or two points. Among those titlists was North Carolina State, a winner in four games decided by one or two points in 1983 on its improbable journey as the first school requiring six victories to capture the crown.
North Carolina's Dean Smith, compiling a rousing 10-2 record in his first 12 playoff games decided by three points or less, reiterates the "sometimes it's just luck" theme. There has got to be more to winning the gut-wrenching contests than good fortune, however.
A real crisis facing many coaches is what they do at tournament time. The emphasis on the tourney has created a nightmare for some of them, especially if they have a penchant for losing close games. Despite all of the success Lute Olson has had at Arizona, nearly everybody remembers the Wildcats being eliminated in the first round three times in four years from 1992 through 1995. When that happens, many fans forget about the 25 or more victories during the regular season.
Although Arizona reached the 1997 Final Four by winning three consecutive tight tussles, Olson still has one of the worst records among active coaches in close tourney games. Getting right to the heart of what entails a regal bench coach, here are the NCAA playoff records of this year's Final Four coaches in down-to-the-wire tournament contests decided in regulation by fewer than six points or in overtime:
| Games decided by: | Overall | |||||||||||||
| Final Four Coach | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | OT | W-L | Pct. | ||||||
| Dean Smith, North Carolina | 3-1 | 5-1 | 2-1 | 1-4 | 4-2 | 1-1 | 17-10 | .630 | ||||||
| Clem Haskins, Minnesota | 0-0 | 0-1 | 2-0 | 1-0 | 0-1 | 1-1 | 4-3 | .571 | ||||||
| Lute Olson, Arizona | 1-2 | 0-1 | 1-2 | 1-2 | 1-0 | 1-2 | 5-9 | .357 | ||||||
| Rick Pitino, Kentucky | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 1-0 | 1-2 | .333 | ||||||
NOTE: Haskins (Western Kentucky), Olson (Iowa) and Pitino
(Boston University and Providence) previously coached other schools
in the NCAA tournament.
North Carolina's Dean Smith is among the five men who have both played for and coached teams in the Final Four. He is joined by Vic Bubas, Dick Harp, Bob Knight and Bones McKinney. McKinney, who averaged 9.8 points per game as a junior center for 1946 NCAA runner-up North Carolina, is the only one of the quintet to average more than 5.5 points per game as a player in the season his alma mater reached the Final Four. McKinney had attended Tar Heel archrival North Carolina State as a sophomore in 1941-42 when he led the Southern Conference in scoring before spending three years in the Army.
Knight and Smith, the only men to have played for and coached national champions, compiled modest career scoring averages of 3.8 and 1.6 points per game, respectively. Knight, hitting 14 of 36 field-goal attempts, scored 30 points in 11 NCAA Tournament games for Ohio State and Smith scored four points in seven playoff games for Kansas. Knight and Smith combined for fewer points as players in 10 Final Four games (eight) than their total of Final Four appearances as coaches (14).
Harp averaged 4.9 points per game for 1940 runner-up
Kansas and Bubas averaged 5.5 points per game for 1950 third-place
finisher North Carolina State. Here is a capsule look at the five
individuals to experience the glory of the Final Four as both
a player and as a head coach:
| Name | Played at: | Head Coach |
| Vic Bubas | N.C. State (1950) | Duke (1963-64-66) |
| Dick Harp | Kansas (1940) | Kansas (1957) |
| Bob Knight | Ohio State (1960-61-62) | Indiana (1973-76-81-87-92) |
| Bones McKinney* | North Carolina (1946) | Wake Forest (1962) |
| Dean Smith | Kansas (1952-53) | UNC (1967-68-69-72-77-81-82-91-93-95-97) |
*McKinney played two seasons for North Carolina State prior to
World War II military duty.
North Carolina's Dean Smith is one of three coaches
to win basketball championships at every major level--the NCAA,
NIT and Summer Olympics. Indiana's Bob Knight is the only one
of the seven coaches to reach the NCAA Final Four a minimum of
five times to also advance to the national semifinals of the NIT
on at least five occasions. Following is a capsule look at the
triumvirate and the years the elegant craftsmen captured the three
titles:
| Coach | NCAA | NIT | Olympics (Site) |
| Bob Knight | 1976, 1981, 1987 | 1979 | 1984 (Los Angeles) |
| Pete Newell | 1959 | 1949 | 1960 (Rome) |
| Dean Smith | 1982 and 1993 | 1971 | 1976 (Montreal) |
NOTE: Knight and Smith won their NCAA and NIT titles with Indiana
and North Carolina, respectively. Newell won the NCAA championship
with California after capturing the NIT with San Francisco.
Of the 10 coaches to advance to the national final at least three times, the only one to lose his first three title games was North Carolina's Dean Smith (1968, 1977 and 1981).
Here is additional insight regarding the time frame
for the third championship game appearance of the 10 coaches in
this category:
| ---Third NCAA Championship Game--- | ||
| Coach, School (NCAA Finals) | Playoff Appearance | Years as Head Coach |
| John Wooden, UCLA (10) | 8th in 1967 | 21st in 1967 |
| Dean Smith, North Carolina (5) | 11th in 1981 | 20th in 1981 |
| Mike Krzyzewski, Duke (5) | 8th in 1991 | 16th in 1991 |
| Phog Allen, Kansas (3) | 4th in 1953 | 45th in 1953 |
| Steve Fisher, Michigan (3) | 4th in 1993 | 5th in 1993 |
| Hank Iba, Oklahoma State (3) | 3rd in 1949 | 20th in 1949 |
| Ed Jucker, Cincinnati (3) | 3rd in 1963 | 10th in 1963 |
| Bob Knight, Indiana (3) | 11th in 1987 | 22nd in 1987 |
| Fred Taylor, Ohio State (3) | 3rd in 1962 | 4th in 1962 |
| John Thompson, Georgetown (3) | 9th in 1985 | 13th in 1985 |
NOTE: Years as head coach at time of third NCAA final appearance includes previous college jobs for Wooden (Indiana State), Krzyzewski (Army), Allen (Baker, Haskell and Central Missouri State), Iba (Northwest Missouri State and Colorado), Jucker (King's Point and Rensselaer) and Knight (Army).