by Mike Douchant
Special to CBS SportsLine
March 27, 1997
All we know at this stage is that a gifted freshman guard will start in the NCAA Tournament championship game.
Playmakers extraordinaire Mike Bibby of Arizona and Ed Cota of North Carolina have had fantastic freshman campaigns, but they need to duplicate last year's performance by Ron Mercer at the Final Four in order for their teams to have much of a chance of capturing the NCAA crown. Kentucky fans saw "A Star is Born" with the show Mercer put on at the Meadowlands after he struggled much of his freshman season.
Keep in mind that the majority of moist-behind-the-ear freshmen experience growing pains.
For instance, nine-time All-NBA first team selection Magic Johnson didn't exhibit much wizardry in three tournament games as a freshman for Michigan State in 1978 when he shot a lowly 27.8 percent from the floor (10 of 36).
Similarly, the five junior regulars on North Carolina's championship team in 1993--Eric Montross, Derrick Phelps, Brian Reese, Kevin Salvadori and Pat Sullivan--weathered a generous dose of reality as freshmen in the 1990-91 campaign when they combined to average a modest 14.6 points per game.
On the other hand, many freshmen had a sudden impact on the NCAA Tournament in the first 25 seasons of the NCAA's freshman-eligibility rule. The only year in that span at least one Final Four team didn't have a vital yearling on its roster was 1988, when the most prominent freshmen were Duke forward Greg Koubek (3.9 points per game) and Oklahoma guard Terrence Mullins (3.7 ppg).
In 1995, UCLA's Toby Bailey became the only freshman ever to score more than 25 points in an NCAA Tournament final. He had 26 in an 89-78 victory over Arkansas in 1995.
The two teams in the 1994 championship game--Arkansas (center Darnell Robinson) and Duke (guard Jeff Capel)--each had a key freshman. In 1993, California guard Jason Kidd probably had the most influence of any freshman although his team didn't get past the Midwest Regional semifinals. Kidd's patented inside baskets on spontaneous deft moves in the closing seconds helped boost the Bears to victories over two schools making their 10th consecutive NCAA playoff appearance--LSU and Duke.
Among the standouts to participate as a freshman in the Final Four despite having at least one tournament game they were blanked or held to two points were Rutgers' James Bailey (freshman year was 1976), Kentucky's Jack Givens (1975), Houston's Hakeem Olajuwon (1982), Kentucky's Rick Robey (1975) and Georgetown's Reggie Williams (1984). Perhaps the most frustrated freshman among regal recruits was North Carolina State guard Ernie Myers in 1983 although the Wolfpack won the ACC Tournament and the national championship. Myers, who scored 35 points in a 94-79 win over Duke, was averaging more than 14 points per game at the end of the regular season. But he scored a total of just five points in three ACC Tournament games and a total of seven points in five NCAA playoff contests to finish the year with an 11.2-point average.
Michigan boasted four freshmen with scoring totals of at least 21 points in two 1992 Final Four games--Juwan Howard (21), Jimmy King (24), Jalen Rose (24) and Chris Webber (30). "It's obviously very rare that freshmen could accomplish what they did," Michigan coach Steve Fisher said. "Rarely do players live up to their buildup. But being at Michigan is the difference because it enables you to recruit guys like this."
DePaul's Mark Aguirre and Georgia Tech's Kenny Anderson, the two highest-scoring freshmen for Final Four teams, didn't reach the national championship game. Aguirre notched a tournament scoring average of 23.4 points per game as a freshman after pouring in a Final Four freshman record 34 points in a 96-93 victory over Penn in the 1979 national third-place game. Anderson, the only freshman to score more than 20 points in four playoff games, averaged 27 points per game in his first four tournament outings before he was restricted to 16 in a 90-81 defeat against UNLV in the 1990 national semifinals to finish with a 24.8 average.
The only freshmen other than Aguirre and Bailey
to score more than 25 points in a Final Four game did so in 1977
when North Carolina's Mike O'Koren and UNC Charlotte's Chad Kinch
achieved the feat. O'Koren became the only freshman to score more
than 25 points in a national semifinal or championship game when
he tallied 31 in an 84-83 victory over UNLV in the national semifinals.
Kinch, limited to four points in a 51-49 setback against Marquette
in the national semis, rebounded with 30 in a 106-94 defeat against
UNLV in the national third-place game.