1 uke claims NCAA basketball title Duke's Mike Dunleavy battles Arizona's Luke Walton for a ball in the second half of the NCAA men's championship game at the Metrodome Monday night between Arizona and Duke. Duke beat the Wildcats 82-72. Notre Dame wins championship after edging Purdue, 68-66 by Earl Gustkey Los Angeles Times April 2, 2001 In the closest finish to an NCAA women's basketball championship game since 1994, Notre Dame made its fi nal play pay off and Purdue, seconds later, didn't. That was the difference in the first all-Indiana final that produced the first women's championship for the Irish, defeating the Boilermakers in front of 20,551 Sunday at the Savvis Center. First, Ruth Riley drew a foul inside with 5.8 seconds left to give Notre Dame, which had trailed by 12 in the first half, a chance to take the lead with the game tied, 66-66. An 80 percent free-throw shooter for the season, the 6- foot-5 Riley - later announced as the Final Four's most outstanding player - made both dramatically, the first one bouncing off the front of the rim but going in, the second one coming after Purdue called time out to try to ice her. Standing at the line, Riley said she recalled a scene from the film "Hoosiers." "Remember when 011ie had to make those two huge free throws in the movie?" she asked about 200 reporters. "I thought of that - and I didn't have to put 'em up un derhanded," she quipped. Purdue then had to go the distance in 5.8 seconds. Notre Dame's Kelly Siemon - who had lobbed the ball in to Riley on the game-turning play - pressured Purdue's inbounds pass that was supposed to go to point Kelly Komara. It didn't, and a series of rushed passes awkwardly got the ball to the Boilermakers' All-American, Katie Douglas, just behind the free-throw line. Her left-handed jumper was in the air as the horn went off and it bounced off the rim. Two plays to decide a national championship, and on each one, everyone in the building knew for whom the ball was headed. "No, it wasn't a game-winning play, it's the same play we've been running all season," Notre Dame Coach Muffet McGraw said. "It's called: 'Get the ball to Ruth.— Riley, an All-American who scored 28 points in 35 min utes with 13 rebounds and seven blocks, briefly bobbled I - i .1 pi ti'it: N - w CI -g- i. k • I. II Ranking/Team/Record/Comment IJDuke/35-4/In the end, Battier got what he deserved: a title. 2./Arizona/28-8/Season ends in loss, but not despair. 3JMichigan State/28-5/Surprisingly, gripped by the yips vs. Ari zona. 4./Stanford/31-3/fumed to goo inside when it mattered most. sAllinois/27-8/Perhaps Mini gave one too many fouls. 6./Maryland/25-11/Lost more leads than Andy Sipowicz. 7./Kentucky/24-10/Tayshaun was more pauper than prince in Sweet 16. BJUCLA/2.3-9/Who knew Lavin was brewin' such a winner? 9./Mississippi/27-8/Rebels caused fits for pretty boys of the SEC. lOJNorth Carolina/26-7/Turned out to be a real tear-jerker. 11JEtoston College/27-5/Small-but-swift Eagles stunned beasts of the Big East. 12JKansas/26-7/Roy didn't need to go to Carolina to feel this dis appointment. ' •>, the lob from Siemon "I knew my teammates would look for me and when I saw the ball in the air, I knew I just had to catch it." Purdue's play went awry, as a tearful Douglas said after ward. "I don't know what happened - Kelly was supposed to get the inbound, but we didn't execute it as well as we should have," she said. "1 got a good look with the shot, it just didn't fall for me. "Ruth Riley is a great player. If she wasn't blocking our shots, she was altering shots. It was her night. We did a great job on the boards too. We had 17 offensive rebounds (to Notre Dame's II)." Purdue built early leads that reached 19-7 and 32-26 at the break. But those leads came against an Irish team that rallied Friday from a 53-26 second-half deficit to win, 90-75, against defending champion Connecticut. On Sunday, Notre Dame scored the first eight points of the second half, Riley giving the Irish its first lead, 34-32, with two free throws. She was 10 for 14 from the line. But Purdue rebounded with its best stretch of the game, riding its two freshmen Shalicia Hums and Shereka Wright, who scored 17 points each. In the closing minutes, Wright gave the Boilermakers a 63-62 lead, then Douglas made a dramatic play that brought Purdue partisans to their feet when she stole a pass and converted the ensuing layup while being fouled hard by Siemon. Douglas completed the three-point play for a 66-64 Purdue lead with 4:22 left. It was the last of 18 points for Douglas, who played all 40 minutes, had five assists and five steals. On 60 of Purdue's 73 possessions, Douglas handled the ball. Then it was time for Riley. First, she pulled Notre Dame into a 66-66 tie with a shot inside with 58 seconds left. Then she closed in on history, her free throws spelling the most noteworthy heroics since Charlotte Smith made a three-point shot with 0.07 of a second left to beat Louisi ana Tech, 60-59, in the 1994 final. even better. 14/Southem Califomia/24-10/Trojan horses overran three solid foes in NCAAs. 15JFIoricia/20-5/13eset by a swamp full of injuries 16./Gonzaga/26-7/Call the Zags Duke Lite - and that's no slight. 17./lowa Statet2s-6/Poor 'Clones will never live Hampton down. 18./Georgetown/25-8/All those scrub wins didn't amount to much. 19./Texas/25-9/Austin powers up for what should be a stellar next season. 20JSyracuset25-9A3oeheim squeezed lots of wins from thin Or ange crop. 21./Virginiat2o-9/Cavalier attitude on the road didn't help. 22J0klahoma/26-7/Sooner or later, Sampson will get it done in March. 23JCincirmati/25-11Miuggs and hisses for up-and-down campaign. 24./Notre Dame/2&10/Irish eyes were wide in return to Madness. 25 JPenn State/21-12/Crisp 'n' steady play led to rare shining mo ments. NATIONAL SPORTS 1 ° , •-• • • •1 sfr • - f ) 1 1 ; ••• by Andrew Bagnato Chicago Tribune April 3, 2001 Arizona had survived so much this season NCAA suspensions of two starters in the fall. The death of coach Lute Olson's wife, Bobbi, on New Year's Day. Back-to-back NCAA tournament battles with Big Ten co champions Illinois and Michigan State. But it couldn't survive Mike Dunleavy. Mike Dunleavy? The son of Portland Trail Blazers head coach Mike Dunleavy burned the Wildcats for 21 points in the na tional final Monday night, lifting the Blue Devils to an 82-72 victory in front of 45,994 at the Metrodome. Olson and his Arizona brain trust hardly could have expected that sort of outburst from a reedy 6-foot-8-inch sophomore who had scored a total of 22 points in the pre vious three games. "Defending Duke you pick your poison," Olson said. "Sometimes it's going to be one guy; another time it's going to be another guy." The Wildcats got Duke point guard Jason Williams in foul trouble. They limited the damage by All-American forward Shane Battier, who finished with 18 points and 11 rebounds and was named most outstanding player of the Final Four. But Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski hasn't won three national championships by relying only on stars. Just when it looked as if Arizona (28-8) might ride a wave of emotion to the title, Dunleavy stepped in and bailed out the Blue Devils. Leading 35-33 at halftime, Duke (35-4) came out look ing to make a run. It came three minutes after halftime. And it was all Dunleavy. First he buried a three-pointer from the right wing. Then, after Arizona's Jason Gardner knocked down a juniper, Dunleavy flung in a three-pointer from the left wing. And then he drained another from the right side. In only 44 seconds Dunleavy had personally produced a 9-2 run. "Once I hit the second one, I knew the rest were going to go in," Dunleavy said. But Arizona answered with its own lightning bolt - a 9- 0 run with baskets by four different players in an 84-sec ond span. Suddenly Duke led only 50-48. No fears, Duke. It was Dunleavy's turn again. He scored on a layup, a jumper, a drive and another three-pointer. That was another nine points, and combined with a dunk by Carlos Boozer, it gave Duke a 61-51 lead at the mid point of the second half. Arizona chipped away in the late stages but couldn't come closer than three points the rest Palmer, Woods and the Slam by Bruce Berlet The Hartford Courant April 4, 2001 It's early July in 1960, and Arnold Palmer is jetting to the British Open with Pittsburgh Press golf writer Bob Drum. Palmer had won his second of four Masters championships in April and his only U.S. Open title in June - after Drum said he had no chance when trailing by seven entering the final round. Between libations, Drum sug gested it was a shame the Grand Slam idea that surfaced when Bobby Jones won the U.S. and British Opens and U.S. and Brit ish Amateurs in 1930 was just a memory. "Why don't we create a new Grand Slam?" Palmer said. Drum, who died in 1996, took the thought and hyped it to the British press when he and Palmer arrived at famed St. Andrews in Scotland. "Bob wrote about it, and that's how it really got to be what we know now as the modern Grand Slam," Palmer said. "I lost (the British Open) by a shot (to Kel Nagle), and that was the end of it. But in ensuing years when I won the Masters, there was no question about the fact that that was in the back of my head all the time." As the 65th Masters (Thurs day-Sunday) approaches, much of the debate has been about Ti ger Woods shooting for a fourth consecutive major title. But in his case, the chase stretches over two seasons. Woods says donning a green jacket again Sunday would con stitute winning a Grand Slam. He has his backers, but Palmer isn't one of them. "The Slam has to be in the same calendar year, and since I invented it, that's the answer," a stern, yet smiling, Palmer said of the way. Dunleavy hit 8-of-17 shots from the floor, 5-of-9 from beyond the arc. His 21-point night wasn't bad for a guy who had managed four points in the semifinals against Maryland, 11 in the regional final against Southern Cali fornia and seven in the regional semifinal against UCLA. Dunleavy, who grew up in the Pacific Northwest, said he picked Duke because "it was a great academic school with a tremendous program. And I fell in love with Coach K." The feeling is mutual, son. This was the second time Krzyzewski had cut down the nets on a Monday night in the Twin Cities. He did it in 1992 when the Blue Devils put away Michigan's Fab Five to defend their 1991 national title. With only two championships in eight previous Final Four appearances, Krzyzewski was beginning to develop a reputation as a bridesmaid. Krzyzewski's third title seemed a foregone conclusion two years ago when Duke rolled through the regular sea son 32-1. By the time the Blue Devils reached the na tiodal final, some were trying to figure out where they should stand on the list of all-time powerhouses. But all that talk ended when the Blue Devils were stunned by a determined Connecticut team. This year's Duke team started near the top of the polls, but it hasn't been nearly so dominant. It lost four times, twice on its home floor to Atlantic Coast Conference ri vals. But it also developed a toughness and a self-reliance that was most clearly seen in its rally from a 22-point deficit against Maryland in the national semifinal Satur day. "I think the two seasons (1999 and this year) are en tirely different," Krzyzewski said. "That season we won most big games. By the time we got into the tournament, I think we got a little bit distracted. Whereas this team has been in so many close games, so many situations, they know they need each other." Battier played on both teams. He wouldn't soon forget the pain of losing in 1999. But it helped drive him to a senior season that has netted him seven national player of-the-year awards. "It's complete," Battier said. "All that's left for me is to ride off into the sunset. It was a great year, and this is just the perfect way for us to end it." Battier scored six of Duke's final ID points Monday night. Dunleavy had started the job. Battier finished it. "He's had the best career, as good a career as any kid I've coached," said Krzyzewski, whose list of All-Ameri cans includes Christian Laettner, Bobby Hurley, Grant Hill and Trajan Langdon. "I'm going to really miss coaching that kid." "The Slam has to be in the same calendaryear, and since I invented it, that's the answer," Tuesday. "When Drum and I talked about it, that's the way it was. Anybody in this world would love to have the four tro phies, including me, and I'd call it the Slam, too. But it isn't." Woods shot an astonishing 50 under par in winning the U.S. and British Opens and PGA Championship (in a playoff) last year. With the British Open vic tory, he joined Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player as the only winners of the career Grand Slam. The term Grand Slam origi nated in bridge, and tennis adopted the terminology before golf. When Jones won the U.S. Opens and Amateurs in 1930, writer 0.8. Keeler called it the Grand Slam. As time passed, most of the world's top players no longer re mained amateurs, as Jones did, so Palmer thought the feat should be the Masters, U.S. and British Opens and PGA. Hogan had won the first three in 1953 but couldn't play in the PGA be cause of a scheduling conflict. Nicklaus held three titles at the same time - before the PGA was moved from early in the year to midsummer - and then lost to Lee Trevino by one in the 1972 British Open. Now Woods is poised to scale a mountain thought to be uncon querable, though he admits win ning Sunday wouldn't quite give him the impossible dream. FRIDAY, APRIL 6, 2001 Arnold Palmer "I'm not going to deny that the harder way to accomplish a Grand Slam is probably in one year," Woods said. "But I think if you can put all four trophies on your coffee table, you can make a pretty good case for that, too. In my estimation, it would be. But whether it is or it isn't, it's not something I'm really concerned about." Woods also wouldn't argue with dissenters such as Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player, who have won 34 majors, in cluding 17 Masters. "I'm not saying they're wrong," Woods said. "There's no denying I've been respectful of them and I always will. But ev eryone is entitled to their own opinion and their own views upon life. Obviously, my views are slightly different than theirs, which in no means will ever have any kind of disrespect con notation to it." Byron Nelson, who had per haps golf's greatest season with 11 consecutive victories in 1945, heads a group impartial about what to call Woods' bid. "I would not object or be of fended by it," said Nelson, who will be an honorary starter for the final time Thursday. "But if you start carrying records over from one year to the next, all kinds of records could be bro ken."
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers