This upcoming weekend will be the ninth Division III Final Four I’ve covered and while the years definitely run together in my head, there are a few highlights that stand out.
First of all, I have to point out as a disclaimer off the bat that my alma mater won the national championship in 2001. Nothing can top that in my mind and I’m not going to pretend otherwise. But I’m not going to dwell on it either.
Other moments that stand out in my frazzled mind (it’s a busy week) include the 1998 Hope/Wilkes game, when David Muelenberg hit two free throws. Sidelined by a broken foot late in the season, Muelenberg was subbed into the game, replacing injured Chris Formsma. He hit two free throws, then limped back to the bench to a standing ovation. I didn’t understand the significance at the time, though — someone had to explain it to me. Like I said, it was 1998. We didn’t even have a message board on the site yet.
The 1999 title game remains the best Division III championship game nobody saw. OK, not literally nobody, since 4,461 people were there, but it was not widely televised. Apparently Fox Sports South wasn’t particularly interested that year. Their loss. Just a double-overtime win in front of the largest crowd in the D-III title game’s history. Last hurrah for Bo Ryan in Division III, and, as it turned out, still the last hurrah for UW-Platteville.
Bryan Foltice’s shot remains the defining moment of the 2000 Final Four for me. (Audio clip: Rick Seidel on the play-by-play and me on the screaming, our first audio Final Four) It was also the first time I saw a team fold up like a tent in the consolation game. F&M was one shot away from making the finals and perhaps winning it all, then laid an egg against Salem State on Saturday. This is why I never take the third-place game into account: It’s like the ECAC tournament, you never know who’s there to play and who’s going through the motions. But this was also the Sherm Carstensen show. Carstensen was voted the most outstanding player of the Final Four and he deserved it. He scored 70 points for UW-Eau Claire for the weekend.
My favorite 2002 moment is standing next to Otterbein’s Jeff Gibbs, who was a monster rebounding and scoring the entire season and especially in the tournament. He was listed at 6-3. I’m 6-0. Gibbs was 6-1 at best. Incredible performances for a 6-1 player.
Williams coach Dave Paulsen says it all about 2003: “We probably led for eight seconds the entire weekend. We shot 37% and we let them shoot 55%. We are the national champs? You figure it out.” Kudos to Gustavus Adolphus fans for three years of not much griping over the touch foul called with four seconds left that set the final sequence into motion for Williams in a 67-65 win.
In 2004 I covered the women’s Final Four and saw four great games. The overarching memory of that weekend isn’t necessarily one particular moment, but the way Wilmington came back time after time the entire postseason, including a 16-4 run to end the game and beat Bowdoin 59-53.
And last year, shoot, the games weren’t that competitive in Salem aside from the Calvin/Rochester semifinal. What stands out is watching Jack Bennett hint at his retirement in the postgame news conference. Sure enough, that became reality shortly thereafter.
Looking forward to collecting more great memories to cram in somewhere. I know there are people who have been to a lot more than nine Final Fours, and some before 1998. What are your favorites?
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My alma mater is making its 4th trip to Salem, winning the title in 1997, so like Pat I will separate those personal memories from general Final Four memories over the course of my 6 trips to Salem.
My favorite memory is Michael Crotty of Williams jumping onto and over the press table at the buzzer to meet his father who had run down from the stands. They hugged and cried their eyes out for a good couple minutes. Other memories…
* Wooster’s Bryan Nelson playing incredibly well with a pretty serious leg injury.
* Pat Maloney drilling big shot after big shot, while wearing that bad headband.
* Horance Jenkins dunk vs Illinois Wesleyan.
* Jason Kalsow’s turnaround game winner.
* Rowan’s Antwan Dasher and Terrance Stewart.
* The size of the Hope and Illinois Wesleyan fan sections in 1996.
* The Nebraska Wesleyan girls with a different letters painted on their T-shirts, spelling out “PLAINSMEN.” Still remember that “A.”
There have been great crowds traveling. All of the UW-s, Hope, Calvin, Illinois Wesleyan, Wooster. Hampden-Sydney, of course, since it’s a short drive.
I listened to the last minute of that 1996 title game on Teamline, Hope’s broadcast I believe. Looooooong time ago.
From seeing Wash U win 3 times in Danbury, Trinity pull one out in Terre Haute, and Wilmington and Millikin triumphing in Virginia Beach…
The hoop-for hoop matchup between Wash U’s Alia Fischer and CSB’s Molly Mark in 1999 as this reporter frantically typed out the play-by-play (how primitive)from a seat behind the basket
The total dominance of the Wash U squad that beat up on two of this year’s participants…Scranton and Southern Maine, in 2000. Said one coach: “That team should be playing in the Patriot League!”
Tracking down the family of Wash U star Tasha Rodgers, whose parents sat in the last row of stands out of nervousness
Getting the Wash U fans to chant D3hoops.com over the air while serving as field reporter for one broadcast.
Getting pummeled in the shoulder and back by eager Eastern Connecticut State parents, who were literally sitting right on top of our broadcast crew, as the team, led by Allison Coleman and Morgan Perry, made the first of its two miraculous comebacks, this one against Wisconsin Eau Claire to win in the semifinals.
The music from the UW-Eau Claire student band, the most enthusiastic student band I’ve ever heard.
Getting mocked by my fellow broadcasters for asking a question after the Bowdoin-Wilmington final that made one coach cry.
Chasing down Millikin head coach Lori Kerans for a pre-game interview. After a 20-minute wild goose chase through catacombs and hallways, the hunt was worth it. Kerans assured me during that the story of her team’s season was leadership and that would be seen in the title game. She was right.
There are others, but I’ll let my colleagues chime in so that I don’t reference their responses.
* Hope’s Duane Bosma throwing down an alley-oop during the second half of the ’96 title game.
* The IWU-Rowan barnburner the night before.
* An acrobatic tip-in by F&M’s Cas Thomas that tied the 2000 semi vs. Rowan with 5 ticks left (Foltice who?).
* Sherm Carstensen’s impossible layup through 4 defenders in the 2000 title game.
* The overall atmosphere and hospitality provided by the folks in Salem.
There are so many.
Its been two years since I have attended a fFinal.
5 womens, 1 men.
Here are my favorite moments.
The #1 one. No Question for me. 2002 Terre Haute
St Lawrence University
Cara Barbieri’s 30 foot three off a steal that hit back rim. Would have won the Title for St. Lawrence, in final second of the game. It’s a game I will never forget. The look on her face after the miss. Devastated, while Stevens Point ran on the court and celebrated.
So close. End of a college career. One shot, off a steal no less. Just an amazing moment. Never thought I’d see it again….Until….
#2 Allison Coleman, ECSU,
I was there for almost the entire ride.
Called the 2 games at Kings in Wilkes-Barre.
Coleman in the semifinal, 4 fouls early. Never Fouled out. Was the catalyst. Then in the Championship game. I turn to Mark Simon. “They’re not coming back this time.” Boy was I wrong. Coleman again dodges 4 fouls, and brings them back. Down 2 with 5 seconds. She gets the ball off the inbounds. Moves in. Has the ball tipped from her and has to chuck it. Never got it off cleanly. Well over the rim. Game Over. Two finals in Terre Haute, two final shots that just didnt go.
But Coleman left a lasting image on everyone at that final.
3. Kalso or was it Kaslo, or Kaslow. ESPN didn’t know. But a weekend at my only Men’s finals, we had Amherst (pronounced AM-erst for all of you non Massachusettians) and Williams for the 4th time in the year. It was almost anticlimactic. Until the final bettered it. Stevens Point should pay me to come to these finals. They’re always exciting.
4-6 The Wash-U Dynasty.
Tasha Rogers, Alia Fischer, Beth Reuther (Inside joke to Mark). They came to Danbury, and never left without the trophy. The third one (and 4th of 4 straight) was the one where it looked like we had a battle. That’s the yearthe 81 game streak was stopped. Wash U Lost at NYU and had…wow…2…yes 2…losses. They go into the final and the game becomes close, unil Tasha took over ad singlehandedly pulled Wash U away, and she would graduate with 4 championships in 4 years. Dynasty.
Thats just the big things. Like Mark said. The Pep Bands in Terre Haute. Lindsay Rush’s amazing comeback from ACL transplant. “Crowd Control” from St. Benedicts. “Lay-Dee Roy-Als” during the 99 finals when they was little time left and the game no longer in doubt. Mark Simon hiding under the bleachers during a brawl….wait…wrong division..sorry.
So many memories. Ill get back there some day!
Ray
Actually, as I hide under the bleachers at work (seriously) you reminded me of a good one, Ray…
My “Welcome to the Final 4 moment”…sitting on press row at Danbury and this big group from St. Bens comes in…maybe 15 feet from me, a kid yells out at the absolute top of his lungs
“I was just on a bus for 22 straight hours….YAAAAAAAH!”
Watching Ray Martel cry as he counted down the final moments of Catholic U’s national title (albeit while in Danbury) was pretty priceless too…
This year will be my fifth trip to Salem for the Final Four…
In no particular order…
1. Otterbein coach Dick Reynolds sitting on the bench after his Cardinals won the 2002 championship…arms spread across the bench with his grandkids running around. The look on his face…”man, I’m exhausted…and the chances of coaching another Jeff Gibbs are slim to none.”
2. Snapping the picture of a Rochester player’s hook shot with the shot clock in the background showing under a second remaining…the shot went in, Rochester went to overtime, and lost…
3. Anything involving the John Carroll University Pep Band.
4. Verbally noticing the phantom foul Pat Coleman mentioned above as being the turning point in the Williams/Gustavus game…PCole knows the rest of that story, it involved a pen.
5. Jack Bennett for being Jack Bennett…a great guy who was a pleasure to be around for two years in Salem.
Looking forward to another one…
Ray and Mark did a great job capturing some of the best moments from the Final Fours I’ve seen.
A few more I won’t forget soon…
1) Talking with St. Lawrence Head Coach G.P. Gromacki after the heart breaking loss to St. Lawrence. It hurt too much to talk about the game, so Ray and I talked to him about his favorite baseball team, the Red Sox.
2) Hearing DePauw’s band play along side Rose-Hulman’s at the 2002 Final Four.
3) Seeing a player studying in the hallway of her hotel room late at night so she wouldn’t wake her teammates. A great moment that captured the heart of Division III athletics.
4) Interviewing USM’s Ashley Marble before last year’s Final Four. She was refreshingly candid, humerous and expressive.
Been to three women’s Final 4’s — one as an announcer for this site, one working for my alma mater’s radio station, and one purely as an observer. But it’s been a while, so these are some semi-oldies.
1. NYU women beat UW-Eau Claire, 1997. This was the next to last year that the women’s Final 4 was not at a neutral site. NCAA awards it to NYU — a controversial decision, especially in the eyes of Capital. Anyway, the championship game between NYU and UWEC features a completely packed house of over 2000 spectators. If you’ve been to NYU’s Coles Sports & Rec Center, you know what that means: seats full on both sides of the court, fans packed behind both baskets, and “standing room only” fans watching from the decks 1 and 2 levels over the court. UWEC is up by one and misses a jumper with about 6 seconds left. NYU gets the board, quick pass to guard Marsha Harris who races the length of the court and hits a layup with 1.4 seconds left to give NYU a one-point lead — its first lead of the game. NYU wins, and the fans storm the court. That team got a whole lot of attention in the big city, in part because all of NY’s pro sports teams in season at the time (NBA, NHL) were pathetic. NYU’s women ballers were the best story in town.
2. Wash U beats Southern Maine in 2000, at Danbury. Seeing Alia Fischer finish out her career. I announced this one for D3hoops with Ray (and Mark as roving reporter); I distinctly remember tallying up and running through Fischer’s gaudy career totals during the post-game show as we were waiting for the press conference to start. There were a lot of stats to share — most of them involving 3 or 4 digits. In hindsight, six minutes of me ratting off statistics probably didn’t make for particularly compelling radio. (Then again, I’d never really know since Ray never gave me a copy of the recording. Jerk).
3. Having Scranton head coach Mike Strong come up to our broadcast perch during the title game in 2000 and yell at us — loudly and entirely incoherently — while we were on the air! (Scranton had just lost the 3rd place game). I went down and confronted him during halftime. It turns out he was actually trying to compliment us. I think.
4. Wash U beats St. Benedict in 1999 in Danbury. I was just observing this one. I remember the final being a pretty good game. But unfortunately, the many empty seats in Danbury stood out just as much.
5. All-Beast Team.
Heading to my sixth Final Four in Salem… and I have plenty of memories.
– Watching as an arch-rival of my alma-mater take the title in ’01. CUA won it, Pat was beside himself, and Coach Lonergan treated Jared and I as if we were part of his team (even if we were from the arch-rival). Nothing beats him turning to us in a private moment after winning and saying… “can you f–king believe this?!” I have been hooked on Salem and the Final Four, ever since.
– Kalsow’s winning shot. Fade-away, turn-around, with a hand in his face, as the clock ran down… was ridiculous! Only to almost be forgotten by a 3/4 court shot… that hit the backboard and rim… but didn’t go in.
– Watching Otterbein’s Gibbs jump in the air for rebounds. It looked like he was on the moon.
– Thanks to an equipment problem, D3hoops.com and the ESPN affiliate couldn’t team-up to do the championship game. I won’t ever forget Pat looking at me and saying I was going to be the color-commentator for Rick Seidel on the local ESPN affiliate… NOW THAT WAS COOL!
– Then there was the time Rick lost his voice (might have been the same weekend as above). And Pat Coleman, Rick, and myself did one of the semi-finals with Rick writing notes and giving me signals as to what he would have wanted to say. Rick made me sound like a genious that game!
– Watching Stevens Point practice last year… and having Coach Bennett walk up to Cummings, Jared, and me and sit down and talk with us. We chatted for easily 15 minutes while his team was going up and down the court. I wanted to say, “hey coach, you do realize tomorrow you are playing in the semis. What are you doing just chatting with us?” He certainly made us feel welcome and when he hinted at retirement… great quote about wrestlers leaving their shows on the mat after a match. Priceless!
The funnier moments:
– Jared trying to get his pizza… delivered… on time!
– The frustration on Jared’s face as he and Quillman got beat by Mike Thomas and I… not once… but TWICE!
– The constant requests from coaches to check on the D1 games as any of us walked back and forth from the media room and the games.
Ah… the memories! About time to remember some more!