While Eddie Sutton made the Arkansas Razorbacks a well-known and highly-respected national contender in college basketball, he never achieved the ultimate goal.
That was accomplished by his successor, Nolan Richardson, who matched Sutton's feat of leading the Hogs to the Final Four and then took it a step further by winning the 1994 national championship.
Both Hall of Fame coaches lost in the national semifinals to blueblood programs on their initial visits to the Final Four, Sutton in St. Louis and Richardson in Denver.
Sutton's 1978 team lost to the Kentucky Wildcats, 64-59, and Richardson's 1990 squad fell to the Duke Blue Devils, 97-83.
Only difference was until 1982, a third-place game was played at the Final Four. In '78, Arkansas edged the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, 71-69, on Ron Brewer's last-second shot.
Brewer's game-winner is the second buzzer-beating shot in this video that shows every one in the NCAA Tournament from '77 to 2024.
Brewer, of course, is Razorback royalty, along with his son, Ronnie Brewer Jr., who also played in the NBA. Both were first-round draft picks: Ron going No. 7 overall to the Portland Trailblazers and Ronnie 14th to the Utah Jazz.
The younger Brewer, of course, is part of current Arkansas coach John Calipari's support staff, a valuable man on the bench and in recruiting.
Calipari got the Hogs within a snout of the Elite Eight in his first year as Arkansas' bench boss, an up-and-down season that included an eight-point loss to the Florida Gators, now vying for the national title.
Calipari got his start on a college coaching staff -- as a graduate assistant -- at Kansas in 1982, about 16 months after the last third-place game in the Final Four.
Hall of Fame center Ralph Sampson's Virginia Cavaliers won that last third-place game, beating LSU in Philadelphia in 1981.
Hall of Famer Isaiah Thomas led the Indiana Hoosiers of coach Bob Knight to the '81 title over the North Carolina Tar Heels of Dean Smith and Hall of Famer James Worthy, in a battle of Hall of Fame coaches.
Those games, after much discussion and with a certain amount of reluctance, were played the same day President Ronald Reagan was shot hours earlier in Washington, D.C.
After that 1978 trip to the Final Four, Sutton's Hogs nearly made it back the next season but were beaten in the Elite Eight on a last-second bucket, 73-71.
That thriller featured a match-up of first-team All-Americans: Arkansas' 6-foot-4 Sidney Moncrief and 6-foot-9 Larry Bird of the undefeated Indiana State Sycamores.
Bird had 31 points, 10 rebounds and three assists while Super Sid had 24, 8 and two. Both played all 40 minutes, as did Razorback senior 7-footer Steve Schall and 6-10 freshman Scott Hastings.
Point is, it's hard enough to reach the Final Four once. To do it two straight is quite a feat. Richardson did that when his Hogs won the 1994 national championship and reached the title game in '95, losing to the UCLA Bruins.
"Arkansas is in Hog Heaven!" 26 years ago today, Arkansas won the National Championship
Posted by SEC Network on Saturday, April 4, 2020
There have been 10 men's programs reach the Final Four at least three times in a row. That includes the Houston Cougars, who square off Monday against Florida for this season's championship.
Those reaching the Final Four three times consecutively are:
• Michigan State (1999-2001)
• Kentucky (1996-98)
• Houston (1982-84)
• North Carolina (1967-69)
• Ohio State (1960-62)
• San Francisco (1955-57)
• Ohio State (1944-46)
More impressively, these two appeared five straight season:
• Duke (1988-92)
• Cincinnati (1959-63)
Of course, one legendary program dwarfs all others when it comes to NCAA Tournament success. That's the school led by perhaps the two greatest college players ever — Lew Alcindor (later known as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) and Bill Walton.
The school with the most Final Four appearances in a row is:
* UCLA (1967-76)
Yes, dear readers, that's an astounding 10 straight Final Fours, the first nine under the direction of Bruins revered coach John Wooden, who won eight of those championships.
Thing is, Wooden and UCLA also cut down nets in 1964 and 1965. If Alcindor could've played as a freshman, the big bad Bruins would've won 10 straight championships. Hard to fathom these days.
Wooden retired after winning it all in 1975 and his successor, Gene Bartow, made the '76 Final Four, but lost to Indiana. Those Hoosiers gave Knight the first of his three titles and they are the last undefeated men's champion.
Houston is playing in its seventh Final Four, having also competed on the season's last week in 1967, 1968, 1982, 1983, 1984 and 2021.
Those 1960s teams featured Hall of Famer Elvin Hayes, but they were always outmanned by Alcindor and UCLA.
The early 1980s Cougars were tremendously talented, led by a pair of future Hall of Famers in Akeem (later Hakeem) Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler.
Olajuwon was a game-changer, a program-changer, when he arrived from Nigeria for the 1981-82 season. Clearly a gifted athlete with quick, agile feet fashioned by playing soccer, the 6-11 "Akeem the Dream" was raw when it came to basketball but developed quickly.
"Phi Slama Jama" was the nickname bestowed upon the high-flying dunking Coogs, known as the world's tallest fraternity.
Arkansas finished a game ahead of Houston in the Southwest Conference standings in 1982 with a 12-4 record and finished 23-6 overall.
Houston and Olajuwon, though, improved as the season progressed and reached the Final Four in New Orleans. Waiting for the Coogs was North Carolina, which boasted a plethora of talent in junior James Worthy, sophomore Sam Perkins and freshman Michael Jordan.
The Tar Heels beat Houston by five and nipped Georgetown by a point for the title on Jordan's game-winning jumper from the wing., finishing 32-2 on the season.
Houston returned to the Final Four in '83 and was a prohibitive favorite over upstart North Carolina State and coach Jim Valvano, who only got into the NCAA Tournament by winning their league tournament after finishing 8-6 in the ACC.
NC State's improbable run to the Final Four included a first-round win by two in double overtime, followed by victory margins of one, 19, one and seven over Georgia in the national semifinal.
All five Wolfpack starters became NBA draft picks: one in the first round, two in the second, and one each in the third and fourth.
Meanwhile, Olajuwon was the overall No. 1 pick following the 1984 season, Drexler was a first-rounder in 1983 and Michael Young in 1985. Five other Coogs were drafted from the 1983 and 1984 teams.
But, it was Valvano who is credited with creating the now famous phrase about the NCAA Tournament when "survive and advance" became his team's rallying cry in 1983.
Still, Houston was the clear favorite, the No. 1 team in the country against the sixth seed from the Midwest Regional. Nobody was surprised when the Cougars led, 42-35, with 10 minutes to play.
Shockingly, NC State rallied and won on a last-second dunk of a 35-footer that came up well short of the rim. It's a loss Houston's players and program have never truly lived down.
With Drexler gone, Olajuwon led Houston to its third Final Four in three years, this time facing mighty Georgetown and Hall of Fame center Patrick Ewing. The Hoyas prevailed, 84-75 to finish 34-3.
Arkansas finished with national rankings of Nos. 9 and 8 in the 1983 and '84 seasons, but finished behind Houston in the SWC standings each year despite a pair of 14-2 records. Houston was 16-0 and 15-1 in those seasons in the league.
For the Cougars of 2025, all of that history probably doesn't matter. But their coach, 69-year-old Kelvin Sampson, is well aware of Olajuwon and those great Phi Slama Jama teams of the '80s.
Despite six trips to the Final Four, Houston is still chasing that elusive national championship. They're about a free throw or two underdog to Florida, but they weren't supposed to beat Duke in the semifinals.
Houston's defensive-minded guards will have to contain Walter Clayton Jr., Florida's sensational shooter who's scored 30 and 34 points in the last two games to beat Texas Tech and Auburn.
Like against Duke, if the game is in the 70s or 80s, Florida should win. If the Cougars can control Clayton and his high-octane teammates, this one's up for grabs.
In contrast to 1983, it's Houston that wants a game in the 60-point range. That'll suit Sampson just fine, even though his team could win a shootout if they bury a basket full of threes.
Arkansas fans likely will pull for Florida, as it'll help justify the 14 SEC teams invited to the 68-team NCAA Tournament and the league's reputation this season of being historically strong.
Personally, it'll be more fun to see Sampson win a national championship and for Houston to exorcise the demons from four decades ago when the school boasted its most talented teams.
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Back in 2017, the Boston Celtics made two major moves that would define their future, though not in the way anyone expected. First, they used the No. 3 overall pick to draft Jayson Tatum, a polished scorer from Duke. Then, in free agency, they signed All-Star forward Gordon Hayward to a lucrative deal. At the time, Hayward was entering his prime and coming off an All-Star season with the Utah Jazz. Tatum was the rookie with promise, while Hayward was expected to be the go-to forward. But fate intervened, and everything changed on opening night. Years later, on FanDuel TV, Hayward opened up about the dynamic between him and Tatum. He acknowledged that Tatum felt like he might have to leave the Celtics because of him. “I think, like I said, I was coming off of, I was an All-Star, felt like I was at the brim of my career. Like, we played the same position." "Coach Stevens probably would have been drawing plays for me instead of drawing plays for JT or JB or whoever else me or Kyrie. And, you know, because I got hurt, now he's getting the ball, he's getting more opportunities, and that sometimes is all it takes.” Hayward suffered a devastating leg injury just five minutes into his Celtics debut, an injury so gruesome that it instantly changed the Celtics’ hierarchy. Jayson Tatum was thrust into the spotlight as a rookie and seized the opportunity, eventually helping Boston reach the Eastern Conference Finals that same season. In short, Hayward admitted that if he hadn’t gotten hurt, Tatum wouldn’t have had the ball in his hands as often, or as soon. The offensive pecking order would’ve prioritized Hayward, a proven star with experience under Brad Stevens from their Butler days, over the unproven rookie. From Tatum’s perspective, that likely raised serious questions about his future. If the Celtics were building around Hayward, Kyrie Irving, and later Kemba Walker, where did Tatum fit in? It wasn’t personal, it was positional. Tatum and Hayward both operated as wings who needed touches and space to create. There’s only so much oxygen in an NBA offense, and Hayward being healthy might’ve delayed Tatum’s breakout. That tension, while never explosive, was quietly real. And according to Hayward’s comments, it was enough for Tatum to contemplate leaving Boston altogether early in his career. Thankfully for the Celtics, Hayward’s injury opened the door for Tatum, and Tatum never looked back. He’s now a six-time All-Star, a four-time All-NBA First Team selection, and the face of the franchise. He helped lead Boston to an NBA championship and is widely viewed as one of the league’s top five players. Though he is currently recovering from an Achilles tear suffered during the playoffs, Tatum’s place as the Celtics’ cornerstone is unquestioned. Ironically, what once seemed like a roster logjam may have been the unexpected twist that launched a superstar’s rise.
The Washington Commanders should pay Terry McLaurin. That much goes without saying. He's a second-team All-Pro. He caught 13 touchdowns last year and has eclipsed 1,000 receiving yards in each of his past five seasons. McLaurin is a top 10 receiver in the NFL, perhaps even bordering on top five. More important than any of those things? He's one of Washington's most trusted leaders on and off the field. McLaurin is also, as it currently stands, not acting like it. The two-time Pro Bowler is creating a distraction that is officially more trouble than it's worth for the Commanders, and it's time for him to suck it up and end this standoff. Like it or not, the Commanders aren't responsible for Terry McLaurin's availability Let's make this clear: McLaurin isn't holding out of camp because he has to. He is choosing to leverage his position for a new deal. It's not the first time, and it won't be the last, that an NFL player resorts to such a negotiating tactic. It's also a move that rightfully doesn't sit well with many fans, especially for a member of a team with legitimate Super Bowl aspirations. McLaurin's teammates and coaching staff are all counting on him being a major part of this Commanders squad. Washington traded for Deebo Samuel Sr. this offseason in large part specifically to make his life easier. For the first time in his career, the former third-round pick has a true No. 2 option on the opposite side of the field who can draw defenses away. Missing OTAs and mandatory minicamp is one thing for a player in McLaurin's position, but training camp is the unofficial start of the new school year. It's time to get to work. There's still a full eight months between now and when McLaurin is set to hit free agency. An extension can be worked out at any point before next March. If he builds upon last year's success, he could even raise his value. Regardless, the bottom line is that McLaurin is under contract to play football for the Commanders during the 2025 season. And plenty of other Washington stars over the years have had no problem suiting up on expiring deals. Kirk Cousins infamously played through two franchise tags after negotiations were botched on a long-term extension. He never once threatened to sit out. There is a certain duty any player owes not to let his demands come at the cost of the team, and it's disappointing to see this approach taken by someone who all of Washington thought was well aware of that. McLaurin deserves his money. He deserves at least $30 million per year. But the Commanders deserve for him to start showing up to work, with or without a new contract. More Commanders news and analysis
The Seattle Mariners have been heavily linked to Arizona Diamondbacks' third baseman Eugenio Suarez as the trade deadline comes up on July 31. Suarez, 34, is putting together a sensational season season for Arizona, and his 36 home runs trail only Shohei Ohtani in the National League. His 86 RBIs lead baseball entering play on Thursday. He would be a major upgrade to the Mariners lineup, and it would reunite him in the clubhouse, where he played for the M's in 2022 and 2023. As for what it will cost the M's to get Suarez? That's a bit of a guessing game, but the M's do have several interesting pieces to offer the D-backs. Seattle has eight top 100 prospects, and a few intriguing young big-leaguers like Logan Evans. However, former executive Jim Bowden of The Athletic wants the Mariners to make a wild trade for Suarez, as he wrote on Thursday: A package highlighted by middle infielder Michael Arroyo and right-hander Ryan Sloan could be enough to get a deal done. Arroyo, 20, has reached base at a .417 clip this season between High A and Double A. He has 17 homers and 49 RBIs. A second-round pick in 2024, Sloan has a 3.43 ERA over 15 starts this season at Low A. The 19-year-old has logged a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 5.82. Arroyo is currently ranked as the No. 60 prospect in baseball, per MLB Pipeline, and Sloan is ranked No. 61. While the Diamondbacks can ask for that package, it certainly doesn't seem likely. For comparison, the Mariners acquired Luis Castillo at the 2022 trade deadline. That did cost them two Top-100 prospects (Edwin Arroyo and Noelvi Marte), but Castillo was younger, a pitcher, and under control for 1.5 more years. I just can't see the M's making a deal like this for a player five years older who is a rental. Mariners fans couldn't believe it, either: Per @HairlineSports on social media: I’m not even a SEA fan and the package you have them giving up is about 5x more than any other team (Jaxon) wiggins for Geno is enough but Ms have to add BOTH Arroyo and Sloan LOL Sloan might be SP1 for prospects a year from now From Travis Olson: What the hell are you talking about. So you have the mariners giving up two prospects in the top 79 in baseball. Meanwhile the Yankees give up no top 100 prospects. Come on. East coast bias much.
The Green Bay Packers signed LB Isaiah Simmons at the end of April. He was not a home run, high profile free agent signing like Xavier McKinney or Josh Jacobs. Now a few years ago, Isaiah Simmons was the end all be all. In 2020, the Arizona Cardinals selected Simmons with the 8th overall pick. However, he has not lived up to the expectations that come with the number 8 pick. Simmons may not amount to much in Green Bay but his ceiling is high and on day 1 of training camp, he caught some people’s attention. Isaiah Simmons is a freak athlete. During the 2020 NFL Combine, he registered a 10.0 RAS. His explosion and speed grade were considered to be “elite”. His struggles in the NFL have more so been contributed to scheme and mental struggles. Earlier in the offseason, Simmons expressed relief that he will be playing only one position, linebacker, in Green Bay. In New York and Arizona, Simmons was asked to play linebacker and safety. The Packers understand that they have a unique athlete in Simmons. Their plan is straightforward. Hafley and LaFleur want to simplify the mental side of football so that Simmons’ can play without thinking. This approach is similar to Quay Walker, who is another explosive athlete but at times, he looked like he was thinking too much which led to poor play. In the second half of 2024, it seemed like Walker started to play fast and started to think less. By placing Simmons in the linebacker room and allowing him to focus on just that position, Green Bay hopes to be the team that capitalizes on Simmons real ability. Isaiah Simmons Receives High Praise From Josh Jacobs On Day 1 of training camp yesterday, Isaiah Simmons already made some noise. During a team portion of practice, Simmons busted through the line to stop a screen pass to Josh Jacobs. After practice, Josh Jacobs went on to say this about Simmons, “He’s a unicorn”. Jacobs did not stop there. He added, “He can run. We can put him out on guys in the slot, and he can cover guys,”. These are some awfully kind words from one of the Packers biggest stars. Isaiah Simmons is only 26 years old. He still has plenty of gas left in the tank. There is a chance that his career in Green Bay is not much to boast about but maybe a new system and a strong coaching staff can be the difference maker for Simmons. It might be smart not to get too far ahead of our skis with Simmons but the one true aspect of his game is that he is a strong special teams player. During his career, he has blocked a field goal, recorded 15 special team tackles, forced a fumble, and recovered a fumble. Simmons certainly can contribute in that phase for the Packers. The Packers and Isaiah Simmons have a lot more work ahead of them during camp and the preseason. When the pads come on and the preseason games start, it will be interesting to see how Simmons plays. Time will tell what Simmons can really do but so far, his athleticism is catching people’s attention. The hopes are high that Simmons can put it all together because Cooper, Walker, and Simmons could be a very fast, very quick, and very explosive linebacker group.