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A brief historyof NCAA teams that were nearly knocked off on their paths to the National Championship. I didn't know SMU almost eliminated the 84 Hoyas.

http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaab/news?slug=jo-scares032508&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

Yahoo! Sports
Scare tactics
By Josh Peter
Mar 25, 6:00 pm EDT


If someone spots a clear road to the Final Four, it’s probably a mirage. Danger often looms for the favorites, and statistics should serve as ample warning.

Over the past two decades, only 38 of the 80 top-seeded teams have reached the Final Four. The number of times all four top seeds have made it in the same year during that same period?

Zero.

Heading into the Sweet 16 this week, the UCLA Bruins appear to be the most vulnerable of the No. 1 seeds. Fellow No. 1 Memphis was also tested, winning its second-round game over Mississippi State, 78-74. Meanwhile, the other top seeds, North Carolina and Kansas, cruised.


UCLA sweated out a 51-49 victory against ninth-seeded Texas A&M in the second round. But Ben Howland’s team, which struggled offensively before rallying, also can take heart from an anxiety-filled game in which they trailed by 10 points and survived a frantic final minute.

John Thompson, Bobby Knight and Jerry Tarkanian have felt the same angst on their way to winning a national championship.

The top seeds and anyone else mapping out the road to San Antonio, site of this year’s Final Four, might benefit from the following historical perspective:

1984 GEORGETOWN

You probably remember Patrick Ewing as the “Hoya Destroyaâ€

if willy davis would have blocked out on that last second foul shot that George town missed we would have won the game ("if and buts ....")

d_pony wrote:if willy davis would have blocked out on that last second foul shot that George town missed we would have won the game ("if and buts ....")

?? Unless there was another Willie Davis that played for SMU, you are thinking of someone else. WD played from 1997-2001. I don't think we faced Georgetown during that stretch, and I know we didn't make the NCAA.

Carl Wright made a shot at the buzzer from about the same spot the kid from W. Kentucky made against Drake this year. Only problem was the 3 point shot wasn't in existence yet.

[quote="abezontar"][quote="d_pony"]if willy davis would have blocked out on that last second foul shot that George town missed we would have won the game ("if and buts ....")[/quote]

?? Unless there was another Willie Davis that played for SMU, you are thinking of someone else. WD played from 1997-2001. I don't think we faced Georgetown during that stretch, and I know we didn't make the NCAA.[/quote]

He means Larry Davis.

I was thinking it that big Williams kid that played for us

It was Larry Davis. I remember that game and wondered what would have happened if we had won. Was that the year that we beat UNC at Greensboro (with Matt Doherty playing in Carolina blue) and then fell apart, or was that the next year?

We fell apart the next year, when we got up to #2, then when we would have moved up to #1, we lost to Tech and kind of folded from there. I think we ultimately lost in the second round. i think was when the death penalty tuff was going on and it effected everything on campus. if my memory serves me.

The other thing I remember, is that bliss had Johnny Fueller, who was a freshman, take the last shot and not Carl Wright or Butch Moore, but it may not have been designed and I may not be remembering correctly.