Kentucky's vaunted bench got most of the raves in the buildup to the Midwest Region final against Michigan State, but the Spartans' bench had all the answers in a 73-66 win yesterday.
The Spartans' bench outscored Kentucky's bench, 35-27, and, adding an exclamation point, put two players on the All-Midwest tournament team.
Joining starting Spartans point guard Mateen Cleaves were reserves A.J. Granger and Morris Peterson. After a 19-point, 10-rebound effort against Kentucky, Peterson was named most outstanding player in the regional.
Granger contributed 14 points in 18 minutes and hit eight of 10 shots in two games in the Trans World Dome, including 5-for-5 from the three-point line.
Granger hit a pair of threes midway through the first half to jump-start the Spartans.
"When A.J. hit the threes, that was big for us," Cleaves said. "Was I surprised? No. We depend on him to come in and hit those threes."
Duke feels at home
The Meadowlands has been like a second home for Duke in NCAA tournament play -- and results have been good.
This year marked the fifth time Duke has appeared in a regional final in East Rutherford, N.J., with all five trips resulting in a trip to the Final Four.
Duke advanced to the Final Four by beating Navy (1986), Temple (1988), Georgetown (1989) and Connecticut (1990).
The bad news: In none of those years did Duke go on to win the national championship.
The Blue Devils are 15-1 overall at the Meadowlands.
Duke is 16-1 in Sweet 16 games, and is the winningest team in NCAA tournament history, with a 64-20 record. Coach Mike Krzyzewski is the winningest active coach in tournament play with a 47-12 record. The 47 wins tie him with John Wooden for second place in NCAA tournament wins. Former North Carolina coach Dean Smith is first (65).
The Blue Devils are also 35-3 in East Regional games. Ten of the Duke's 12 Final Four appearances have been reached via the East Regional.
History lesson
This isn't the first time Michigan State advanced to the Final Four with a victory over Kentucky in the regional final. The Spartans also did it in 1957, when they beat the Wildcats, 80-68, in Lexington in the Midwest championship game. Michigan State lost twice at the Final Four that year, though.
The Spartans are 3-1 in regional finals, having also beaten Notre Dame in 1979, the year Magic Johnson and Greg Kelser led them to the national title.
Kentucky dropped to 13-15 in regional finals and failed in an attempt to make its fourth straight Final Four.
The loss ended a nine-game winning streak in the NCAA tournament for Kentucky, and also was its first loss in eight games in domes this season.
Temple 0-for-4
Temple was making its fourth appearance in the regional finals, with three of those games coming at the Meadowlands. In previous regional finals there, Temple lost to Duke (1988) and North Carolina (1991). In the school's only other regional final, Temple lost to Michigan (1993) in the West.
Karcher All-East
Temple swingman Mark Karcher (St. Frances), making his first NCAA tournament appearance, was named to the All-East Regional team with 40 points in two games.
Karcher scored 19 yesterday, although he hit just seven of 25 shots. He had 21 points in Temple's win over Purdue on Friday.
Other members of the East Regional all-tournament team: Pepe Sanchez (Temple), William Avery (Duke) and Elton Brand (Duke). Trajan Langdon was named the regional's Most Outstanding Player.
Bad omen for Blue Devils
Duke increased its record to 36-1. Since 1977, 16 different teams have gone into the NCAAs with either one loss or zero losses. None of them won the national championship.
The last team entering the NCAA tournament with one or zero losses to win the national championship: Indiana, which finished 1976 with a 32-0 record.
Record for Spartans
Michigan State's 33rd victory (against four losses) established a Big Ten record for wins in a season, surpassing the 32 by Indiana in 1975-76.
Final Four odds
Odds to win 1999 NCAA championship:
Team ---------- ---------- Odds
Duke ----------- ---------- 1-4
Connecticut -- ---------- 7-2
Michigan State -------- 12-1
Ohio State ---- ---------- 15-1
Pub Date: 3/22/99