Coming to a Streaking Halt

Marquette has been involved in two games in which long winning streaks ended in the NCAA tournament, most recently stopping a Kentucky streak at 26 games in last Saturday’s Midwest Regional final. A look at some of the games in which long winning streaks came to an end in the NCAA tournament (*indicates winning streak over two seasons):

*--* Streak Team Year 45* NEVADA LAS VEGAS 1991 Lost to Duke, 79-77, in national semifinals Comment: It looked as if the Runnin’ Rebels were going to run the table and become the eighth team to win an NCAA championship with an unbeaten record. But Las Vegas, with major college basketball’s fourth-longest winning streak, went bust against Duke, which it had high-rollered by 30 points in the national final the previous year 39* MARQUETTE 1971 Lost to Ohio State, 60-59, in regional semifinals Comment: Al McGuire’s thoroughbreds were making a run at the brass ring when they went tap city at Athens, Ga., in the Mideast semifinals. Marquette led by one point with seven seconds left, but McGuire’s son Allie stepped on the end line on an inbounds pass, and after the turnover fouled Allen Hornyak, Ohio State’s best shooter. Hornyak made both free throws and it was lights out for what was then major college basketball’s eighth-longest winning streak 33 INDIANA STATE 1979 Lost to Michigan State, 75-64, in national final Comment: The Sycamores’ Cinderella season was one chapter short of a perfect 34-0 ending as Larry Bird (seven-for-21 shooting) wasn’t the word in the first game of what would be a storied rivalry with Magic Johnson 32 DUKE 1999 Lost to Connecticut, 77-74, in national final Comment: The Blue Devils thought they were something special going into the championship game. To Connecticut, they were only (Elton) Brand-X 32* OHIO STATE 1961 Lost to Cincinnati, 70-65, in national final Comment: Go figure: Cincinnati couldn’t get to the NCAA final the previous three years with Oscar Robertson but defeated the defending champion Buckeyes in overtime to win the championship without him 31 RUTGERS 1976 Lost to Michigan, 86-70, in national semifinals Comment: Two Knights were still in play with long winning streaks at the Final Four in Philadelphia -- Rutgers’ Scarlet Knights and Bobby Knight-coached Indiana with 30 victories in a row. The Scarlet Knights had their bell rung in the semifinals and third-place game (by UCLA), while the Indiana Knights rang the championship bell 31 INDIANA 1975 Lost to Kentucky, 92-90, in regional final Comment: The rage of this tournament was the then-checker coated Bobby Knight, but not even Hoosier Hysteria could stand in the way of hardwood (and Westwood ) destiny: John Wooden winning a 10th national championship and retiring 31 HOUSTON 1968 Lost to UCLA, 101-69, in national semifinals Comment: The Bruins were still smarting from their two-point loss earlier in the season to the Cougars at the Astrodome -- the game that launched college basketball into the national TV stratosphere -- when they delivered a Final Four knockout at the Sports Arena. Houston wilted before UCLA’s vaunted full-court press and Elvin Hayes, the Big E (for ego) who had predicted an easy victory in the rematch, came up a Little E (for empty) with 10 points 28 PENNSYLVANIA 1971 Lost to Villanova, 90-47, in regional final Comment: Seventeen teams have gone into the NCAA tournament with an unbeaten record and this Penn squad was one of them. The Quakers were coached by defensive taskmaster Dick Harter, whose work wasn’t very evident in the 43-point pounding by Villanova, but he would go to Oregon and have his “Kamikaze Kids” end UCLA’s Pauley Pavilion winning streak at 98 games 26 HOUSTON 1983 Lost to N. Carolina State, 54-52, in national final Comment: Houston’s Phi Slama Jama thought its work was done after emerging victorious from an above-the-rim summit meeting with Louisville’s Doctors of Dunk in the national semifinals. But in the championship game, the Cougars were thrown to a tenacious Wolfpack defense, and when Lorenzo Charles Slama’d home Dereck Whittenburg’s air ball as time ran out, it was “V” for Valvano 26 KENTUCKY 2003 Lost to Marquette, 83-69, in regional final Comment: These all-for-one, one-for-all Wildcats came swashbuckling into this game with a win streak that even some of the most storied Kentucky teams (“The Fabulous Five” of 1947-48, “The Fiddlin’ Five” of 1957-58, “Rupp’s Runts” of 1965-66 and “The Unforgettables” of 1991-92) couldn’t touch. Alas, a mean streak on defense couldn’t assure a lasting one in the NCAA tournament for “Tubby’s Toughies.”

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