Rick Majerus, Dead at 64 R.I.P. to a fellow Wisconsinite and great coach. Made one of the great runs in NCAA history in 1998 and I still remember his dismantling of Arizona in '98 with the triangle and two.
One of the true strategic savants of his time. His gameplan against Arizona in the 1998 West Regional Final is one of the five best of all time.
Damn, black day in sports. His Utah teams were great to watch. And anyone that lives in a hotel room has a certain amount of gravitas.
Wow, posted the same comments at the same time, even the Arizona mention. His assistants will now not have to worry about taking care of him shitting during practice, though. Seriously, as much as I liked the guy, I'm not shocked this day came. He was not a healthy man.
I encourage everyone to search for Majerus' final press conference. As a coach myself, the reason we do it is for how the players reacted just when asked about their coach. Wins are ultimately what everyone is judged by, but knowing you shaped a life is much, much greater. He didn't just coach basketball, he coached life. And was damn good at both.
We should all hope that someone could say the same for us, someday. Link: My time with Majerus, a coach and friend | The University News
Not sure anyone saw it, but a very touching moment with Doc Rivers last night about his relationship with Majerus. For those that didn't know (I didn't) Majerus gave Rivers the nickname Doc.
Limiting the discussion to games I actually saw, here would be my other four: Bob Knight 1984 East Regional semifinal v. North Carolina. Don Haskins 1992 Midwest Regional 2nd Round v. Kansas. John Chaney 2002 Southeast Region 2nd Round v. Florida. Bob Huggins 2010 East Regional Final v. Kentucky. The year and region might be wrong on Chaney. If memory serves me correct, the game was in Atlanta.
