1984-85 NCAA Tournament, Round 1: vs Alabama (19-11)
The Crimson Tide has reached the NCAA in two of the last three seasons; before that, they went through an eleven-year drought. The expansion of the field has been beneficial to the Tide. Record-wise, this is their best team since the 1970-71 group that went 24-7. Statistically, though, nothing stands out about them. They are middle-of-the-road in every aspect.
They do have a pretty good starting group, one that has been together for the past two seasons. Jerry Richardson is a four-year starter, having started all of the 118 games he has played. He's averaged 9.8 points and 6.3 rebounds this year. The leading scorer, James Hershey, is putting up 15.1 per game. They have been without lead guard, Myron Hoang, for the past seven games. He should play in this one, though he may show rust. Going against all of the options GW throws at you, he will have his hands full.
Clement Nelson scores to open things up. Future Carolina Panthers owner Jerry Richardson is playing for Bama. Woods scores first for GW. Richardson scores, but Jack counters on his first shot. Patrick Crouse scores. Jack drills a three, then commits his first foul and sits for a moment. Jack comes back after thirty seconds and finds Hector. Armbruster is arguing a call...no good there. Kenny gets a steal, which leads to Jack getting to the line. He has a 7-2-1 line, and it's 11-7.
Jack gets an assist on Hulett's first points. Nicky Douglas gets fouled by Denny Perez, and scores...the free throw makes it 13-10. Jack hits a three. He has two. Jack finds Ali for three, making it 20-10..Jack with a steal, and he gets it to Grayson for the easy bucket. 22-10 and Bama calls time.
GW gets four looks at a bucket, but can't connect. Hershey hits a three to get on the board. Jack is on the bench for now. Mark Deeds is in...he goes 1-2. GW is cold, and Bama can get back into this. Hoang hits. Hershey hits a three, and it's 22-19. Jack comes back in and goes to the center spot. Nelson goes one of two from the line. Woods counters with a basket. Jack gets a layup...26-20. Nelson gets a tip-in, but Hulett hits a three. Hershey gets a free throw, but Jack finds Kenny. He has a 12-5-5 line, and it's 31-23.
Jack finds Hulett, who now has seven. Hershey hits a three. 33-26. Michael King gets in for the first time in agets...Jack finds Hulett. The Jack-at-center lineup is working well against Alabama. Jack goes back to the 3, and hits a three. Marco Stephens is in, and he scores for Bama. Hoang hits two free throws...At the half, it's 38-30, GW. Bama had neither a block nor a steal in the half, but GW was low in their numbers (2/1), too. Jack has a 15-6-7 line.
Bama opens with a miss. Jack gets two offensive rebounds on the first possesion, which leads to a Hulett bucket. Jack finds Armbruster. Nelson throws one down. Jack misses his first shot of the second half, but hits his first three. Kenny with a steal and a layup, and the score is 47-35. Jack gets a block...GW is all over the offensive boards this half. Jack commits his second foul, then his third back-to-back. Then his fourth. For crying out loud...
Nelson scores. Kenny counters. Hershey gets a layup. Hector throws one down. It's 51-39 with 12:31 left. Hulett scores...he has 13. Woods hits, and GW has widened this gap. Kenny scores. Richardson throws it down. He could tell Cam Newton he could throw it down. 55-41. Grayson scores, gets fouled, but misses the free throw. Hector hits a three, then commits a foul. Mark Deed hits a three. Hulett scores...62-43 with 8:19 left. Will Jack return? Grayson fouls Crouse, who hits.
Hershey scores...he has 14. Then he gets a steal and Nelson gets a dunk. Woods gets a steal, and Armbruster gets fouled. He goes 1-2. King is back, and he gets a board. Jack comes back with an 18-9-7 line. Jack immediately finds Hulett. And then, Jack fouls out, with GW up 64-50.
What an injustice. Three of those fouls were ticky-tack. Alabama cuts it to 70-63 with a minute left, but gets no closer. The final is 72-63. Jack only gets to the line once for two shots, and fouls out. And all of those were quick in the second half. Turns out that one of the refs was a former Alabama booster, and couldn't stand Jack dominating things. King getting time was a surprise.
Code:
George Washington 72, Alabama 63
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Alabama (19-12, 8-10):
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Patrick Crouse C 33 2-7 0-1 3 8 1 1 4
Jerry Richardson PF 35 3-8 1-4 2 11 0 3 7
Clement Nelson SF 29 5-8 1-2 2 4 2 3 12
James Hershey SG 29 5-14 1-2 0 3 3 0 14
Myron Hoang PG 25 2-5 2-2 0 0 1 4 6
Nicky Douglas C 23 2-4 2-3 1 5 0 1 6
Brian Daniels SF 13 2-3 0-0 1 3 2 1 6
Marco Stephens PG 6 1-2 0-0 0 1 1 0 2
Mark Deeds C 5 2-3 1-2 0 1 1 1 6
Andre Gable SG 2 0-0 0-0 0 0 1 0 0
Turnovers: 14 (J.Richardson 4, C.Nelson 4, J.Hershey 2,
M.Hoang 2, N.Douglas 1, M.Stephens 1)
Blocked Shots: 0
Steals: 1 (J.Hershey 1)
3P FGs: 7-17 (C.Nelson 1-3, J.Hershey 3-8, M.Hoang 0-1,
N.Douglas 0-1, B.Daniels 2-2, M.Deeds 1-2)
George Washington (29-1, 0-0):
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Brian Armbruster C 23 1-2 0-2 1 4 1 3 2
Bruce Woods PF 34 4-8 0-1 2 11 1 1 8
Jack Dawkins SF 24 6-12 2-2 4 10 8 5 18
Kenneth Frazier SG 30 3-10 0-0 1 3 1 1 6
Richie Hulett SF 34 9-16 0-0 3 6 4 2 19
Hector Patterson PG 22 3-11 3-4 1 1 2 2 10
Michael King PG 4 0-0 0-0 0 1 0 0 0
Glenn Grayson PF 10 2-3 0-1 0 0 1 1 4
Denny Perez C 8 0-0 0-0 1 3 0 1 0
Porter Ali SF 9 2-5 0-0 1 2 1 1 5
F. Boutwell SG 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0
Turnovers: 9 (B.Woods 2, J.Dawkins 1, K.Frazier 1,
R.Hulett 1, H.Patterson 2, P.Ali 1, F.Boutwell 1)
Blocked Shots: 3 (B.Woods 1, J.Dawkins 1, G.Grayson 1)
Steals: 8 (B.Woods 1, J.Dawkins 1, K.Frazier 3,
R.Hulett 1, M.King 1, G.Grayson 1)
3P FGs: 7-26 (B.Armbruster 0-1, J.Dawkins 4-6,
K.Frazier 0-4, R.Hulett 1-5, H.Patterson 1-7, P.Ali
1-3)
Player of Game: SF Jack Dawkins (GW)
First Round
West: Only two surprises, as #12 Arizona beat #5 Clemson, 73-72, on Stephen Irvine's three with :33 left, and Kelly Coulter's miss just off the rim. GW beat Arizona State handidly during the regular season. #10 Long Beach State upset #7 Michigan State, 69-57.
Midwest: #14 San Jose State bagged the biggest upset, upsetting TCU, 65-63. There will be controversy forever surrounding this game. Ahmed Robson took a shot at the buzzer, and was fouled by Peter Harris. The controversy was not on the foul, but on whether Robson was behind the three-point line. The television feed was inconclusive, and the referees declared the tip of his right shoe on the line. He pleaded, the coaches pleaded, and there were rumors of another angle caught by Illinois' camera team, which showed him as decidedly behind the line.
Their second-round opponent also won on a heart-stopper, though there was no denying this one. With Illinois leading Hardin-Simmons, 90-89 and three seconds left, George Guillen stepped to the line for two. He hit the first, but missed the second. After a timeout, Sanford Stevens inbounded to Milo Thomas. Thomas took one dribble, got across half court, and let fly.
Bang.
Hardin-Simmons 92, Illinois 91.
March is lovely.
South: Morehead State upset Wake Forest, 77-67, and will face George Washington in the second round. New Mexico beat sixth-seeded Texas Tech, 84-72. They will get third-seed Princeton in the second round.
East: Loyola-Illinois ripped fifth seed Virginia, 96-73, behind 21 points and 14 rebounds by power forward Chris Saville. North Carolina, the #11 seed, beat #6 Texas A&M, 76-67.