Tracking down the 1995-96 team

[MikeUMA]

10 years ago today...

Georgetown (East #2, 29-8) 62
UMass (East #1, 35-1) 86
NCAA Tournament Elite 8, at the Georgia Dome, Atlanta GA

Three months into the future, Georgetown's Allen Iverson would be taken #1 in the NBA Draft, followed by the Minutemen's Marcus Camby at #2.

As for the game, the Minutemen are only up 38-34 at the break, but use a 15-2 run to pull away early, and never look back. "Last year we were in the same situation and came out kind of flat, so I took it upon myself to make things happen," Camby said, referring to last year's loss in the regional finals to Oklahoma State. "I had a tip-in, got myself into a rhythm and I started knocking down shots."

Allen Iverson is held to 6-21 shooting. "I was putting up all that looked like good shots," Iverson said. "Unfortunately, they just weren't falling down for me like they were in the second half. I think they just did a good defensive job."

"I just tried to make the game real hard for him," Travieso said. "I take pride in my defense. I tried to play him honest. I didn't try to go for steals and I wanted to contest every shot. Sometimes I would take chances, but not the whole game, because he's so quick."

"I gave it all I had and left everything I had on the court, and that's all I can ask for," Iverson said. "I take my hat off to them."

The cheerleaders cut down the nets after the team simply put on the Final Four t-shirts and went back to the locker room. "This team expects more and wants more," coach John Calipari said. "Sure, we'll celebrate some tonight, but we want everyone to know this is just one step toward the final goal."

<a href="http://umasshoops.com/cgi-bin/frameset. ... sHoops.com" target="_top">http://umasshoops.com/games/1995-96/0323georgetown/</a>

[MikeUMA]

Last one.

10 years ago today...



Kentucky Wildcats (#2, 33-2) 81
Massachusetts Minutemen (#1, 35-2) 74
NCAA National Semi-final (Final Four)
at Brendan Byrne Arena, E. Rutherford NJ

"I'm proud of our guys,'' said UMass coach John Calipari. "We played hard, it's just that they played with a little more emotion than us. I thought the game unfolded the way we wanted it to unfold. We gave ourselves a chance to win against a great ballclub. We refused to lose. We never stopped playing. We played right down to the end. And I'm proud of them.''

Read the rest...
<a href="http://umasshoops.com/cgi-bin/frameset. ... sHoops.com" target="_top">http://umasshoops.com/games/1995-96/0330kentucky/</a>

[Old Cage]

Burns moves on:

http://www.fordhamsports.com/asp_new/fu ... NewsID=998

[UM Fan]

Speaking of the 95/96 team, I just received a pretty cool gift from my step son's father . He gave me a tee shirt signed by the entire 94/95 team including the coaching staff. It was the world tour tee shirt with the schedule on back w/ the "sold out" stamp over it.

He knows I am a big fan because I've brought his son to several games over the past couple years. He figured I would appreciate it more that he ever could.

[shovelhd]

You need to remember him at holiday time. That's an awesome gift.

[MikeUMA]

A blast from the 1995-96 past. Just saw Ed Schilling's name pop up. He was on Calipari's staff for that season, backfilling Bill Bayno. Schilling stayed with Cal when he went to the Nets the following year.

Schilling recently got hired to be the new HC at Pepperdine.
https://twitter.com/PeppBasketball/stat ... 9934085287

He had been on staff at Grand Canyon for the past four seasons, and I guess their recent success got him noticed. GCU won the WAC tourney and got the auto-bid in 3 of those 4 seasons.