It was a comment I’ve heard from losing players and coaches countless times over the years.
“We didn’t get any breaks today,” Illinois men’s basketball coach Bill Self remarked Sunday after a foul-filled 87-81 loss to Arizona in the NCAA Midwest Regional final.
No breaks. Ha, ha. I had to laugh because any mention of breaks in the context of Illinois basketball makes me think of arms, legs, ankles, toes, fingers or any other body parts.
Illinois didn’t break any Arizona players’ bones on Sunday and Kansas escaped unscathed, if not unbowed, two days earlier when the Fighting Illini unleashed their patented thuggery-muggery against the Jayhawks.
Perhaps you noticed Illinois tied an NCAA Tournament record when six players fouled out against Arizona, and that Kansas had held that ignominious record for 26 years.
Was that 1974-75 Kansas team guilty of the same strong-arm tactics Illinois uses today?
No way.
A half-dozen KU players fouled out against Notre Dame on March 15, 1975, mostly because coach Ted Owens couldn’t find anyone to guard Adrian Dantley, a muscular 6-foot-5 sophomore.
In that NCAA first-round game at Tulsa’s Mabee Center, Notre Dame bolted to a 44-32 halftime lead. Yet with 11:27 remaining, Kansas had sliced the Fighting Irish lead to just two (48-46). That’s when Notre Dame coach Digger Phelps decided to spread the floor with Dantley running the show.
“We went to the four-corner offense,” Phelps said later, “thinking they didn’t have anyone who could handle Adrian.”
Phelps, now an ESPN commentator, never made a better coaching decision.
Less than four minutes later, Notre Dame led 67-48 after dropping a 19-2 anvil on the Jayhawks. Dantley had scored a dozen of those 19 points, nine on three-point plays when he was fouled as he drove to the basket.
During that fateful span, KU’s Norm Cook and Donnie Von Moore both fouled out, joining freshman guard Clint Johnson on the disqualified list.
Curiously, one of the Illinois players who fouled out Sunday was Cook’s son, Brian, and how many father-son duos own a piece of the same NCAA Tournament record?
Later, the Jayhawks’ Tommie Smith, Dale Greenlee and Milt Gibson also would be charged with a fifth foul. Gibson was the last to go with just :16 showing.
After Notre Dame won, 77-71, Owens was, as you would expect, uncomplimentary of officials Sturdy Wanamaker and Mickey Crowley. Notre Dame made 35 of 50 free-throw attempts Dantley was 15-of-21 at the foul line while KU made just nine of 13 charities.
“Our experience in the NCAA has shown us that they let you play,” Owens said. “This was strictly no-touchee. It caught us by surprise.”
Danny Knight, one of the few Jayhawks who hadn’t fouled out, echoed his coach.
“Dantley’s good at drawing fouls, but 10 of those 21 he shot,” Knight said, “shouldn’t have been. They were hair close.”
Dantley scored 20 of his game-high 33 points in the last 10 minutes as the Jayhawks continued to foul in their abortive comeback attempt.
Kansas was whistled for 39 fouls that night, still a school record, but not an NCAA Tournament mark. Dayton heard 41 toots in a loss to believe it or not Illinois in 1952.
By the way, IU needed just 36 fouls to disqualify six players against Arizona while Kansas needed 39 in ’75 so maybe the Fighting Illini should be listed ahead of Kansas in the NCAA Tournament record book based on the efficiency factor.
Still, however listed, six DQs is hardly a record either school can be proud of.
