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 Current Western Carolina assistant coach, Anquell McCollum, was a senior on the 1996 squad that won the Catamounts' lone Southern Conference championship and nearly made history against Purdue in New Mexico. |
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March 11, 2007
Cullowhee, N.C. - As March Madness takes full effect this Sunday, fans of Western Carolina University fondly remember the 1996 season and the near upset the upstart 16th-seeded Catamount men's basketball team almost had against the the top-seeded Purdue Boilermakers.
Already etched into college basketball lore with the first-ever 3-point shot made in Cullowhee's Reid Gym by Ronnie Carr, Western Carolina nearly put itself into the record books again as no 16-seed has ever defeated a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Field of 64.
This story ran in Sunday's edition of the New York Times.
11 Years Later, Questions of `What If'
By PETE THAMEL
Published: March 11, 2007
WALHALLA, S.C. -- After coming tantalizingly close to pulling the biggest upset in the history of the N.C.A.A. men's basketball tournament, the homespun head coach and his hot-shot assistant locked in a long embrace.
Phil Hopkins, an emotional man, had coached 16th-seeded Western Carolina to the verge of an upset of No. 1-seeded Purdue. No team seeded 16th has ever upset a No. 1 seed. Few have come close. Western Carolina had one shot to win and another to tie; both attempts hit the back of the rim in the final seconds. Hopkins wept at the news conference, telling reporters, "We deserved to win."
His top assistant in that game was Thad Matta, in his first full-time coaching job.
Eleven years after those shots bounced away, the careers of the two coaches have drastically diverged, showing just how much one shot in the N.C.A.A. tournament can change lives -- for better or worse.
Read the full article from Sunday's New York Times by clicking HERE.
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