The Importance of Being Ambidextrous - Rutgers 80 - Rhode Island 79

Courier News - March 5, 1990

As Christmas holiday tournaments fell out of favor in college basketball, the vacuum was more than filled by conference tournaments, designed not so much to determine the conference champion as to decide which school would earn the automatic NCAA berth.  There is no relationship between the decline of the one and the growth of the other, but it's also true that 50 years or so ago, conference tournaments were rare, the ACC being the most notable exception.  Since at the time only one team per conference qualified for what was not yet known as "the dance," the argument was that a team that finished 11-1 behind a 12-0 regular season champion deserved another chance.  Whether or not that logic made sense, conference tournaments gradually became more commonplace because they gave every team, at least theoretically, something to play for.   As the NCAA field expanded, however, conference tournaments have had less and less to do with determining who makes the "dance." That still leaves, though, the Cinderella scenario where an unsung team gets hot and plays its way into a tournament berth, it otherwise had no chance of earning.

Courier News - March 5, 1990

Rutgers enjoyed just such an experience in the 1988-89 season when Coach Bob Wenzel engineered the biggest turnaround in school history.  Adding only one new player, Wenzel took a team that had won only seven games the year before and led them to a 15-12 regular season record.  That alone made it a memorable season, but the team was not done yet.   One of the problems faced by mid-major and lower conferences was how to attract a large crowd to the championship game.  Unlike the major conferences, fans did not stick around once their team had been eliminated, leaving championship games to be played in half empty (at best) arenas.  The Atlantic Ten's solution was to play the first three rounds at the historic Palestra in Philadelphia with the championship game at the home of the highest remaining seed.  In the 1989 tournament, Rutgers defeated St. Bonaventure and then upset Temple in a dramatic overtime game to earn a place in the final.  Since lower seed Penn State had knocked off West Virginia in the other semi-final, the championship game came to the RAC. Urged on by what was the loudest crowd I can remember in my over 40 years in Section 105, Row F, Rutgers defeated Penn State, earning an NCAA bid before falling to Iowa in the opening round.

Herald News - March 5, 1990

A year later, Rutgers was back at the Palestra for an opening round Atlantic 10 tournament matchup with Rhode Island.  It had been an up and down season for the Scarlet Knights who stood exactly at .500, 15-15.  The first half of the game was, to put it mildly, unusual.  First, guard Earl Duncan, a Syracuse transfer, who was suffering from lingering knee and ankle injuries got hurt again and would play only 22 minutes.  With 16:21 left in the half the guard rotation shrunk even further.  Craig Carter scored, but landed on the foot of a Rhode Island player, dislocating his ankle which left his foot "at a grotesque angle."  "Writhing in pain," the embattled Rutgers player was carried off on a stretcher while waving to the applauding Rutgers fans.  In for Carter was Rick Dadika, a key part of the 1989 team who now had a more limited role off the bench.  Dadika stepped up big time, making five three point shots over the course of the game, tying an Atlantic 10 tournament record in the process.  Four of those came in the first half and, amazingly, Rutgers led 51-41 at the half.  Amazingly not only because of the injuries, but also since 14 of the 17 fouls called in the first half had gone against Rutgers including a technical on the bench.

Asbury Park Press - March 5, 1990

 Although down by 10, Rhode Island was far from finished.  In less than a minute the Rams cut the difference to four and with 15 minutes left, they knotted the contest at 55-55.  From that point the game went back and forth until a dramatic last two minutes.  With Rutgers up 74-73, Eric Leslie of Rhode Island hit two foul shots for a one point Rams lead.  Rutgers countered with a follow up shot by the late Keith Hughes, but Rhode Island's Kenny Green made a layup for a 77-76 Ram lead.  On Rutgers next possession, Donnell Lumpkin was fouled.  Trying to intimidate the freshman, Rhode Island coach Al Skinner called two timeouts to let Lumpkin think about the shots.  Not in any way intimidated, Donnell made both in what Skinner gracefully acknowledged as "a very nice job."  Rhode Island looking to take back the lead, had the ball out of bounds on the baseline in the forecourt.  The Rams ran a play that gave Mike Brown a go-head layup with just 11 seconds left.  With the ball out of bounds under their own basket, Wenzel called a Rutgers timeout not so much to set up a play, but rather a formation with multiple options.

Daily Home News - March 5, 1990

Freshman Mike Jones brought the ball across midcourt where a Rhode Island double team forced him to pass off to Duncan. The Rutgers junior dribbled to the left side of the lane where with four seconds left, his only choices were to shoot or drive.  Duncan opted for the latter, but was cut off by the Rams defense.  Resorting to a spin dribble, Duncan went up with the ball sensing that if he shot with his right hand Kenny Green, Atlantic 10 player of the year, would block it. Shifting the ball to his left hand, Duncan put it up just past Green's outstretched hand. The shot went in as the buzzer sounded giving Rutgers a place in the semi-finals against Temple.  While Duncan had made the winning shot, he got plenty of support from Jones and Dadika off the bench.  Jones was all over the court with 11 points, 4 assists, 4 rebounds, 3 steals and no turnovers while Dadika scored 19 points.  The next night it seemed like history might repeat itself when upstart UMass, coached by John Calipari, knocked off number two seed Penn State.  A Rutgers win over Temple would have again brought the championship game to the RAC, but alas, it was not to be.  A year later, however, Duncan and Keith Hughes led Rutgers to its only regular season conference championship and the school's last NCAA appearance.