Ten for Tuesday: Let's take time to reflect on 2005
Ten for Tuesday: The biggest stories of 2005
Dec. 27, 2005
By Gregg Doyel
CBS SportsLine.com Senior Writer
Tell Gregg your opinion!
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[/FONT] [FONT=Arial, Helvetica] Ten for Tuesday celebrates college basketball's top stories from 2005. Come back Wednesday for the 10 worst stories. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica] [/FONT] [FONT=Arial, Helvetica] 1. Illinois: If you weren't rooting for the Illini by March, what was your problem? Illinois was winning the right way, with unselfish All-American guards and underrated All-Big Ten forwards. Illinois won its first 29 games of the season, tying the 1955 San Francisco Dons for the 12th-best start in college basketball history, before losing its perfection at the buzzer at Ohio State. The Illini then won eight more games, including a 15-point comeback in the final four minutes of the region championship against Arizona, before losing 75-70 to North Carolina in the NCAA title game. Illinois wasn't the champion of 2005 ... but Illinois was the story.[/FONT]
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[FONT=Arial, Helvetica] [/FONT]Who could forget Bucknell's upset of Kansas in the first round of the tourney? (Getty Images) [FONT=Arial, Helvetica] 2. Villanova: After three consecutive NIT appearances, Villanova put it all together in 2005 -- and held it together despite injury after injury after injury. Even without injured starters Kyle Lowry, Jason Fraser and Curtis Sumpter at various points, the Wildcats won 24 games and played eventual champion UNC to a near-draw in the Sweet 16, losing 67-66. And Villanova did that without Sumpter, who had suffered a torn ACL in the previous round. Nine months later, the Wildcats are still a dominant team, even with Sumpter still out and Fraser still hobbled. A beautiful story, this Villanova resurgence.[/FONT]
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[FONT=Arial, Helvetica] [/FONT] [FONT=Arial, Helvetica] 3. Darius Washington: This is why we watch college basketball in March. Washington was the Memphis freshman who missed two free throws at the end of the Conference USA title game against Louisville, then collapsed in tears, his head hidden inside his jersey. Needing to hit two of three shots to give Memphis the conference title and an automatic 2005 NCAA Tournament bid, Washington hit one, then missed two. In an instant, Memphis was in the NIT and Washington had Blown It. His reaction was devastating, and unforgettable.[/FONT]
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[FONT=Arial, Helvetica] [/FONT] [FONT=Arial, Helvetica] 4. North Carolina: Like Jim Boeheim in 2003, UNC coach Roy Williams didn't need the 2005 NCAA title to justify his coaching greatness. But like Boeheim in 2003, Williams got one anyway. Three years after going 8-20, and two years after hiring Williams away from Kansas, the Tar Heels were the best team in America. As well they should have been, with four first-round picks in the 2005 NBA Draft: Marvin Williams, Raymond Felton, Sean May and Rashad McCants.[/FONT]
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[FONT=Arial, Helvetica] [/FONT] [FONT=Arial, Helvetica] 5. Bucknell and Vermont: No. 14 seed Bucknell beat No. 3 Kansas and 13th-seeded Vermont beat No. 4 Syracuse, ruining office brackets all over the country -- and reminding us why the NCAA Tournament is the best sporting event in the United States.[/FONT]
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[FONT=Arial, Helvetica] [/FONT] [FONT=Arial, Helvetica] 6. NBA draft rule: It wasn't good enough, but the NBA's decision to ban high school players from jumping straight to the pros was still a great thing for college basketball. There will be exceptions -- prep-school players who are 19 and one year removed from their original high school graduation can enter the draft -- but for the most part, the NBA's draft restrictions ensure the college game of at least one season with the next generation of Kobe Bryant, LeBron James and Kevin Garnett. Greg Oden and O.J. Mayo, come on down![/FONT]
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[FONT=Arial, Helvetica] [/FONT] [FONT=Arial, Helvetica] 7. Thad Matta: Matta inherited an Ohio State program that was abysmal on and off the court -- and turned that sucker around. The Buckeyes won 20 games in 2004-05, including Matt Sylvester's 3-pointer that ruined Illinois' perfect season, and probably would have been in the 2005 NCAA Tournament had the school not already removed itself from postseason consideration after discovering an NCAA violation by the previous staff. Meanwhile, Matta was putting together the "Thad Five" -- the fantastic, Greg Oden-led recruiting class expected to hit the court for the 2006-07 season. Best hire of all time? Given the circumstances, and the immediate dividends, show me a better one.[/FONT]
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[FONT=Arial, Helvetica] [/FONT] [FONT=Arial, Helvetica] 8. West Virginia: On Jan. 25, West Virginia was 1-5 in the Big East, 11-6 overall and fighting for a spot in the NIT. Two months later, the Mountaineers were in overtime against Louisville, fighting for a spot in the 2005 Final Four. West Virginia lost that game, but by reaching the Elite Eight the Mountaineers were a testimony to teamwork, perseverance ... and the all-mighty 3-pointer.[/FONT]
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[FONT=Arial, Helvetica] [/FONT] [FONT=Arial, Helvetica] 9. Coach K: Underachieving USA Basketball made the biggest move it could make to correct its international skid: hiring Duke's Mike Krzyzewski as coach. With Coach K's recruiting and motivational techniques, does anyone seriously doubt the United States will win the 2008 gold medal? As an added bonus, and as it pertains here, Coach K's hiring was another reminder of the importance of college basketball. The NBA game has the hustle and flow. The college game has the heart and soul.[/FONT]
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[FONT=Arial, Helvetica] [/FONT] [FONT=Arial, Helvetica] 10. Bruce Pearl: Pearl's bizarre story was only a whisper among college basketball cognoscenti until being blasted onto the front pages following 12th-seeded Wisconsin-Milwaukee's run to the 2005 Sweet 16. As a promising Iowa assistant in 1989, Pearl had taped a conversation with a recruit from Chicago that triggered an NCAA investigation into Illinois. The Illini went on probation and Pearl became a pariah who had to re-start his career at Division II. Sixteen years later, Pearl led UW-Milwaukee into the Sweet 16 against ... Illinois. In ... Chicago. You can't make this stuff up. Illinois won, but so did Pearl. Within a week he was introduced as the new coach at Tennessee. [/FONT]
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