CRESTVIEW — It’s March Madness, and the National Collegiate Athletic Association men’s basketball tournament is in full swing. Teams will compete in the Sweet 16 this weekend with hopes of advancing to the Final Four.
Baker School basketball coach Janavor Weatherspoon has experienced the Big Dance first hand as a member of Oklahoma State’s 2004 team, when the Cowboys played Georgia Tech in the semifinals in San Antonio.
Twelve years later, the memories are still vivid.
“I remember the excitement of waiting for Selection Sunday and getting your bracket and seeing who you were going to play,” Weatherspoon said. “I remember we worked so hard all season for that moment and the excitement of having the opportunity to win the National Championship that year.
“Even now, I get chills thinking about the excitement of going to practice with thousands of fans. The kids work on their game throughout the summer, and to get to play in the Final Four is just exciting. Every shot, every lost ball, every defensive stop, every assist — every little piece of basketball is magnified when March Madness starts.”
TRUE MADNESS
Weatherspoon played a big role in OSU’s success.
“I was the sixth man (first substitute in the game) on that team,” he said. “When Coach would call my number, I’d get in there and get a steal, make a shot or make a defensive play. We were the Big 12 (Conference) regular-season champion and the Big 12 tournament champion. And then we played (No. 1 seed) St. Joseph’s for the (East) regional championship."
The game lived up to March Madness’ hype.
“You look at all the buzzer beaters, when you have to make a shot to win, and we had a situation where John Lucas hit a 3-pointer (that gave OSU a 64-62 win) to take us to the Final Four with about one second left on the clock, which was pretty cool,” he said. “I think in the March Madness every team — one through 65 — think they have a chance to win it all. In reality, you never know what can happen. George Mason made it to the Final Four a few years back, so you never know what team is going to surprise people with a deep run into the playoffs.”
So, what attracts people who usually don’t follow basketball to the NCAA tournament?
“I think at the college level it’s like David and Goliath, where a small school, like Stephen F. Austin or somebody else, comes and plays with such big heart or such big ambition as the smaller teams that you don’t think will get that far,” Weatherspoon said. “I think the smaller schools have a bigger chip on their shoulder, because they want to prove they can compete with the bigger school.
“The magic comes out every year. It’s the best time for basketball.”
TOURNAMENT TO REMEMBER
The 2004 Final Four featured two of the great semifinal games in the tournament’s history.
The University of Connecticut beat Duke 79-78 and OSU lost to Georgia Tech 67-65 on Will Bynum’s layup with two seconds left in the game.
“I saw Coach Sutton at our reunion back in 2014 and he said, ‘Spoon, we were a better team. If we played them again, we would beat them.’
“I tell everybody we didn’t lose. We just ran out of time.”
Weatherspoon is proud to be forever linked to the 2004 Cowboy team.
“I just remember being with the guys and how hard we worked to get to that point,” he said. “I remember how happy we were as brothers, as coaches and as teammates. That’s the biggest memory I take my whole life, is a group of guys working together to get to that point.
“You love each other and you have each others’ (backs). Those are my brothers for life. And of course the fans and the excitement of the Final Four — that was awesome.”
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Baker basketball coach reflects on Final Four experiences