Unlikely march to Madness

Arkansas Coach Nolan Richardson helps cut down the nets in Atlanta on March 12, 2000, after the Razorbacks’ victory over Auburn in the championship game of the SEC Tournament. It remains the Razorbacks’ only SEC Tournament title.
(Democrat-Gazette le photo)
Arkansas Coach Nolan Richardson helps cut down the nets in Atlanta on March 12, 2000, after the Razorbacks’ victory over Auburn in the championship game of the SEC Tournament. It remains the Razorbacks’ only SEC Tournament title.
(Democrat-Gazette le photo)

ATLANTA -- Arkansas' national championship team of 1994 couldn't do it. Neither could the Razorbacks' 1995 NCAA runner-up team or the 1992 SEC regular-season champions.

History will show that Arkansas' first SEC Tournament championship was delivered by a team full of freshmen and sophomores who during the regular season had the Razorbacks' first losing record in nine seasons in the conference.

What a few days ago seemed impossible became reality Sunday in the Georgia Dome when Arkansas punched its ticket to the NCAA Tournament by beating Auburn 75-67 in the championship game of the SEC Tournament.

"We're back! We're back!" Razorbacks sophomore guard T.J. Cleveland yelled to fans as he stood on the press table celebrating the victory. "Baby we're back!"

Arkansas (19-14) had to win the SEC Tournament to make the Big Dance, and the Razorbacks accomplished it in stunning fashion, beating three teams -- Kentucky, LSU and Auburn -- which received NCAA Tournament at-large bids.

"We were buried back home in the grave when we left," Arkansas Coach Nolan Richardson said. "To get up and do the things these young guys did out here is an incredible feat."

Guard Chris Walker, the Razorbacks' lone senior, wore a huge smile and championship net around his neck after the game.

"It just feels so good to come in here and win, because nobody picked us to win," Walker said. "They expected us to go out the first round. So to be able to prove everybody wrong, that feels so sweet."

How unlikely was Arkansas' run through the Georgia Dome?

Consider that:

• Going into the SEC Tournament, the Razorbacks' longest winning streak of the season was two games. But in Atlanta they won four games in four days on a neutral floor.

• During the regular season, the Razorbacks were 1-10 in games in which they trailed at halftime. In the SEC Tournament, they rallied from halftime deficits to beat Georgia, LSU and Auburn.

• Arkansas became only the sixth team in NCAA history to win four games in a conference tournament and the first to do it in the SEC since Auburn in 1985.

"We worked hard to get our [NCAA] spot. It wasn't handed to us by no means," said Arkansas sophomore guard Brandon Dean, who scored a career-high 22 points Sunday and was voted SEC Tournament MVP. "We had faith in ourselves. ... We didn't think it was improbable for us to win this tournament, but a lot of other people did who were on the outside looking in.

"This feels good because a lot of media was focusing on us going to the NIT. But we knew what we were capable of doing, and we weren't too worried about what happened in the past.

"We went into the latter part of the year to improve, and that's what we did and that's what helped us win. We just kept improving and kept having faith in ourselves."

Winning Arkansas' first SEC Tournament championship was especially sweet for Richardson after the Razorbacks had suffered through their worst regular-season showing since 1985-86.

"I've been here nine times and I've got to thank the Good Man upstairs," Richardson said. "He kept me alive until I finally won one."

The Razorbacks also suffered through a lot of off-the-court distractions during the season with three players -- freshman guards Joe Johnson and Charles Tatum and sophomore guard Teddy Gipson -- suffering deaths in their families and sophomore guard Jason Gilbert quitting the team.

"Well, this is the only thing I haven't won," Richardson said. "I've won everything else.

"When we won a national championship I was happy, when we won a national junior college championship I was happy, and when we won an NIT championship I was happy.

"But I don't think I've ever been as happy inside for a group of guys that young that went through all the trial and tribulations of family death and a player quitting and the talk, and the talk, and then to come over here and for them to put all that behind them and for me to say we've got to be focused, even though I've got this other bullcrap in the back of my mind, I was real happy.

"To win the SEC Tournament with a bunch of puppies is unbelievable. It will go down as one of the all-time things that happened in my career. And I've had some great things happen in my career."

Auburn (23-9) looked like it might ruin Arkansas' dream run through the SEC Tournament when sophomore forward Mack McGadney hit a 15-foot jumper to give the Tigers a 62-61 lead with 4:15 left.

But the Razorbacks outscored the Tigers 7-0 over a 2:30 span to take a 68-62 lead with 1:23 left.

Johnson, who had 12 points and joined Dean on the All-Tournament team, hit a 15-foot bank shot to put Arkansas ahead to stay, 63-62.

The biggest basket in the run came when Gipson (14 points) rebounded a shot by Cleveland -- that hit the backboard, but not the rim -- and put it back in with a second left on the shot clock to give the Razorbacks a 67-62 lead.

Auburn, led by 15 points each by McGadney and senior guard Doc Robinson, didn't pull closer than four points the rest of the game.

"You have to take your hat off to Arkansas," Robinson said. "They've come a long way since the beginning of the year."

The Razorbacks have come so far that they're back in the NCAA Tournament for the 12th time in the past 13 years.

"I never mentioned to them, 'Let's go win the [SEC] Tournament.' I said, 'I want you to improve, and if each one of you improve, it will take you where you need to go,' " Richardson said. "They improved, and that's why they're champions."

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