April 2, 2008

By Jim Sumner
theACC.com

Start with a trio of stars, each capable of carrying a team. Add three role players, content to play defense, rebound, and set screens for the shooters. Finish with bench players ready to play when the necessity arises and willing to contribute in practice when they weren't called on. Have a veteran coach stir the mix and...

The result was arguably the best team in Georgia Tech basketball history.

By 1990, no one was surprised when Bobby Cremins and the Yellow Jackets put a competitive team on the floor. But that team opened with some question marks. Tech had finished 20-12 in 1989, losing to Texas in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Star power forward Tommy Hammonds graduated, while starting center Maurice Brittain left the team. Several key reserves also departed.

Key returnees for 1990 were versatile senior guard Brian Oliver and junior wing Dennis Scott, a spectacular shooter who averaged 20.3 points per game as a sophomore. Forward/center Johnny McNeil and guard Karl Brown also came back, while center James Munlyn returned from a red-shirt season.

The returnees were augmented by a talented group of freshman, led by the nation's top prep player in 1989: Kenny Anderson. An extraordinarily quick and gifted point guard, Anderson quickly showed that his prep reputation wasn't just hype. He scored 28 points against Georgia State in his first college game and never looked back.

Anderson says Cremins "told me to keep it simple and be myself. I had to prove myself to Brian and some others but it didn't take us long to figure out we all wanted the same things, to play basketball and win games."

Oliver maintains "Kenny's poise was remarkable. It didn't take him long to make believers of us."

Anderson's arrival enabled Cremins to make some key lineup moves. Oliver says, "Coach Cremins called me into his office and told me there were going to be some changes. I was no longer a point guard. I would be free to run the floor, concentrate on finishing. I licked my chops."

Cremins calls Oliver "very, very versatile. He could do anything on a basketball floor, He was the team's anchor."

Then there was Scott, who had spent his first two seasons floating around the perimeter. Scott lost weight, got into shape, and developed the post-up game Tech needed to replace Hammonds. Cremins says, "Dennis slimming down was the key to the season. When your star sacrifices, it sends a message."

After some early experimentation, Cremins settled on a core group of six players. Anderson, Oliver, and Scott started on the perimeter, with McNeil and 6'11" freshman Malcolm Mackey starting inside. Brown played major minutes off the bench, with Oliver moving to small forward and Scott to power forward when necessary. Munlyn and freshman forward Darryl Barnes started some games early but saw their playing time diminish as the season progressed.

Before long Scott, Anderson, and Oliver were known as Lethal Weapon Three, after a Hollywood hit. The trio would end the season averaging almost 70 points per game, led by Scott's 27.7. No other team in ACC history has had three players average more than 20 points per game in a season. Oliver, who excelled despite a bad foot that plagued him most of the season, says, "It's possible to stop one scorer, maybe even two. But not three. Nobody could contain all of us."

Anderson adds, "At our tempo, we all knew we would have our shots. Our attitude was that if we worked together, everybody was going to eat."

The role players? Cremins says, "Everybody knew their roles perfectly and everybody accepted them. The big three could do whatever they wanted and their teammates recognized that."

Anderson adds, "This wouldn't have worked if we didn't have great guys. To do what they did without any attitude was special. Coach Cremins deserves lots of credit. He was approachable, fun to play for, and made sure everyone was on the same page."

Tech began the season ranked 21st in the AP poll but moved up as they kept winning.

A key win was in Hartford, Connecticut in the first game of a twin-bill that kicked off the ACC-Big East Challenge. Pittsburgh jumped to a 23-5 lead over Tech but Cremins' club fought back, showing a toughness that would serve them well throughout the season. Scott hit eight three-pointers and banked in an eight-footer at the buzzer for the 93-92 win; Scott ended with 42 points.

Tech was ninth in the AP poll after starting 11-0. Tenth-ranked Duke ended the streak 96-91 in a see-saw game in Atlanta. Tech rebounded by winning the next two games but then lost three straight nail-biters: 81-79 to Virginia in overtime, 91-90 to Clemson, and 88-86 at Duke, the latter a game that Tech led by 10 with 8:29 left.

Cremins remembers, "The close losses were discouraging. But we were a young team, starting two freshmen. So, we were still learning, still putting it together."

Anderson agrees. "The close losses were motivators. They showed us what we needed to do to improve. We improved, then we started winning the close ones, and our confidence just got higher."

Tech responded to the three-game losing streak by winning seven straight, including a 102-75 thrashing of North Carolina, still Tech's largest victory margin over the Tar Heels. Scott scored 37 and Oliver 34. Anderson keyed the win with 17 assists, which tied Tyrone Bogues' record for the most assists against North Carolina.

Scott had 30 points and Anderson 29 points and 12 assists to lead Tech to a 94-84 road win over Louisville. Then Tech overcame a 15-point first-half deficit to edge NC State 95-92 in double overtime. Scott and Oliver each scored 28 points, the latter 6 in the second extra period.

Tech was ranked as high as eighth. With a chance to finish first in the ACC, they lost two more close games, 73-71 at home to Virginia - a game in which Scott made only 3-of-16 field goals - and 81-79 at North Carolina. Sandwiched in with the losses was an overtime win at Notre Dame.

The Yellow Jackets finished the ACC at 8-6, the losses by a combined margin of 14 points. Clemson at 10-4 and Duke at 9-5 led the league, while UNC tied Tech for third.

The 1990 ACC Tournament was held in Charlotte. Tech opened with a 76-67 win over NC State in what would turn out to be Jim Valvano's last game.

Duke was next. The Blue Devils had edged the Yellow Jackets twice in the regular season and led this game 36-32 at the half. It was 49-42 with 13 minutes left when Tech started taking control. Oliver started a 9-0 surge with a three-pointer and ended it with an emphatic dunk in transition. A 15-3 run later in the half finished off Duke. The final was 83-72. Scott and Oliver each scored 31, while Anderson had 10 assists.

Virginia had upset Clemson in the other semifinal, setting up what is still the only ACC Tournament title game without a team from the state of North Carolina. As with the Duke game, Tech avenged two regular-season losses by breaking open a close game in the middle of the second half. With Virginia up 37-36, Anderson hit back-to-back three-pointers and then Virginia hit a cold spell, missing 12 straight field goals. Tech pulled away for the 70-61 win. Scott (18), Anderson (18) and Oliver (17) again led Tech's scoring, while Oliver won the Case Award as the tournament's outstanding player.

Following the game, losing coach Terry Holland put on his prognosticator's cap. "I think they're a Final Four-type team, if for nothing else because of their ball-handling and the ability to shoot the ball. They just have so many different ways to hurt you, and they have a lot of savvy on the court. If they get you in any kind of open court situation, it's almost an automatic basket."

Oliver and company opened their NCAA play in Knoxville against East Tennessee State, a team coached by Les Robinson, who would later replace Valvano at State. Scott scored 36 points in a comfortable 99-83 win.

Nothing would be comfortable for Tech for the rest of the season. Tech spent the remainder of March utilizing the lessons learned in all those close games. The first victim was a huge LSU team, that featured All-America guard Chris Jackson (who later changed his name to Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf) and inside behemoths Shaquille O'Neal and Stanley Roberts.

LSU jumped to a 22-5 lead, blocking shots and threatening to run Tech back to Atlanta. But the role players again proved their worth. Karl Brown came in and shut down Jackson; Mackey battled inside for 14 rebounds; and the big three did what they did best: Oliver gave Tech a lead late with a pair of free throws, LSU regained the lead, Anderson answered with a short jumper. LSU trailed 92-91 with time for a final shot. Tech's defense kept the ball away from the big guys and Vernel Singleton missed a jumper. Scott grabbed the last of his 11 rebounds and converted two foul shots. LSU missed a desperation three at the buzzer and Tech escaped 94-91.

Scott led everybody with 30 points, while Anderson and Oliver added 26 and 18 respectively. Jackson scored only 13, making only 5-of-15 field goals. Cremins says, "The key was the job Karl did on Chris Jackson. That turned that game around."

The Louisiana Superdome hosted the Southeast Regional semifinal and finals. Tech was matched against top-seed Michigan State. Tech led by nine points in the first half, six with 14 minutes left. Steve Smith brought Michigan State back and the two teams traded leads down the stretch. Smith had a chance to ice the game from the line with six seconds left and his team up 75-73. But he missed. Tech got the rebound and rushed the ball down court. Anderson hit a long shot, the buzzer went off, and pandemonium ensued.

Cremins recalls, "For a second, I thought we had won." The officials would review the play. Did Anderson's shot beat the buzzer and was it a two-pointer or a three-pointer? After a lengthy discussion, the ruling was that Anderson had tied the game with a two-pointer.

Tech prevailed in overtime 81-80, when Scott hit a contested jumper with four seconds left and Michigan State missed a 30-footer. Anderson led Tech with 31 points, one less than Smith scored for the Spartans.

Another Big Ten team, the Minnesota Gophers, stood in the way of Tech's first Final Four. Again, the ACC champions had to withstand a superb individual effort, this time by Willie Burton, who would end the game with 35 points. Minnesota led 49-47 after a furious first half. Using the ancient theory of "Dance with who brung ya," Tech relied on its big three to an extraordinary degree. Scott, Anderson, and Oliver took 52 of Tech's 56 field goal attempts and scored all but four of its points, the most important a three-pointer by Anderson that gave them an 89-84 lead with 2:55 left. Tech made a few mistakes in the final minutes but Minnesota missed at the buzzer and Tech held on 93-91.

Scott ended the game with 40 points, augmented by Anderson with 30 and Oliver with 19.

Next was a trip to Denver for the Final Four. Tech's opponent was UNLV, the nation's second-ranked team. By this point the thin Tech team should have been running on fumes, especially playing at altitude in Denver. Anderson says that was not the case. "How can you get tired in the Final Four?" he asks. "There's so much energy, you just feed off of it."

Tech certainly didn't look tired early. Oliver says, "We were handling everything they threw at us." Anderson deflected UNLV's pressure, Scott had 20 points at intermission, and Tech was competitive on the glass. The underdogs led 53-46 at the half.

It started unraveling early in the second half. UNLV ramped up its defensive pressure and the Jackets became rattled. UNLV scored the first 13 points of the second half. Then Anderson picked up his fourth foul with 12 minutes left and sat down. He says, "I wanted to stay in but players always want to stay in. It was a coach's decision and Coach Cremins did what most coaches would have done."

UNLV opened up its lead with Anderson out and maintained a working margin down the stretch, winning 90-81. Scott led all scorers with 29 points, followed by Oliver with 24 and Anderson with 16. Anderson says, "It's easy to play `what-might-have-been' but UNLV was so deep and so talented. They just kept coming." Cremins adds, "Over 40 minutes, they were just better than we were."

Tech finished its season at 28-7, a school record for wins equaled by Paul Hewitt's Final Four squad in 2004. UNLV routed Duke two nights later for the NCAA title.

Oliver says, "We didn't know how special it was at the time. We still get together and talk about how close we came but we now realize how privileged we were."

Anderson adds, "We had a great run and then moved on. But I still get chills thinking about that season."

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Jim Sumner's articles on southern sports history have appeared in the ACC Handbook, the ACC Area Sports Journal, Blue Devil Weekly, Inside Carolina, the Wolfpacker, Baseball America, Basketball America, and other publications. His latest book, Tales From the Duke Blue Devils Hardwood, was published in 2005. In his bimonthly column "Looking Back... by Jim Sumner", he will examine the rich history of the Atlantic Coast Conference.

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