March 16, 2001 - NCAA Tournament, First Round - 5 Virginia vs 12 Gonzaga
Distant Replay
English - March 17, 2021 22:00 - 41 minutes - 38.1 MB - ★★★★★ - 19 ratingsFootball Sports TV & Film cbs espn mlb nfl sports abc baseball classicgames collegebasketball collegefootball Homepage Download Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed
As we get ready for the return of the NCAA Tournament after a one-year hiatus, we picked a game from the first round that featured two teams that are very relevant to this tournament: defending champion Virginia and the current favorite Gonzaga.
The 2001 South Regional matchup between the 5-seed Cavaliers and the 12-seed Bulldogs might seem like just another first round matchup on paper, but it went a long way towards turning the Zags from Cinderella to tournament mainstay. In Mark Few’s second season as head coach in Spokane, there were questions about whether he'd be able to continue the program's recent rise. This team advanced to the Elite 8 and Sweet 16 the previous two seasons.
In their way was a battle-tested Virginia squad led by coach Pete Gillen and a backcourt led by Roger Mason and Donald Hand.
Join us as we go back to this 5-12 matchup from 20 years ago. In their episode, we discuss:
Where Gonzaga is in terms of their program progression Gonzaga household names over the years The 2001 tournament The Pyramid in Memphis was an awesome setting Mike’s 2001 Final Four experience Chris Williams from Birmingham The Big Apple on CBS?
We'll talk these things and more on the show.
If you want to see it as it aired on CBS 20 years ago, check out the video here: https://distantreplaypodcast.com/ep-68-2001-ncaa-tourney-first-round-5-virginia-vs-12-gonzaga/