(6) Providence vs. (2) Alabama 03.19.1987 | NCAA Sweet Sixteen 

Alabama had some great teams in the mid-80’s. They took over from Louisville. But the 3pt shot did Wimp in as it did Denny.

Rick Pitino still coaching 36 years later....during this 86-87 season the head coaches in the Big East were Rick Pitino (Providence), Jim Boeheim (Syracuse), John Thompson (Georgetown), Jim Calhoun (Connecticut), Jim O'Brien (Boston College), PJ Carlesimo (Seton Hall), Rollie Massimino (Villanova), Lou Carnesecca (St John's), and Paul Evans (Pittsburgh). Really the Golden Age of the Big East. Alhtough Evans never got past the 2nd round of the Tournament, and O'Brien "only" got to the Elite 8, every other coach in that conference led their team to at least 1 final four during their time in the Big East. Boeheim, Thompson, Calhoun, and Massimino also won Natty's during their time as well.

One other interesting thing is that there were 50 combined fouls called in this game, with 5 players fouling out. Today, the average game has about 34 fouls called. A big difference!

This was the One Game that aired on ESPN via NCAA productions that night. Kansas/Georgetown and Norte Dame/North Carolina aired live on CBS while Syracuse/Florida aired on Tape delay after the late local news except for most CBS stations in Florida who did the game live. That drew a NASTY rebuke from Howard Cosell the next morning on his old speaking of sports program because those stations did not air a press conference from President Reagan. Howard felt it was in bad taste to pre empt the president (regardless of party) for a mere college basketball game.

Geographical foreshadowing in that the game was in Louisville, where Rick became later became coach. 28 years later, Pitino would coach against Mark Gottfried in the Sweet 16 (#4E Louisville vs. #8E NC State).

Last sweet 16 game ever to air on espn