No Miracle on Ice or Matterhorn for LSU, but Weep Not, Imelda

DALLAS — In one fell swoop, and by all logic an overdue swoop, the Final Four lost both its Cinderella and its clown prince Saturday. LSU succumbed finally to superior forces. Coach Dale Brown struck his tent.

There’ll be no Villanovas or North Carolina States this season. Also, no more postgame speeches by a coach with double-figure mentions of world leaders, applications of history or nominations of his mother for sainthood. From now on, it’s just a basketball tournament.

Brown’s Bayou Bengals fell under the wheels of the Louisville express Saturday and lost, 88-77. But weren’t they something while they lasted?

“Here we lost,” Brown said, “and I can’t tell you how wonderful I feel. I’d like to win. I’d like to feel more wonderful, if more wonderful is a word. But I did everything I could do. They (LSU’s players) did everything they could do. If they didn’t win your heart, nobody will win your heart. I mean, they dive at the ball, they’re small. It’s a tribute to them. I don’t feel one bit bad it’s over.”

They won some hearts, all right. The Tigers led at halftime, 44-36. Ricky Blanton, a 6-6, 227-pound guard moved to center, was outrebounding and outscoring the freshman sensation, Pervis (Never Nervous, if sometimes Out of Service) Ellison. Don Redden, another plow horse, went eight minutes and scored nine points. Sophomore apprentice-superstar John Williams had 12 points and 5 rebounds.

This, of course, was following their double-overtime victory over Purdue, their last-second win over Memphis State, their upset of Georgia Tech at the Omni and their decision over Kentucky, which had beaten them three straight times.

This, of course, followed the controversies: Tito Horford, who enrolled and departed, amid speculation that he had talked to NCAA investigators; Nikita Wilson, who became ineligible, prompting Brown to accuse his own university of having “exploited” Wilson.

LSU’s chancellor, Dr. James Wharton, refused comment on that last one. We’re not talking about your normal campus life here.

So if you suspect that Brown, a man who has withheld precious few comments in his career, knew how to enjoy this latest turn upward, you’re right.

He invoked the memory of the U.S. Olympic hockey team’s victory over the Soviets. He noted that while it had taken several Germans to capture a U.S. dogface in World War II, one average North Korean soldier had been able to capture several Americans, showing what happens when a society goes soft.

He also asked one reporter: “Have you ever met Imelda Marcos?”

When the remark got into a few hundred publications, it began to dawn on Brown that he’d been laying it on a little heavy and was being called on it.

So he started out Friday’s press conference by telling the assembled media:

“Imelda Marcos told me to tell you all hello.”

He didn’t finish before acknowledging his longshot status this way:

“We have nine guards. We’ve lost three centers. Obviously, we don’t have the best odds. But the Donner Pass, going over that wasn’t very good odds, either.”

“It’s been getting better lately,” LSU guard Derrick Taylor said Friday. “I know I hadn’t heard that one about the Russians and the U.S. in hockey. That’s a good one, how the Russians had beaten those guys seven times previously. And the Russians were all pros and the U.S. had real young guys, college guys. It really makes you think, ‘Yeah, well that’s true.’

“You better believe he’s got a good one coming up.”

They all did. But the Cardinals didn’t gag, and Williams wandered out of the offense. And Brown opted for an early timeout to check a Louisville surge that consisted of two baskets opening the second half, and then he didn’t call one when the Cardinals went on a 17-1 spurt. Add it all up, and form had finally prevailed.

Even if it had taken long enough.

What did Brown really expect at the tournament’s start?

“That’s a hard question,” he said. “It’s hard to segregate realism with idealism. I hope I’m an idealistic realist. Gee, I sound like Hubert Humphrey, bless his soul. I certainly hope I’m smart enough to understand that some things are really hard to do. When I climbed the Matterhorn, the guide with me got to one point (where he wanted to stop), and I said, ‘Let’s go on, let’s go on.’ Then I saw a plaque on the side of the hill, when we were climbing this ledge 11,000 feet up. It had a picture of an American flag and a little boy. Not a little boy, a 21-year-old. And it said, ‘We are the parents of whoever it was, Peter Finney, and we plead with you, if the weather conditions aren’t ideal, you’re not an expert mountain climber and you don’t have superb gear, turn around.’ Well, I didn’t qualify in any of the three. I turned around. I didn’t make it to the top. It’s hard to segregate those. A lot of coaches are optimistic. I am an optimistic person. But I knew it would take a superhuman effort to win any games, let alone win today. It has taken a superhuman effort. What they did in the first half--I’ll tell you, I was surprised, the first half. Now I’m going to be very honest. We were eight points ahead and I never dreamed in my wildest imagination, we go out eight ahead. I thought it would be close. But that’s really a hard question to answer.”

Huh?

Brown praised the referees and the city of Dallas. He refused comment on the NCAA, as he had all weekend, saying he wanted to be a gracious participant.

However, if this weekend was his time at bat, the NCAA’s comes later. The NCAA did everything but set up a mobile crime lab in Baton Rouge, La., last fall, and its findings are being awaited with interest.

“It’s what they call a preliminary inquiry,” Brown said. “I guess it’s been going on four years.”

But that’s a controversy for another day. Gov. Edwin Edwards, another Louisiana favorite familiar with the judicial process, visited the LSU dressing room and told the Tigers that the whole state was proud of them. Don Redden stood up and thanked the players for sending the seniors, Derrick Taylor and himself, out on such a great note.

“This by far has been the fun-nest year since I’ve been at LSU,” Redden said.

Enjoy. They earned it.