On this day in 2004...

whitegoldsphinx

Ramblin' Wreck
Messages
817
That tourney run redefined the term "survive and advance". Every victory in the tourney was a close game that we pulled out in the end. The championship game was a huge letdown. We kind of stopped doing what worked earlier in the tournament, started playing way too fast, and dug too deep a hole to completely recover from.

However, the Kansas and Oklahoma State games are always classics that can be looked back on fondly. But even the Northern Iowa, BC, and Nevada games had me on the edge of my seat. After winning 5 games in that fashion, it seemed like destiny that we would win it all. Oh, well.
 
Silk3

Silk3

Ramblin' Wreck
Messages
926
whitegoldsphinx said:
That tourney run redefined the term "survive and advance". Every victory in the tourney was a close game that we pulled out in the end. The championship game was a huge letdown. We kind of stopped doing what worked earlier in the tournament, started playing way too fast, and dug too deep a hole to completely recover from.

However, the Kansas and Oklahoma State games are always classics that can be looked back on fondly. But even the Northern Iowa, BC, and Nevada games had me on the edge of my seat. After winning 5 games in that fashion, it seemed like destiny that we would win it all. Oh, well.
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I loved the reverse layup Bynum hit late in the Nevada game
 
Fatmike91

Fatmike91

Helluva Engineer
Messages
1,292
Location
SW Florida
My lasting memories of San Antonio:

- Entitled obnoxious Duke fans...
- How small and disappointing the Alamo was. Before you Texans get all worked up, you have to agree the gift shop in the lobby isn't appropriate.
- Oh, and almost winning the natty. I remember Ish on the team bus after the game making scissor motion with his fingers -- gonna cut down the nets...

/
 
gdamian

gdamian

Georgia Tech Fan
Messages
79
CuseJacket said:
Any other thoughts on your experience that weekend? Would be fun to relive through others.

Who else made the trip?
Click to expand...

I graduated from Tech in 84 with an MSME degree. I was only at Tech for 12 months (by the way I was on assistance and it did not cost me anything to get my degree... things have changed a lot). I got hooked on GT Basketball after my first game which was a triple overtime win over 8th ranked Wake Forrest.

In 2004, I was working for a software company in Denver and when we made the final four, I thought that this was an event not to be missed. I went by myself, but the only way for me to get there was to fly to Houston and drive over to San Antonio. The main problem was that I needed to be back in Denver on Tuesday morning.

I bought a ticket for a lot of MONEY for both Saturday and Monday. My ticket was right next to the OK State section. I had a great view of the final shot by Bynum and I went nuts right next to the OK State section. You literally could have seen the Monday night final game for free. OK State was the only school within driving distance of San Antonio and the OK State fans threw their Monday night tickets on the ground as they were leaving the stadium.

I went to the rally at the GT hotel either on Sunday or Monday. I don't remember which day, but I do remember that Jarred Jack was coming through the crowd and we made direct eye contact. I am short (5'5") and he did not seem that tall to me. That was a lot of fun.

I missed not being in the GT section on Saturday, so I bought another ticket to sit in the GT section for Monday night's game. What was really cool about that was Chan Gailey was sitting a couple of seats away from me and I did not need or want to talk with him, but I listened to the conversations he was having with other people. He was very happy for GT basketball and what this meant for Georgia Tech. The final game, of course, was very frustrating as it seemed shot after shot rolled off the rim. The game went late. I think it ended at almost midnight. The problem for me was that I had a 6:00 AM flight out of Houston, which is a four hour drive away. So I drove back to Houston after the game and caught about an hour of sleep and I was in the office in Denver by 9:00 am thanks to the one hour difference in time zones. No one in the office could believe I was there just 10 hours earlier.

Speaking of the office, I picked GT to win the tourney in the office pool. In fact, I picked both GT and UCON to be in the final. Even with that I was second in my pool because someone else picked UCON to win. I think I still won $100 for second place.

Last week I was in my storage unit picking up some towels. I found my 2004 Final Four towels and have been using them this week so these are all very nice memories for me.

Thanks for reading.
 
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