Iconic Seasons | Hardwood History | College Basketball
UMass vs. Georgetown 1996 Elite 8
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December 16, 2020 5:00am
36m
UMass - https://19nine.com/collections/university-of-massachusetts
Georgetown - https://19nine.com/collections/georgetown-university
Links
- https://youtu.be/RU-qVcG9yBY 1
- https://youtu.be/VQrzqSM2pss 2
- https://youtu.be/AJOuXDf44xc 3
- https://youtu.be/ycGyB0uq1oc 4
The '95-96 UMass Minutemen clued the nation in on their secret at the beginning of the season when they defeated #1 Kentucky 92-82 to start a run of 26 consecutive wins. The secret? John Calipari's squad was really, really good. So was Marcus Camby. The junior center poured in 32 points, grabbed 9 rebounds and blocked 5 shots. It would remain a theme as the season went on with Camby leading the Minutemen to a #1 ranking, a #1 seed in the East Region of the NCAA Tournament.
Once there the Minutemen survived a scare from Stanford to reach the Sweet 16 where they destroyed 12-seed Arkansas to set up an Elite 8 showdown with Allen Iverson and the 2-seed Georgetown Hoyas. As it turns out it was only a showdown on paper as UMass cruised to a 14 point win and a trip to the schools first Final Four.
Camby won several National Player of the Year awards for averaging 21ppg, 8rpg, and nearly 4 blocks before declaring for the NBA Draft where he was selected 2nd overall.
“He was the difference on the team. Marcus is the one that got us to that other level. If anybody turned this program around, it was Marcus.”
-Carmelo Travieso, Starting Guard
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