COSTAS 1987 FINAL FOUR RADIO SHOW

I attended the 1987 NCAA Final Four Men's Basketball Tournament held that year in New Orleans. The final four teams that year were Providence, UNLV, Syracuse, and Indiana. The crowd at the New Orleans Superdome was the largest crowd ever to see a men's college basketball game at the time and I think that record may still stand. Indiana University coached by the legend Bob Knight won the national championship on a last second shot by Keith Smart over the Syracuse Orange. If only Syracuse could have made some free throws that game the result could have been different. I remember Syracuse had Derrick Coleman on that team who later played in the NBA.

There are a lot of events that go on at a Final Four Tournament. I attended a lot of pep rallies, parades, etc. There was a lot of media coverage from television and radio reporters throughout the tournament. I remember being in a room with ESPN personality Dick Vitale and he a discussion group session talking about the tournament. Dick was introducing and interviewing David "The Admiral" Robinson, a college basketball center from Navy. Later after this session was over Dick Vitale, my friend John Polak, and I were walking down the hallway together talking about basketball.

John and I also attended a Bob Costas live radio show in the Superdome with about thirty other people. What was interesting to me was that Bob was seated at a small desk and John and I were literally three feet away to his right. Bob Costas then proceeded to interview a series of college basketball coaches such as Dale Brown of Lousianna State University, Joey Meyer from Depaul University, and Gene Keady from Purdue University.

Yes, we were "up close and personal" at that radio show. Later in the show Bob Costas asked the audience,"Who is going to win the National Championship?" We yelled out,"SYRACUSE !!!". Bob was surprised by the choice and loud response. Myself being a UCONN graduate and John from Georgetown, both Big East Conference schools along with Syracuse; we wanted our conference to win.