Remember when New Jersey's teams made the Final Four?
Any discussion about past NCAA Final Fours eventually include three men's Division I programs from New Jersey.
It just takes time.
So before we blow the dust off the Final Four history books, here's a primer on the Garden State's involvement in college basketball's biggest weekend: Princeton was eliminated in the 1965 national semifinals; Rutgers went down in the 1976 national semis, and Seton Hall lost the 1989 national championship game.
Ironically, Michigan eliminated all three Jersey schools:
Bradley led Princeton
Any discussion of Princeton basketball begins and ends with Bill Bradley, the greatest Tiger of all-time. Long before he studied at Oxford, played on two NBA-winning Knicks team, and was a U.S. senator from New Jersey, Bradley literally carried Princeton.
Bradley was captain of the USA's gold medal-winning team at 1964 Olympics in Tokyo. But that was just a warm-up to his senior year at Princeton in 1965.
Princeton was 19-5 overall and 13-1 in Ivy League play going into the NCAA tournament. The Tigers' most impressive tournament win was a 109-69 rout of fourth-ranked Providence in which Bradley scored 41 points.
The national semifinal matchup with Michigan was a rematch the Tigers had been dreaming of. After Bradley had fouled out with Princeton ahead by 12 points, Michigan rallied to win, 80-78, in the Holiday Festival at the old Madison Square Garden.
Princeton got its rematch in the national semis in Portland. But this time, Cazzie Russell and his Michigan friends kept things under control, beating Princeton, 93-76. Bradley scored 29 points before fouling out. Michigan lost to UCLA, 91-80, in the title game.
Bradley, however, had one more game to play. In those days, the Final Four held a third-place consolation game, and Wichita State was matched against the Tigers in Bradley's final collegiate game.
What a farewell. Bradley scored 58 points on 22-of-29 shooting and 14-of-15 free-throw shooting as Princeton rolled, 118-82.
After the game, referee Bob Korte told Bradley: "That's the greatest exhibition I ever saw. It was a pleasure to watch, and I wanted to thank you."
Bradley was named the most outstanding player, even though UCLA's Gail Goodrich scored 70 points in two games, topped by 42 in the championship game win over Michigan.
Almost perfect Rutgers
Almost everybody remembers that Indiana was undefeated heading into the 1976 Final Four in Philadelphia. But so was Rutgers.
In Tom Young's third season as RU coach, the Scarlet Knights came to Philly with a 31-0 record and ranked third in the country. The roster build-up began in the previous coaching regime of Dick Lloyd, when a 32-year-old high school coach from East Rutherford named Dick Vitale (yes, the one and only) had recruited Phil Sellers and Mike Dabney.
Young added the other starters, including point guard Eddie Jordan, who went on to play and coach in the NBA and eventually coach his alma mater.
It was still a 32-team field then, and Rutgers survived an opening-round scare against Princeton after Young froze Princeton's Pete Molloy with two timeouts, and Molloy responded by missing the front end of a 1-and-1. Rutgers held on, 54-53.
But in the national semifinal game, the Scarlet Knights couldn't stop the quickness of Michigan guard Ricky Green and the shooting of forward Phil Hubbard. The Wolverines had a 46-29 halftime lead on its way to an 86-70 victory.
After a 106-92 loss to UCLA in the third-place consolation game, Rutgers took a bus ride home with a lifetime's worth of memories.
Seton Hall's agony
Seton Hall had the best chance of winning a national title -- and the Pirates came oh so close.
Having beaten Indiana and Duke to reach the 1989 national championship game, the Pirates (31-7) were a solid Big East team that mixed its trademark defense with a lot more offense than others thought they had.
Coach P.J. Carlesimo molded a lineup that featured three top recruits from New York City, led by NBA first-round draft pick John Morton; center Ramon Ramos, who Carlesimo first saw as a raw 13-year-old in Ramos' native Puerto Rico; and Andrew Gaze, the long-range shooting star from Australia.
Michigan had a 10-point second-half lead before Morton led a comeback that forced overtime, much to the delight of the large Seton Hall contingent in Seattle's Superdome.
Then came the play that will forever be associated with Seton Hall's title quest: the Pirates were clinging to a one-point lead in the final five seconds of overtime when referee John Clougherty called a foul on Seton Hall's Gerald Greene, whom the ref said bumped Michigan guard Rumeal Robinson as he was dribbling in the foul lane. With three seconds remaining, Robinson, a 65 percent foul shooter, converted both shots for an 80-79 Michigan victory.
Carlesimo won praise within coaching and officiating circles for not criticizing Clougherty publicly. But Seton Hall fans weren't as forgiving. They booed him off the court and later on booed him and his son when they worked Pirates games.
In their eyes, a national championship had been taken away from them.