Close, but no cigar
The legacy of the Ralph Sampson years at the University of Virginia is that of the unfulfilled promise.
Long-time coach Terry Holland had said it out loud after Sampson signed - I think the national championship is within our reach.
But despite 122 wins and three Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season titles in Sampson's four years on Grounds, the Cavs brought home just one trophy - from the 1980 NIT. No ACC tournament championship banners were added to the one commemorating the improbable 1976 run, and the closest the program got to that national title that Holland had said was within reach was an appearance in the 1981 national semifinals.
"They just had unfortunate things happen at the end of each season. The big guys were a little bit green in Lamp's and Raker's final year, and then Al Wood had a phenomenal game against them in the Final Four. The next year, Othell Wilson got hurt at the end. The next year, it was N.C. State and their magical run. It was always something," long-suffering Virginia fan Bob Moje told me in an interview for Mad About U: Four Decades of Basketball at University Hall, which is on sale now.
There was the memorable upset loss in Hawaii at Chaminade in 1982 - still regarded by many as the biggest single-game upset in sports history. And the equally memorable win two weeks earlier over a Patrick Ewing-led Georgetown team that was followed days later by a victory over a Hakeem Olajuwon-led Houston team. And the aforementioned 28-game winning streak that ended on national TV in a game against giant-killer Notre Dame.
In a lot of ways, it was the best of times and the worst of times for University of Virginia basketball fans - who were thisclose to greatness and yet might as well have been a million miles away.
"They were so good that it's kind of amazing that they never won a national championship in that period - because they clearly were the best team in the country," Moje said.
Pre-orders for Mad About U are being taken now. The book will be in bookstores on Oct. 5.
- Chris Graham