Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, March 9, 1991 TAG: 9103090222
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SCOTT BLANCHARD SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The Louisville-Memphis State basketball rivalry - at least to fans, alumni and team members of both schools - seemed destined for, say, one more fling at manic Mid-South Coliseum or frantic Freedom Hall.
But Friday at the Roanoke Civic Center, the Metro Conference's two pillars of basketball prosperity played what might be their final game.
That it was last-minute thriller seemed only appropriate. Louisville won, 72-70, when Cardinal LaBradford Smith's creamy-smooth over-the-shoulder layup topped Tiger Elliot Perry's electric-shock drive and finger-roll in the lane in the last minute.
Because Memphis State is leaving the Metro for the Great Midwest Conference next year and Louisville is upset at the move, the teams may not continue playing. There is a potential savior, however: television.
"If it's national TV, we're interested," Louisville athletic director Bill Olsen said. "National network TV's a sure thing."
A television industry source estimated the game might bring in from $50,000 to $100,000 per school in rights fees.
If the teams never play again, they have left college basketball with a storehouse of gripping footage, to which Perry and Smith's dueling drives no doubt will be added.
Louisville sports information director Kenny Klein, at the school for eight years, said his most memorable Louisville-Memphis State game was the 1986 regular-season finale that decided the league's champion.
In that one, Klein said, the Metro's top free-throw shooter, Memphis State's Andre Turner, missed a one-and-one with seven seconds left and the Tigers up by one.
A solemn Freedom Hall crowd, Klein said, erupted. Then, Louisville's Milt Wagner was fouled and cooly hit two free throws, giving Louisville the 70-69 victory.
Memphis State sports information director Bob Winn, a Roanoke native who has been at Memphis State since 1973, said fans voted the Tigers' 1982 victory over Louisville the best ever at Mid-South.
Klein remembered a 1972 Missouri Valley Conference playoff game in Nashville, to break a regular-season tie for conference champion. Louisville won, 83-72.
In that game, first-year coach Denny Crum's team beat a Tigers club led by guard Larry Finch - Memphis State's current coach, who on Friday was somewhat irritated at the questions about the series' future.
"Our program's going to continue whether we play them or not," Finch said. "It's not like we're destitute. There are other basketball teams around the country."
But few have the kinship of Memphis State and Louisville. They have played at least once a year every year since 1967-68.
Louisville has won nine of 15 regular-season Metro titles; Memphis State has won three. Friday's game gave Louisville a 15-14 edge in the past 29 games between the teams.
The future of the series remains uncertain. But next year, the schools welcome a motherlode of recruits such as Memphis State's Anfernee Hardaway and David Vaughn and Louisville's Dwayne Morton and Greg Minor.
Might make for an interesting game.
by CNB