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MONTANANS IN MADNESS: Welcome to the most unique Big Dance ever Part IV

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Editor’s Note: what follows is the fourth installment of a five-part series that provides a first-hand account of a trip to Indianapolis for the 2021 NCAA men’s basketball tournament by Colter Nuanez and Riley Corcoran. The co-founder of Skyline Sports and the head of ESPN Missoula was accompanied by the Voice of the Griz to America’s heartland for the most unorthodox Big Dance of all time.

DAY 3 – A mile high, a mile deep

His name is Hussein. He came to America — Seattle first while “chasing a wild American woman” — from Somalia, a country on the horn of Africa that has been engulfed by Civil War since 1991.

Hussein had driven Uber cars for a few years while finishing his business degree at IUPUI in downtown Indy. After earning his degree, he has worked in outside sales at Home Depot.

Upon picking us up late after the mighty Texas Longhorns fell victim to this tournament’s latest upset, Hussein started talking a million miles a minute.

That would be the case for the rest of our trip. Because he lived by the Butler Campus — Hinkle Fieldhouse was one of the four arenas hosting games in a venue about 20 minutes from downtown Indy — Hussein offered to be our personal driver for the remainder of our trip.

And he came through, ensuring us an instant and affordable ride to and from our next eight attended games. That would come in handy, particularly later on this day.

He also provided insight into America from someone who did not grow up in this country. And that would prove to be perhaps the most memorable part of this journey.

We had plenty of fun during our experience playing around in the Quarterback Club suite at Lucas Oil Stadium, admiring the Colts’ Ring of Honor while drinking gin and tonics. We knew we had two more Montana connections to fulfill so we watched the first three upsets of this day from our vacation rental instead of venturing to an arena.

Hussein

Hussein arrived right on time to get us to Lucas Oil Stadium in time to watch one of the greatest coaches to come out of the Mining City. And the “Richest Hill on Earth” has produced as many great coaches as any city in the country.

From Sam Jankovich to Sonny Holland to Sonny Lubick and countless more, Butte, Montana has been a coaching cradle for almost a century. And perhaps the greatest basketball coach to ever grace the Mining City now leads the Houston Cougars.

Kelvin Sampson’s career began as a graduate assistant on Judd Heathcote’s staff, a position the former Montana skipper once offered to Robin Selvig. Instead, two years of learning under Heathcote helped lead Sampson to the Mining City.

The basketball court at the HPER Complex is named “Kelvin Sampson Court” and was constructed thanks in part to a $50,000 donation by the controversial head coach. Even when Sampson was admonished and exiled from college basketball by the NCAA following his highly publicized firing at Indiana, Montana Tech offered support.

Sampson was nearly expelled from college hoops after making hundreds of inadmissible phone calls at Oklahoma and then again at Indiana. His greatest punishment likely came after lying to NCAA officials during the investigation.

Thereafter, Sampson toiled in obscurity, spending four years as an assistant for the Milwaukee Bucks under head coach Scott Skiles and four more seasons on Kevin McHale’s staff with the Houston Rockets.

Former Montana Tech and current Houston head coach Kelvin Sampson/ contributed

“We’re not a big school, but we’re extremely loyal, and we’re not going to get caught up in that whole game,” Montana Tech athletic director Joe McClafferty said in February of 2008 following Sampson’s latest collegiate firing. “Our court will stay Kelvin Sampson Court. We still love the guy, and if he wants to come back and coach here, we’d sure take him.”

Following the expiration of the five-year “show cause” penalty, the Houston Cougars hired Sampson on April 2, 2014. Sampson was instrumental in Houston’s push to raise funds to build a $25 million practice facility in 2016 and a $60 million renovation to Hofheinz Pavilion (renamed the Fertitta Center) in 2018. Sampson led Houston to the NIT in his second and third seasons. The next year, Houston posted its first Top 25 finish and won its first NCAA tournament game since 1984 during the Phi Slama Jama days when Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler roamed the court for the Cougars.

Nearly 13 years after his disastrous end at Indiana , Sampson is back on his feet leading the Cougars, perhaps the most prominent non-Power 5 team in this tournament, just a few hours away from Bloomington, Indiana where it all went so wrong.

For the entire first half of his team’s second-round game against 10th-seeded Rutgers, Sampson was livid. Every time the coach had an outburst, scolding one of his players or berating his team as a whole for lack of execution, you could hear fans around the football arena making quips or shooting verbal darts, almost always referring to Sampson’s “cheating” past.

Montana freshman guard Robby Beasley III/ by Brooks Nuanez

During halftime of this city school showdown, the NCAA displays the top five players in each major statistical category from across the country in slide shows. The graphic for the nation’s leaders in free throw percentage included Montana true freshman Robby Beasley III after he shot 92.9 percent (65-of-70) from the charity stripe as a rookie.

In the second half, the tough coaching works. The Cougars turn the tables on the upstart Scarlet Knights, emerging with a 63-60 win as the late night games loom. The victory means Sampson is into the Sweet 16 for the fifth time in a career that started a mile high and a mile deep.

After watching Sampson’s big win, we needed Hussein and he delivered for the first, but not the last time. He was ready to race us up to the Butler campus to watch Tinkle at Hinkle against the potential future No. 1 NBA Draft pick.

Future top NBA draft pick Oklahoma State/ courtesy of OSU athletics

The ball tipped right as we walked through the front of Hinkle, a cathedral of college hoops that is widely considered one of the most iconic venues in the sport. Hell, “Hoosiers” was filmed here. And you can feel those spirits lingering in the rafters still today.

Our seats were as close as they could be — many of the bottom areas were roped off because of Covid-19 protocols — and we were directly across from the entire Tinkle clan. Joslyn, Tres, Ellie and Lisa all sat about a dozen rows above the Oregon State bench.

For the first half, it was hard to not become captivated with Cade Cunningham, a smooth 6-foot-7 freshman whose calm confidence almost makes it seem like the game comes TOO easy to him. And that charisma is one of the reasons the Oklahoma State star is projected to be the first overall pick in the next NBA Draft.

As compelling as Cunningham is, he pales in comparison to watching the Tinkles. From Wayne’s towering presence on the sideline — he’s 6-foot-10 and his silver hair makes him stand out even more than his unusual height — to the passionate outburst from his family, led by Wayne’s oldest daughter, Joslyn. The former Montana Gatorade Player of the Year out of Missoula Big Sky played in three Final Fours herself during her collegiate career at Stanford. 

And if you didn’t know better, you might’ve thought she had a job as a professional Oregon State fans the last handful of years, cheering on her brother during his outstanding career. That passion was still on display as Joslyn sat next to her brother instead of behind him in the stands while he played. Joslyn coached this OSU team, chastised the refs and cheered on the Beavers boisterously with a Sweet 16 bid on the line, all with the help of her siblings and mother as they rooted on a team on a historic run.

Oregon State found a way to contain Cunningham — the first-team All-America finished with 24 points — and continued riding one of the great hot streaks in March Madness history. Ethan Thompson poured in 26 points and Oregon State posted an 80-70 win over the fourth-seeded Cowboys.

Rumors swirled all February and into the spring that Tinkle was in his final weeks as the head coach of the Beavers unless they made a run. Some rumors even indicated that embattled former Wichita State head coach Gregg Marshall was already in place as Tinkle’s replacement as soon as he faltered. 

Instead, Tinks and the Beavers were into the Sweet 16 for the first time in 40 years. 

MONTANANS IN THE MADNESS

PART I : Welcome to the most unique Big Dance ever

PART II – TINKLE THE CINDERELLA MAN

PART III – JACKIE MOON & NAPOLEON DYNAMITE MEET THE NATION

PART IV – A MILE HIGH, A MILE DEEP

PART V – WEST COAST CONNECTION – July 5


About Colter Nuanez

Colter Nuanez is the co-founder and senior writer for Skyline Sports. After spending six years in the newspaper industry with stops at the Missoulian, the Ellensburg Daily Record and the Bozeman Daily Chronicle, the former Washington Newspaper Association Sportswriter of the Year and University of Montana Journalism School graduate ('09) has cultivated a deep passion for sports journalism during his 13-year career covering the Big Sky Conference. In August of 2014, Colter and brother Brooks merged their passions of writing and art to found Skyline Sports.

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