“You think of the little boy you saw down on the floor praying, or putting up posters of Allen Iverson and Kobe Bryant in his room or waking up at 6 a.m. to take 1,500 shots,” Lucas said Thursday.
And what about the jumper that John Lucas III hit with 6.9 seconds left to beat Saint Joseph’s? What was dad feeling when his son squared up to take the biggest shot of the NCAA Tournament?
“Oh, it happened too quickly,” former NBA star Lucas said, laughing. “I didn’t have time to think.”
Their giant hug behind the bench at the Meadowlands after Oklahoma State’s 64-62 win Saturday night became the most touching moment in a tourney full of famous father-and-son combos.
For Cowboys coach Eddie Sutton, keeping an eye on his son during this Final Four is even easier. Sean Sutton is one of his assistants.
“Sean has been with me ever since he was a 4-year-old and heard those halftime, pregame, postgame talks at Arkansas,” said the elder Sutton, preparing for Saturday’s semifinal against Georgia Tech. “He sat on the end of the bench.”
Too bad for Darryl Strawberry and Ernie Grunfeld; their kids came up short of the Alamodome.
D.J. Strawberry, son of a former All-Star slugger, missed a pair of short shots in the final seconds for Maryland in a 72-70 loss to defending champion Syracuse in the second round.
Dan Grunfeld, son of a former NBA player and general manager, missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer as top-seeded Stanford was upset by Alabama 70-67 in the second round.
