Final Four teams faced crisis points during the regular season

The most diverse collection of Final Four coaches in recent memory includes a 68-year-old Hall of Famer who is older than two of the others combined; the recruiting aficionado with two previous Final Four berths stricken from record books because of NCAA violations; and two former Division III players leading mid-major programs on historic runs.

The one commonality among Connecticut’s Jim Calhoun, Kentucky’s John Calipari, Butler’s Brad Stevens and Virginia Commonwealth’s Shaka Smart is that they all confronted a crisis point during four uneven regular seasons. How they handled the adversity is a prime reason why they survived what has been the most topsy-turvy first two weeks of the NCAA tournament since the field expanded to 64 teams more than a quarter-century ago.

VCU was almost an NCAA tournament afterthought following a late-season slide and a fourth-place regular season finish in the Colonial Athletic Association. Butler’s midseason slump appeared to derail long-shot hopes to return to the Final Four. Connecticut faded to a ninth-place finish in the deep Big East. And Kentucky struggled to blend freshmen with veterans.

All four coaches exhibited a deft touch at pivotal times to steer their teams on course for the Final Four.

“I don’t care who you are coaching,” Calhoun said, “it is tough to get there.”

VCU

The Rams’ NCAA tournament hopes were slim when they closed February with four losses in five games. That’s when Smart, the team’s second-year coach, gathered his team at the Franklin Street Gym for a now-famous meeting. In front of his players, Smart pulled out a calendar — a big desk calendar — and took a lighter to the month of February, burning away a month that his team wanted to forget.

“We are done with February,” Smart announced. “It is over. We can’t go back.??%9