The ultimate One Shining Moment, for all the years | NCAA.com
Dick Vitale Reveals He’s Cancer-Free Just In Time For March Madness (brobible.com)
Dick Vitale, recovering from cancer, signature voice is coming back (usatoday.com)
@USA TODAY
LAKEWOOD RANCH, Fla. — Dick Vitale stares at the TV wide-eyed, resting his lower
back on the couch to relieve soreness from a Neupogen shot that’s meant to offset knifing pain from his second-to-last round of chemotherapy. His living room has windows that overlook a golf course in the backyard and opens up to an office that could pass as a sports museum from a Hall of Fame broadcasting career. Hallways are decorated with pictures of his five grandchildren and family vacations. Vitale’s wife of 50 years, Lorraine, scurries around the home to help pass out desert after dinner.
“Coach K needs a timeout, he needs a T.O., baby,” a raspy Vitale says as Texas Tech scores against Duke in Thursday’s Sweet 16 game the Blue Devils go on to win. Seconds later, an errant pass leads to a Duke turnover. Texas Tech responds with a dunk that prompts Mike Krzyzewski – Vitale’s longtime friend – to call timeout. “Mike was one play too late.
Duke’s momentum was screwed after that last play,” he says.
NOBODY LIKE VITALE: Broadcaster’s fight against childhood cancer continues
At his southern Florida home, Vitale can’t shut off his play-calling despite sitting out March Madness. He’s in the recovery stages of a seven-month cancer fight, cleared to use his signature voice just a week earlier after a “fricken brutal” several months of resting his vocal cords and communicating only via text or with a dry-erase white board. Lorraine, became emotional recounting her husband’s journey, has watched his spirits skyrocket since regaining his voice.
“Having him quiet and unable to express himself, that was hard to watch. It was almost harder than the lymphoma (diagnosis),” she says. “For three months, I felt trapped.
I was sobbing when I got my voice back,” Vitale tells USA TODAY Sports, his speech less animated and throat still tender from vocal cord surgery. “I love talking with people more than anything in life. And if I can’t communicate, I become so depressed.”
‘Cancer. Cancer. Cancer.’
Lorraine or Vitale’s “secretary” as he calls her, reads her husband’s chicken-scratch handwriting at night after NCAA Tournament games, then writes it on a jumbo dry-erase board for him to read the next day in four video segments breaking down the games. She shoots the videos herself before sending them to ESPN. “It keeps me occupied, keeps me away from thinking about cancer,” Vitale says. “It hasn’t been easy.
‘Cancer. Cancer. Cancer. Can he beat cancer?’ “
Even with those video breakdowns, something’s still missing this March in the relationship between one man and millions of college basketball fans. He’s unable to call the Final Four for ESPN International while resting his voice. Vitale, 82, says listening to Steven Zeitels, the doctor who “saved my voice” (and singer Adele’s vocal surgeon), hasn’t been easy. “I miss being on air so badly,” Vitale says. “When that red light goes on and we’re live, I’m talking to my friends. America, baby.”
Vitale has been talking to his friends in their living rooms for 43 years as the voice of college basketball, and if he’s healthy, plans to call games next season.
‘(Expletive), it’s over!’
“Stick a fork in ‘em, they’re done,” Vitale says, watching No. 4 Arkansas upset overall
No. 1 seed Gonzaga. “That’s what Jimmy (Valvano) used to say when a game was over.”
Vitale’s son-in-law, Thomas Krug, counters during a dinnertime debate, noting how much time is left in the game. “(Expletive), it’s over!” Vitale quips. “They’re about to have a party in Fayetteville tonight.”
Guess who was right?
Vitale’s family members, rallying behind him during his battle with cancer,
don’t know him any other way than to have his bulldozing passion dominate the room. “What you see with my dad on TV isn’t all that different from who he is at home. He’s actually more passionate at home. There’s nothing censored about him,” says his daughter Terri, who has traveled to Boston for all of his cancer treatments.
“What it is: My Dad loves people and engaging with them.
“Growing up, my dad had always been this larger-than-life figure. I’ve definitely
been seeing him in a very vulnerable state with cancer.” Vitale has been sharing that vulnerability with the world – most notably, his 941,000-plus Twitter followers. Cancer and its treatments have caused unbearable bone and muscle pain, insomnia and worst of all, fear of time running out.
His engagement with fans isn’t just college basketball analysis.
It’s about his matchup with the disease. He’s shared updates before and after big procedures, had Lorraine shoot video of him interacting with doctors and nurses, and displayed his raw emotions fighting the illness. “This is for those that are in my club of CANCER PATIENTS fighting the journey to beat this disease,” Vitale tweets last week.
“Yes, the scans, bloodwork, blood counts. chemo treatments.
NEUPOGEN shots that cause intense pain wear on us but Remember as my buddy
Jimmy V said, “Don’t Give Up – DON’T EVER GIVE UP.” He tweets March 8, shortly before finding he’s in remission: “Just finished PET SCAN. Now the anxiety is waiting
for Dr. (Rick) Brown to call with results. ALL cancer patients know that feeling. It is NERVOUS TIME (hoping) for some good news .Really appreciate all the (support) & (love) from so many of you .”
“When we first came to the hospital, they tried to give him an alias to respect his privacy,” Lorraine says. “We all laughed because sure enough, he was putting everything on social media.” Terri adds: “At first it was like, ‘whoa he’s really sharing this.’ He does that to inspire people who are going through what he’s going through.
I would argue that cancer made my dad’s spirit even stronger.”
The real Cinderella story
Every morning, Vitale prays to St. Jude (the patron saint of lost causes) near a photo
of his late mother and father, Mae and John. He says his emotional availability came
from their love and he still hears their voices guiding him, telling “Richie” to never
give up chasing his dreams and lifting him up when he was bullied as a child because
of a drifting left eye.
Vitale injured his eye in an accident as a toddler before having corrective surgery as an adult.
Perhaps it’s that confident persistence he got from his parents that helped Vitale win
his own “Cinderella story,” wooing his wife, Lorraine. During a recent dinner at an Italian restaurant in Sarasota, Lorraine recalls how Dick pursued her “at least five times” before she finally danced with him.
“We’ve been dancing ever since,” he says, grabbing her face for a kiss.
“And you’re still just as beautiful.”
“But we’re like the odd couple,” she says. “We both like different things.”
They find common ground with a love of concerts – and have an album full of pictures with everyone from Kenny Chesney to Bruce Springsteen to Drake. “I’d be nothing without Lorraine in this cancer battle,” Vitale says. “Nothing.”
‘John Calipari is sitting on the couch’
Growing up, Terri says she hardly knew her father was a celebrity until he needed
bodyguards at a Final Four in the 1990s – when Dickie V had a bevy of commercials on TV. His lifestyle is still hardly normal. People in the Sarasota area ask for photos when he’s out to eat – and he’ll “never turn anyone away.” He’ll get a daily prayer message from Tennessee coach Rick Barnes in the morning. He’ll receive a text from John and Patrick McEnroe in the middle of the day. He’ll have a missed call from legendary coach and friend Bob Knight in the evening.
And he’ll moonlight as a heroic grandfather, getting his granddaughters a chance to meet Taylor Swift at a concert. “Sometimes I’ll walk in and John Calipari is sitting on the couch,” Terri says. “Nothing surprises me anymore.
“But it felt so normal growing up because he’d call me at college and care as much about a chemistry test or my opponent in a tennis match as he did any of the four games he was calling that week.”
Not much has changed.
Speaking to daughter Sherri about his granddaughter Ava’s tennis match against
a top-seeded opponent, Vitale shares a timely bit of advice. “If Saint Peter’s can win
as a No. 15 seed, she damn sure can win against that girl. You tell her that,” Vitale says.
Lorraine argues that her husband has hardly changed with his spirit since she met him. She says that fame hasn’t gotten to him and has only accentuated what’s always been on display for her. “He was making flyers to get people to come watch his kids play as a coach in the 1960s and 1970s,” she says.
“Now, he’s doing the same thing with his (annual pediatric cancer) gala
sending things out in the mail.” “My Dad sees through a different (lens).
He’s always grateful,” Terri says. “What I’ve learned from his cancer battle is that life is
all about perspective. When we found out he had lymphoma instead of (more deadly) bile duct cancer back in the fall, we literally went out to celebrate.” Vitale’s positive reframing is relentless, saying he’s won his own national championship by becoming cancer-free this March.
“Cancer just got it’s ass kicked,” Vitale says. “They couldn’t take my man, Dickie V. …
I’m 82 years old. My life is in the last quarter, the last four minutes, hoping to have a great finish.” Driving near his grandchildren’s high school, he takes a moment to reflect about his family – grateful his daughters and grandchildren live nearby.
“If I die tomorrow, it’s amazing what a life I’ve lived. I’m truly blessed,” Vitale says.
“My life’s exceeded any dream I’ve ever had.”
Dick Vitale on Twitter: “This is for those that are in my club of CANCER PATIENTS fighting the journey to beat this disease. Yes the scans, bloodwork, blood counts .chemo treatments, NEUPOGEN shots that cause intense pain wear on us but Remember as my buddy Jimmy V said “Don’t Give Up – DON’T EVER GIVE UP” https://t.co/OxjkDAfSoy” / Twitter
‘Cancer just got their ass kicked’: After being silenced, Dick Vitale’s signature voice is back.
Fuda cancer hospital Guangzhou, China – Search.
Geno Auriemma. AP Photo/Frank Franklin II
Much Like Dick Vitale: UConn’s Season Has Been A Fight As Well
Geno-Auriemma-cries-uconn-wins-double-ot-thriller- – Bing images
Luigi “Geno” Auriemma (born March 23, 1954) is an Italian-born American college basketball coach and, since 1985, the head coach of the University of Connecticut Huskies women’s basketball team. As of 2021, he has led UConn to 17 undefeated conference seasons (including eight consecutive), of which six were undefeated overall seasons, with 11 NCAA Division I national championships, the most in women’s college basketball history, and has won eight national Naismith College Coach of the Year awards.[2] Auriemma was the head coach of the United States women’s national basketball team from 2009 through 2016, during which time his teams won the 2010 and
2014 World Championships, and gold medals at the 2012 and 2016 Summer Olympics, going undefeated in all four tournaments.[6] Auriemma was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in 2006. Read More: Geno Auriemma – Wikipedia
Entering his 37th season in 2021-22, Geno Auriemma has redefined the meaning of success as head coach of the University of Connecticut women’s basketball program. During his illustrious tenure, Auriemma has transformed the Huskies into an unmatched program of excellence.
The UConn Huskies women’s basketball team is always a threat to win the national title and is considered the gold standard in the sport. UConn has consistently found a way to be successful, which has been the most impressive part of this extended championship run.
The Huskies have 11 national titles, all coming since 1995. That was when the program won its first championship. The last few seasons have been a disappointment for UConn though, as the team hasn’t won a championship since 2016. That speaks not only to parity in recruiting but the overall investment in women’s basketball across the country.
The Huskies are still a Final Four regular, with appearances every season since 2008 except for 2020 when March Madness was canceled due to COVID-19. Geno Auriemma teared up after UConn survived a double-OT thriller to advance to its 14th-straight Final Four!
In this UConn vs NC State postgame news conference,
UConn head coach Geno Auriemma called it, “One of the best games I’ve ever been a part of since I’ve been at UConn.” Auriemma saluted both teams, and that this was a great showcase for what women’s basketball can be. He didn’t know Paige Bueckers would return to form in time to make an impact but saw his star guard carry the team to another Final Four. He expressed sadness at the injury suffered by Dorka Juhasz, and acknowledged his team was shaken. He said Juhasz had a tremendous impact on the game prior to her injury.
Geno Auriemma was overcome with emotion after UConn’s double-OT Elite Eight victory. The Huskies head coach cried while speaking with ESPN’s Holly Rowe after the win over NC State.
Geno Auriemma and his UConn Huskies are headed to their 14th straight Final Four.
And after his team survived a double-overtime Elite Eight thriller against the top-seeded NC State Wolfpack, following a season filled with injuries and uncharacteristic losses, the Hall of Fame head coach couldn’t help but break down and cry.
In his on-court interview with ESPN’s Holly Rowe, Auriemma wiped away his tears,
shook his head in disbelief and explained that “it’s just been that kind of a year.” Geno Auriemma teared up after UConn survived a double-OT thriller to advance to its 14th-straight Final Four
Auriemma (right) looks at UConn Huskies point guard Paige Bueckers.
AP Photo/Jessica Hill
“When you’re younger you think, ‘I got a million of these left in me,'” he said.
“You get to a certain age, then, when you go, ‘I don’t know how many of these I have left.’ You don’t know how many opportunities you’re gonna get to be in this game.” “It means more,” Auriemma added. “It means more because each time you do it, there’s a new set of kids that have never been there, and they came to Connecticut for a chance to play in a Final Four.
And it’s just this overwhelming responsibility that you have to get them a chance.
And we did. We did.” And they did in spectacular fashion. Despite missing 19 games during the regular season due to an injury and having yet to return to full strength,
UConn superstar Paige Bueckers exploded for 27 points on 10-of-15 shooting from the floor to carry her Huskies to victory.
Bueckers. AP Photo/Jessica Hill
The sophomore point guard netted 23 of those game-high 27 points after
halftime, with a whopping 15 coming over the two five-minute overtime periods.
“Thank God Paige [Bueckers] came back,” Auriemma said. “She just gives everybody so much confidence and then everybody just … took turns making plays.” Though UConn looked to be pulling away in the first half, NC State closed the gap with a massive third quarter run and forced overtime after a neck-and-neck final stretch of regulation.
Once again, when the Huskies looked to have victory in hand as the clock wound down in the first overtime period, Wolfpack star Jakia Brown-Turner drained a last-second three-pointer from the corner to buy an extra five minutes for Wes Moore’s squad. Geno Auriemma teared up after UConn survived a double-OT thriller to advance to its 14th-straight Final Four!
NC State’s Jakia Brown-Turner drains a three to send the game to double overtime.
David Butler II-USA TODAY Sports
UConn closed it out from there, with senior guard Christyn Williams making two
layups in the final 20 seconds to ice the game. She finished with 21 points on the night, and freshman Azzi Fudd added 19. “It was just an amazing basketball game,” Auriemma said. “It really was a great showcase for our sport.” “Like I told Wes [Moore] after the game — I wish we both could go,” he added. “They probably won the game in regulation.
We had it won twice, and they just — they made us work for it.” Geno Auriemma teared
up after UConn survived a double-OT thriller to advance to its 14th-straight Final Four. Players from both teams battle for a rebound during double overtime.
David Butler II-USA TODAY Sports. Auriemma and company will now head to the Final Four in Minneapolis, Minn., to face the reigning-champion Stanford Cardinal in the national semifinal. Should the Huskies win, they’ll advance to their first championship game since winning the title in 2016.
Check out the full video of Auriemma’s emotional postgame interview with Rowe below:
“Geno gets emotional describing this thrilling finish! #MarchMadness x @UConnWBB https://t.co/ltyDeBa2CI” / Twitter Geno Auriemma Cries After UConn Wins Double-OT Thriller in Elite Eight (insider.com)
UConn advances to 14th straight Final Four in 2OT classic vs. NC State.
By Cassandra Negley·
Connecticut is on to its 14th consecutive Final Four after a double-overtime thriller.
The No. 2-seeded Huskies downed No. 1 seed NC State, 91-87, in what was essentially a home game in the Bridgeport region on Monday.
It was the first double-overtime game in the Elite Eight or later in women’s tournament history. Paige Bueckers came up clutch in the first overtime period and hit the opening
3-pointer 20 seconds into the second OT to put the Huskies up 80-77.
UConn led by as many as five, the largest lead of either overtime period, but it still came down to the final few possessions.
Up two, UConn (29-5) inbounded the ball with 10 seconds left, though it was close
to a five-second call. Senior Christyn Williams laid in an easy bucket to clinch the win.
She scored UConn’s final five points to close out with 21 and five rebounds.
“It just signifies what we’ve been through all year,” Bueckers said on the ESPN broadcast. “A whole bunch of adversity, highs and lows, ups and downs. We stayed composed and we stayed together. I just love my team.” Bueckers got hot in a clutch first overtime period to score a game-high 27 points on efficient 10-of-15 shooting.
She was 6-of-7 from the free-throw line — critical seeing as the team was 12-of-20 —
with six rebounds. The reigning national player of the year for a few more days,
Bueckers looked her best self after a knee surgery that kept her out of 19 games.
“Thank God Paige came back,” UConn head coach Geno Auriemma said on the broadcast.
“She just gives everybody so much confidence. And then everybody just kind of played — everybody took turns making plays. “It was just an amazing basketball game. It was a great showcase for our sport.” Bueckers noted on the broadcast it was “win or go home” two days ago, but even with a win she’s going home to Minnesota. Two more wins nets her first national championship. The Huskies will face No. 1 seed and Spokane winner Stanford when the Final Four tips off in Minneapolis on Friday.
BRIDGEPORT, CONNECTICUT – MARCH 28:
The UConn Huskies pose for photos with the regional championship trophy
after defeating the NC State Wolfpack 91-87 in 2 OT in the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament Elite 8 Round at Total Mortgage Arena on March 28, 2022, in Bridgeport, Connecticut. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
UConn leads early, NC State charges back:
The Wolfpack trailed by as many as 10 points in the first half, a not-unusual situation
for the slow-starting squad, while missing easy buckets. Senior center Elissa Cunane was 2-of-6 for five points but came alive on an and-1 at 8:29 of the third that brought them within one, 34-33. NC State had a chance to tie it at 40 with three minutes left in the quarter, but missed easy shots came to haunt them again following a block on the other end.
The top seed finally took the lead 35 seconds into the fourth quarter on a Jada Boyd layup assisted by Raina Perez. Diamond Johnson hit a 3-pointer on another assist by Perez that finished off a 12-2 run to put NC State up four. It was a back-and-forth duel for the final eight minutes.
It came down to which team could make the pivotal stop. In a way, it was NC State but also UConn that stopped itself. After a missed basket by Diamond Johnson, UConn committed a shot clock violation out of the timeout. Cunane tied the game at 1:03 and NC State had the final say after two missed free throws. But Johnson was triple-teamed and could only get it to Kai Crutchfield, who was forced to take a late and deep 3-point attempt in a bad look.
NC State forces 2OT with Bueckers scoring 10 of UConn’s 16 points in the first overtime. Aaliyah Edwards gave UConn the largest lead of the frame with a lay-in off a pass from Azzi Fudd that made it 73-70 with 49 seconds left. Kayla Jones answered for NC State with contact on the basket, but there was no foul call.
Fudd hit two free throws to push the lead back to three and Crutchfield was fouled
on a 3-point attempt but made only two free throws to miss out on tying the game again.
UConn kept it in the hands of Fudd and Bueckers to kill clock and put good free-throw shooters at the line for any foul. Bueckers made both of her free throws again, but with six seconds still on the clock NC State coach Wes Moore was able to set up the play he wanted. And he did. Jakia Brown-Turner drilled the corner 3-pointer off a cross-court pass from Perez with a second left to force the second overtime.
Brown-Turner led NC State with 20 points, eight rebounds and five assists.
Perez had 10 assists but was 1-of-8 overall with a 3-pointer as her only points. Cunane scored 18 points shooting 8-of-13 with nine rebounds. The starters combined for seven blocks, but the 14 turnovers to UConn’s eight were problematic in the first half.
Paige Bueckers of the Connecticut Huskies cheers on her team during the
game against the Louisville Cardinals in the Basketball Hall of Fame Women’s
Showcase at Mohegan Sun Arena on December 19, 2021, in Uncasville, Conn.
Photo by G Fiume/Getty Images
Dorka Juhász Injury.
Connecticut’s season of injuries continued into the tournament.
The Huskies came into the Elite Eight having used 11 different starting lineups since eight different players missed at least two games. Bueckers returned a month ago from leg surgery she underwent in December. Dorka Juhász was fouled on an offensive rebound and fell under the basket screaming in pain midway through the fourth quarter. The first replay was unclear, but another angle gruesomely showed Juhász injure her left wrist when she fell on it.
The graduate student, who transferred from Ohio State, immediately left for the locker room with an ice pack on her wrist and did not return to the game.
She was seen on the bench with her wrist heavily wrapped in the third quarter.
“If we see one of our sisters go down, we’re gonna do it for her,” Bueckers said on the broadcast. “We all love each other. We’re all so close.”
The two-time first-team All-Big Ten player averaged 7.5 points and 5.8 rebounds in 20.4 minutes per game for UConn, mostly off the bench. She had come in when Nelson-Ododa drew her second foul to begin the second quarter. The Huskies’ depth became dicey in the second half when bigs Edwards and Nelson-Ododa drew their third fouls at the 8:29 and 5:34 marks, respectively. Then Overcame it all when Edwards fouled out in the second overtime.
Geno Auriemma teared up after UConn survived a double-OT thriller to advance to its 14th-straight Final Four (vnexplorer.net)
UConn advances to record 14th straight Final Four with victory over NC State
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UConn reaches 14th straight Final Four, tops NC State in 2OT (timesunion.com)
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