As he sits here today, at the age of 58, John Calipari has won a national title and been elected to the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame. So that improbable collapse in the championship game of the 2008 NCAA Tournament -- you remember "Chalmers for the tie," right? -- no longer haunts him the way it once did. Or, at least, it shouldn't.
Memphis fans still don't have their banner.
But Calipari has his.
It came four years after he lost to Kansas in overtime, three years after he left Memphis for Kentucky. Consequently, no matter what happens going forward, Calipari will not retire championship-less. He may never get two. But he'll forever have at least one. Which must be a relief on some level. And yet Calipari still can't watch the tape from that 2008 title game.
"I have never looked at that tape," Calipari once said. "Nor will I."
To be clear, this approach is not unique to Calipari. I've spoken with several coaches over the years who have never re-watched high-stakes games that slipped away in the closing minutes. They have no interest in reliving that moment and playing what-if while staring at a 70-inch flat screen. They'd rather throw it in the rearview mirror forever and let that memory fade. I'm not sure that choice provides closure. But it is one way to avoid upsetting visuals.
Which brings me to Mark Few.
The Gonzaga coach is not like those coaches.
Yes, he still thinks his team was good enough to win the 2017 NCAA Tournament, still believes if you make it 65-65 with 1:40 remaining again -- that's what the Gonzaga-North Carolina situation was, by the way -- and let them play it out, his team would win as many times as it lost. So it admittedly sucks for Few to think about how those final 100 seconds on the first Monday in April -- that Monday was exactly three months ago today, by the way -- played out and resulted in a 71-65 loss that doubled as Roy Williams' third national title. Why didn't the officials notice that Kennedy Meeks was out of bounds, he wonders. Why? Why? Why?
But Mark Few still wants to watch the title game.
So about a month ago, on a random night, a day before he and his family were set to leave for vacation, he decided to watch it. The entire Final Four, in fact. First the win over South Carolina in the national semifinals. Then the loss to North Carolina.
"There was nothing going on. I had a couple of beers. So I'm like, 'I think I'm going to watch those games,'" Few said. "So I go to pull them up on the DVR and Marcy, my wife, has ... deleted everything. My daughter has 47 episodes of a Disney show on there. One of my sons is totally addicted to Modern Family. So there are 57 Modern Family episodes on the DVR. And Seinfeld. The Voice. Everything. And I'm like, 'You deleted my greatest professional achievement, after 30 years in the business, my greatest professional moment for 47 Disney episodes? What were you thinking?' It was a total WTF moment."
Understand, Few is telling this story while laughing.
He's rarely as angry as most of us get daily.
But he was still "flabbergasted," he said.
"Marcy and I never get into fights, never argue," Few added. "But I've never been as pissed. Gone. Everything. The South Carolina game. The North Carolina game. The win over Xavier [in the Elite Eight] — the game the Zags won to go to their first Final Four. All gone. I just wanted to see the looks on my guys' faces. But it's all gone."
So you've still never seen any of it, I asked?
"No!," Few answered. "And it's not looking good that I ever will."
Thus, for now at least, Few is reduced to relying on his memory of those three weeks that saw Gonzaga do what so many insisted Gonzaga would never do: advance to a Final Four. And you should know he remembers them fondly. Those questionable fouls on Zach Collins in the title game, not so much. But, in general, Few remembers the run fondly and has chosen to focus on the big picture rather than the final 100 seconds of the season.
Gonzaga finished 37-2.
The Zags made the freakin' Final Four.
Roughly 75 ex-players flew to Phoenix for the festivities.
"We took everybody's advice and enjoyed the hell out of that whole ride," Few said. "We had a blast."
And now?
"And now I just need to get a passcode on my DVR," Few said.