Greg Hansen: Whether sacred or sour, Sweet 16 often makes time stand still for Cats fans

The Sweet 16 didn’t exist when Clemson won its only Sweet 16 in history at, of all places, McKale Center. Does that make any sense?

For four days in March 1980, the Tigers played and practiced in Tucson in the lead-up to their third-round NCAA Tournament victory over Lamar — yes, Lamar — and their follow-up Final Four-on-the-line elimination loss to UCLA.

Daily coverage of Clemson’s appearances by the Daily Star and Tucson Citizen did not include a single use of “Sweet 16’’ or even “March Madness.’’ There wasn’t a syllable of today’s two most treasured titles in American sports.

At the time, Sweet Sixteen referred to a teenage girl’s birthday, not a basketball game.

Why were we so tardy in activating those two cherished phrases?

“Sweet 16’’ wasn’t made popular until the NCAA expanded the tournament field from 48 to 64 teams in 1985, a piece of mathematical magic that made being one of 16 survivors a coveted mark of success accompanied by great anticipation.

Until then, the only sports-related mention of “Sweet 16’’ in the Daily Star was at the 1984 Seiko Tucson Match Play golf championships in 1984, citing the survival of golf icons Tom Watson and Ben Crenshaw in a field reduced from 64 to 16.

Use of “March Madness’’ didn’t get regular network or media use until CBS’ Brent Musburger did so in 1982 broadcasts. Until then, Americans blandly referred to the NCAA Tournament’s week-by-week schedules as “first round, second round, third round. ….’’

Our creative genius was in slow motion.

Now there are no sports phrases in America more popular than Sweet 16 and March Madness.

It makes Clemson’s only Sweet 16 victory seem so ancient. And, in a way, it was. The Tigers beat Lamar before a thin crowd of 7,680 at McKale on a relatively quiet Thursday night when there was no TV broadcast of the game. The only way to follow the score locally was to listen to KFBR radio, 1340-AM, in Nogales.

Good luck with that.

But before totally defining Tucson and America’s creative basketball IQ of the ’80s as old-fashioned, you should know this: the term “March Madness’’ was created in 1939 by Illinois High School Sports Association poet/executive Henry H.V. Porter, who has a strong link to Tucson.

Porter was Tucsonan Patty Busch’s grandmother’s brother. Patty Busch is the wife of the UA’s two-time NCAA champion swimming coach Frank Busch, mother of Arizona swimming coach Augie Busch.

So maybe there’s some cosmic Tucson connection to March Madness, and to the Arizona-Clemson Sweet 16 game Thursday in Los Angeles.

Let’s just say this isn’t Clemson-Lamar at McKale Center in 1980, a game played in a virtual media blackout. This is the 21st-century’s version of the Sweet 16, live on national TV, played at the NBA-blessed Crypto.com Arena in downtown Los Angeles, authentic March Madness, a term so historically popular that Henry Porter was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 1962.

It has gone far beyond a golf tournament at Randolph North.

It has become an elevated event — similar to one of golf’s “majors’’ — with as many as five million Americans expected to watch the Arizona-Clemson game. In Tucson, Sweet 16s long ago became stop-the-world-I’m-getting-off-for-two-hours viewing.

Except for parts of North Carolina, Kentucky, Michigan and Kansas, our isolated Southern Arizona frontier has become Sweet 16 Central for the past 36 years. Arizona has played in 18 Sweet 16s in that time, and the memories — jubilation and tear-jerkers — live on..

Eight of those sweat-producing Sweet 16s were decided in the final minute, with every conceivable outcome, sweet and sour. Let’s review those sacred Sweet 16s:

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1988: No. 1 seed Arizona led Lute Olson’s old school, Iowa, by just four at halftime in Seattle. But the Wildcats shot 57% in the second half and won 99-79 behind Sean Elliott’s 25 points.

1989: In what many consider the most crushing loss in UA basketball history, UNLV’s Anderson Hunt swished a 3-pointer with 2.2 seconds remaining to end No. 1 Arizona’s dream of a national title. Rebel coach Jerry Tarkanian, a villain of villains, chortled. “I sent Luther home.’’

1991: The No. 2 seed Wildcats lost 81-77 to Seton Hall in Seattle, when a last-minute corner 3-pointer from Matt Othick bounced off the rim.

1994: The Wildcats beat No. 3-seeded Louisville with ease 82-70 in the ancient LA Sports Arena as Khalid Reeves scored 29 points.

1996: Michael Dickerson’s last-second 3-pointer to force overtime clunked off the rim, and No. 2 seed Kansas survived 83-80 in Denver.

1997: In perhaps the most impactful win in school history, Arizona eliminated No. 1-ranked Kansas 85-82 in Birmingham, Ala. This time, it was KU’s last-second 3 attempt by Raef LaFrentz that bounced off the rim. Joy reigned.

1998: No. 1 seed Arizona had a stress-free 87-79 victory over No. 4 seed Maryland as Mike Bibby scored 25 points in Anaheim.

2001: Richard Jefferson’s 17-point, 11-rebound double-double kept Arizona comfortably ahead of No. 3 seed Ole Miss in a 66-56 win in San Antonio.

2002: No. 3 seed Arizona was overmatched by No. 2 seed Oklahoma, losing 88-67 in San Jose. OU guard Hollis Price scored 26 points.

2003: The top-seeded Wildcats took a 26-point lead over No. 5 seed Notre Dame before winning 88-71 in Anaheim.

2005: It took one of the most joyful shots in UA history — a bucket by Salim Stoudamire with 2.3 seconds remaining — to survive a tense 79-78 triumph over third-seeded Oklahoma State in Chicago.

2009: No contest. No. 1 seed Louisville chopped up interim head coach Russ Pennell’s 12th-seeded Wildcats 103-64 on a night in Indianapolis that most attention was on Louisville coach Rick Pitino, rumored to be in line to be Arizona’s next coach. Oops.

2011: Sweet 16 was all sweetness for No. 5 seed Arizona, outscoring No. 1 Duke 55-33 in the second half as Derrick Williams scored 32 points in Anaheim.

2013: Back in Los Angeles, sixth-seeded Arizona tied favored Ohio State with 20 seconds remaining, only to lose 73-70 on a buzzer-beating 3 by the Buckeyes when UA freshman Grant Jerrett spaced out on his defensive assignment.

2014: Not until T.J. McConnell recovered a loose ball in the final minute was No. 1 seed Arizona finally able to beat an impressive San Diego State club, 70-64 in Anaheim.

2015: Sean Miller faced his old school, Xavier, winning 68-60 thanks to three late 3-pointers from sub Gabe York in Los Angeles.

2017: Miller again faced Xavier, this time a heavy favorite as a No. 2 seed against the 11th-seeded Musketeers. Alas, Dusan Ristic’s baseline jumper at the buzzer missed, and Arizona went home early, 73-71.

2022: Houston’s in-your-grill defense forced UA star Azoulis Tubelis to shoot 0 for 8 and the No. 1-seeded Wildcats were never close down the stretch, losing 72-60 in San Antonio.

That’s it. There were 10 games UA fans will forever remember as Sweet 16s and eight games that became Sour 16s.

As Henry Porter wrote in 1939: “A little March Madness may complement and contribute to sanity and help keep society on an even keel.’’

Or not.