Improbable Hero: Booth Leaps to Front of Stage After Shooting Accuracy

There have been times at the Final Four when a player not recognized as an All-American supplied a Herculean performance. One that stands out was in 1984 when Georgetown's Michael Jackson, a 6-1 guard averaging 1.4 rebounds per game entering the Final Four, retrieved 10 missed shots against Kentucky's formidable frontline to help the Hoyas overcome a seven-point halftime deficit in the national semifinals.

Last year, Duke freshman guard Grayson Allen, averaging a modest 3.9 points per game entering the Final Four, became an overnight sensation by erasing a nine-point, second-half deficit virtually by himself to spark a rally against Wisconsin in the NCAA championship game before blossoming into an All-American this campaign. This season, Villanova sophomore guard Phil Booth Jr. filled Allen's shoes as improbable hero of the F4 by canning 10-of-13 field-goal attempts en route to a total of 30 points in the national semifinals and title tilt. Booth's father was an All-MEAC first-team selection as a sophomore in 1987-88 before playing for Coppin State in the Eagles' NCAA playoff debut in 1990.

From a historical perspective, only one unsung player in history had significantly more of Final Four impact than Allen and Booth. Nothing compares to the version of Washington coming "out-of-the-valley forge" when UCLA's Kenny Washington was instrumental in helping venerable coach John Wooden capture his first NCAA Tournament championship in 1964. Washington, the only player with a single-digit season scoring average (6.1) to tally more than 25 points in a championship game, scored 26 points in a 98-83 triumph over Duke in the final. Teammate Gail Goodrich contributed 27 points as he and Washington became the only duo to each score more than 25 in an NCAA final.

Although Washington became the only player to score 25 or more points in a final and not be named to the All-Tournament team, he wasn't rebuffed again the next year. Washington, averaging a modest 8.9 points per game entering the 1965 Final Four, scored a total of 27 points in victories over Wichita State and Michigan as the Bruins successfully defended their title en route to 10 crowns in 12 years under Wooden. Washington joined teammates Goodrich and Edgar Lacey on the 1965 All-Tournament team with co-national players of the year Bill Bradley (Princeton) and Cazzie Russell (Michigan).

In 1969, UCLA was without two-time All-Tournament team selection Lucius Allen because of academic problems, but the Bruins got another significant increase in point production at the Final Four from an unlikely source. Guard John Vallely averaged 22 points in victories against Drake and Purdue after arriving at the national semifinals with a 10.2-point average. Only one senior is on the following list of seven championship team rank-and-file players averaging fewer than seven points per game entering the Final Four before seizing the moment and averaging double digits in scoring in their last two games with an increase of more than seven points per game from their pre-Final Four scoring mark:

NOTE: Washington State junior guard Kirk Gebert, who scored 21 points in a 39-34 loss against Wisconsin in 1941 final to finish the year with a 6.6-point average, is the only player other than Washington with a single-digit season average to score more than 20 points in a title game.