INDIANAPOLIS — Syracuse coach Quentin Hillsman and Washington coach Mike Neighbors will put their budding friendship on hold Sunday night.
After four months of trading text messages, learning about one another’s team and watching their own teams evolve into national championship contenders, the two first-time Final Four coaches will square off for the second time this season.
The winner will get a ticket to Tuesday’s women’s championship game — and will have one more fan in the crowd.
“You want to win a game, but you still have to maintain some kind of normalcy in your life,” Hillsman said. “Neighbors is a good guy and really I respect him and respect what he does. That’s one of those things where you — I’m not that guy, we’re not playing against each other. We’ve got to put a game plan together and let our kids go and play.”
Those players have already met once this season, with Syracuse jumping to an early 21-point lead before holding off the hard-charging Huskies 66-62.
But a lot has changed in that time, especially at Washington.
After finishing fifth in the Pac-12, the Huskies (26-10) have made a stunning postseason run by beating Maryland on its home court, Kentucky on its home court and conference rival Stanford in the Lexington Region title game. They are the first No. 7 seed to reach the national semifinals since Minnesota in 2004.
Back then, the surprising Huskies were still trying to find their identity. Today, they’re a confident, relaxed bunch eager to play.
Neighbors learned something else during that game — it’s not easy matching wits with Hillsman.
“We can’t simulate (Syracuse) without having our guys’ practice team here,” Neighbors said. “You would have to break down an inordinate amount of film and spend a lot of time to try to predict what they do.”
While Syracuse has won 15 of its last 16, Washington is trying to join Tennessee’s 1997 title team as the only 10-loss programs to play for a national title.
But the two coaches know this much: Their friendship will survive this game.
