March 23 (Bloomberg) -- Check out these scores from the opening round of the National Collegiate Athletic Association tournament: North Carolina 101, Radford 58. Connecticut, 103, Chattanooga 47.

No chomping on fingernails. No whitening of knuckles. None of the ballyhooed madness. Pittsburgh struggled, but advanced, dispatching East Tennessee State by 10 points.

That makes it 100 wins against zero losses for the No. 1 seeds in the first round.

Watching the monumental mismatches, and then Pitt’s pitiful performance, prompted a whatever-happened-to thought about Phil Hopkins, the former Western Kentucky coach whose Hilltoppers came oh-so close.

Fortunately, Hopkins didn’t mind engaging in a little game of what if. He began chuckling about halfway through the first question. Hopkins knew what was coming.

What if?

Even 13 years later, Hopkins can close his eyes and see the basketball in the air, floating toward the rim, clock winding down to jubilation.

“I thought it was going in,” Hopkins said.

It didn’t. Joel Fleming’s 3-point attempt that would have beaten top-seeded Purdue bounced out.

That’s the cruelty of sports. A bounce this way, a bounce that way. Lives are changed. Careers altered or, in this case, ended.

“A big letdown,” Hopkins said of that day. “I was ticked off to say the least.”

No Sweat

Final score: Purdue 73, Western Kentucky 71. Close, but….

Since that game in 1996 no top seed has been made to sweat the final possession like Purdue, which, as it turned out, lost the next game to Georgia.

What if?

“We had a good game plan ready for Georgia, too,” said Hopkins, who employed a tempo-controlling zone defense against Purdue. “I think we would’ve won that game.”

What happens to a coach if his 16th seed crashes the Sweet 16? One has to wonder if Hopkins would be driving the team bus today.

This is just speculation, but had Western Kentucky beaten Purdue there’s a good chance that Hopkins would still be coaching big-time college basketball. Maybe even at some powerhouse program like Ohio State.

Speaking of OSU, the man sitting next to Hopkins that day against Purdue was an unknown assistant named Thad Matta. You might recognize that name now. Matta went on to become the coach at Ohio State, which, led by Greg Oden, reached the national championship game in 2007.

Treasured Time

Matta treasures his time beside Hopkins.

“That season was one of the most fun experiences of my coaching career,” Matta said the other day, before his Buckeyes were bounced from the tournament by Siena. “I am so happy for Coach Hopkins. From talking to him I know he is having a great time doing what he’s doing.”

Hopkins was fired four years after he led WKU to the tournament. He thought he would get another college coaching job. He didn’t.

Hopkins is, indeed, having a blast these days. He is without bitterness. When I reached Hopkins on his mobile phone you could hear the laughter of children in the background.

One Question

Hopkins is coaching basketball. Still. Practice runs four hours a day at Walhalla Middle School in South Carolina, where Hopkins serves as 1) a physical education teacher; 2) athletic director; 3) coach of the boys and girls basketball teams and; 4) team bus driver.

“I’ve been driving the bus for nine years,” he said. “I bet we saved 10-12 thousand dollars.”

I’m not the only one asking Hopkins the what-if question these days.

His son, Phillip, when the tournament teams were announced, pointed out to his father that, had he beaten Purdue back in 1996, then maybe he would be leading some perennial powerhouse No. 1 seed this time around. The son wanted to know how the father doesn’t harbor ill will.

“He said, ‘You know Dad, there’s not a lot of people who could do what you’ve done. Most people would be ticked off at the world, but you’re not.”

Coaching is coaching, said Hopkins, who recently was named Middle School Coach of the Year in South Carolina.

The secret, he says, is “keeping your ego out of it.”

Still teaching.

Not Right

Hopkins was approached by better-known schools the year after WKU almost beat Purdue. He said no. Leaving just didn’t feel right. Hopkins after his second season at Walhalla was offered a job with a Division II school. He said no. Leaving just didn’t feel right.

Hopkins these days has DirecTV, which allows him to watch every game of the tournament. He spent the past few days checking in on old coaching friends like Mike Krzyzewski of Duke, Rick Barnes of Texas and Bruce Weber of fifth-seeded Illinois, which was upset in its tournament opener by, who else, Western Kentucky.

Perhaps it’s best Hopkins never asks or answers what if.

(Scott Soshnick is a Bloomberg News columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.)

To contact the writer of this column: vvScott Soshnick in New York at ssoshnick@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: March 23, 2009 00:01 EDT