Purple Region
(2) Sidney Moncrief defeated (18) Vin Baker
(11) Glenn Robinson defeated (7) Terry Cummings
And just like that, the Purple Region became the most intriguing of them all. Terry Cummings can certainly feel unfortunate to be the only one of the top-8 seeds not to make it to this round, but it sums up just how special Glenn Robinson remains to Bucks fans to this day.
Robinson’s blue-collar play style and personality likely makes him the ultimate Bucks’ cult hero, as Bucks Twitter personality @DavidDunn21 summed up for us in a guest post a couple of years ago. Beyond that, though, Robinson was a great player, and without that second element he likely wouldn’t have advanced against Cummings.
Moving on to meet Sidney Moncrief will make for an entirely different challenge, though. Moncrief’s incredible two-way play, influence on winning, consistency and longevity make him something of a singular Bucks figure. Put simply, there’s a really strong case to be made for Moncrief as the greatest Buck of all-time, or maybe even more appropriately, the Ultimate Buck in this context.
That reputation and good favor will have helped Moncrief to overcome Vin Baker, someone who had been responsible for one of the most notable upsets in the first round of the bracket.
Robinson’s popularity, and the undoubted favor that these polls have shown toward the 2001 Bucks adds a wildcard element to this Elite Eight matchup. If Robinson can get past Moncrief, consider anything possible for Big Dog over the remainder of this tournament.