NFL
BY: Greg Rector
When I was born the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament featured just 22 to 25 teams. It was a vastly smaller world and the game of course has grown immensely since that time. That was 1964 folks, the real old days. The tournament wasn’t even on TV until 1969 and it certainly was only the Final Four, not every single game. Back when I first got into the game it had grown into a 32 team tournament and still was only shown on the weekends. The second year of my basketball fascination was also the last season a team went undefeated, the Indiana Hoosiers coached by the infamous Bobby Knight, went 32-0 that magical season, They defeated their conference rival the Michigan Wolverines in the title game which saw the first clash ever between two schools from the same conference. I mention this as this year the Gonzaga Bulldogs are the 4th team since then to enter the tournament unbeaten.
The year that the tournament really grew however was 1979. It was the first year the tournament seeded teams. That was the year Larry Bird and his Indiana State Sycamores faced off against Earvin “Magic,” Johnson, and his Michigan State Spartans. I remember the hype going into that game was truly off the charts. It was given more focus than the NBA or NHL seasons by far. The game lived up to the hype and catapulted the tournament to the forefront of sporting events. The Sycamores one and only time as a top seed. Bracketology didn’t really become a thing until the advent of the internet, however, the tournament was now getting tip-off to cutting the baskets down coverage thanks to cable television.
The 1980s truly were the glory days for NCAA basketball. What happened? Smaller, relatively not as well known schools started to beat the big boys of the college basketball world, and there was this conference that was created in 1979 called the Big East. The Big East schools were all suddenly loaded with future NBA talent. With NBC and CBS showing so many regular-season games just as with the pros you could see these schools grow into powerhouses before your eyes.
There were two unreal moments though that cemented the tournament into the hearts and minds of fans and casual fans in that decade. In 1983 the Houston Cougars are known fondly as Phi Slamma Jamma were a powerhouse team led by Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde “The Glide” Drexler, who would face the North Carolina State Wolfpack led by their flamboyant coach Jim Valvano. The heavy underdog Wolfpack won 54-52 over the powerful Cougars on a buzzer-beating dunk by Lorenzo Charles. If you’ve never seen that game it was truly David slaying the giant. I will never forget watching Valvano’s reaction to the victory.
Two years later we were treated to another conference rival championship game, this time it was two Big East teams as the 8th seeded Villanova Wildcats coached by Rollie Massimino faced what was suppose to be a foe they could not defeat, the John Thompson coached, Patrick Ewing led Georgetown Hoyas. This was also the first 64 team tournament. Georgetown was the clear number one team and outside of Philadelphia, there might have been a handful of former Wildcats that gave their school a chance. The Hoyas were supposed to easily win a back-to-back championship. Thanks to an unheard-of record field goal shooting percentage 78% (22 of 28) making just nine of ten field goals in the second half while giving up 17 turnovers in the half to the Hoyas pressure defense, the unthinkable happened and the game had huge ratings.
There’s of course been other unreal moments but the 1983 and 1985 championship games vaulted the tournament into the premier sporting event it is today. We’re drawn into seeing the little schools knock off the big boys. We want to see our brackets succeed, only to be fuming by Friday that you missed a 5th seed losing to a 12 unless of course you’re a Duke fan and they are a two seed losing to a 15 seed (All Hail Lehigh!!!) I picked it out of spite of course…lol or that truly unbelievable moment March 16th, 2018 when the 16th seeded University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC) Retrievers defeated the 1st seeded University of Virginia Cavaliers.
So as we enter the 2021 tournament be grateful to those who came before to make the tournament into what we know today as MARCH MADNESS.
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