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To commemorate the start of the 75th NCAA men’s basketball Final Four in Atlanta this week, USA Today Sports ranked the previous 74 editions, calling the 1979 match-up of Michigan State, Indiana State, DePaul and Penn as the all-time No. 1.
That, of course, led to the legendary clash of Earvin “Magic” Johnson of Michigan State and Larry Bird of Indiana State that some say led to the modern era of star-driven NCAA tournaments, USA Today said.
But right up there next to the top was the 1966 edition, played at Maryland’s Cole Fieldhouse, in which our neighbors to the south, University of Texas at El Paso, then known as Texas Western, knocked off Kentucky 72-65 with an all-Black starting five coached by Don “The Bear” Haskins. Duke and Utah were also-rans.
And our own University of New Mexico Arena — better known as “The Pit” — hosted USA Today’s all-time third best Final Four in 1983, with North Carolina State beating heavy favorite Houston 54-52, with Georgia and Louisville rounding out the field, Lorenzo Charles’ memorable dunk and beloved N.C. State coach Jim Valvano running around the Pit floor looking for someone to hug.
For a look at that marvelous basketball moment 30 years ago by a guy who was there, read Albuquerque Journal sportswriter Ed Johnson’s account of N.C. State’s thrilling victory from this morning’s paper.
