The Players. E r n i e D i G r e g o r i o averaged 25.6 points per game in five N C A A t o u r n a- ment contests for Providence in 1973.

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1 The Players The year 1982 was a good one for James Wo r t h y. He was named a consensus first team all-american, the NCAA t o u r n a- ment MVP and helped lead North Carolina to the NCAA t i t l e. E r n i e D i G r e g o r i o averaged 25.6 points per game in five N C A A t o u r n a- ment contests for Providence in N a v y s David Robinson had an N C A As e a s o n record 207 blocked shots in P r i n c e t o n s Bill Bradley scored the most points ever by an individual in a Final Four game with 58 against Wi c h i t a State in Bradley sank 14 free throws to rank him in a tie for fourth for most free throws made in a Final Four g a m e. 145

2 In leading UNLV to the 1990 NCAA title, Larry Johnson led all tournament players in rebounds and blocked shots. Jerry Lucas of Ohio State led the nation in field-goal percentage three t i m e s, r e b o u n d i n g twice and was named player of the year in 1961 and Always looking to pass, Duke s Bobby Hurley holds the N C A A career record for assists. Lew A l c i n d o r ( K a r e e m A b d u l - J a b b a r ) is the only player to earn three NCAA t o u r n a m e n t M V P a w a r d s. Alcindor won the honors while leading U C L A t o n a t i o n a l c h a m p i- onships in 1967, 1968 and

3 Wilt Chamberlain of Kansas was named to the Final Four alltime team along with Lew Alcindor (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) of UCLA, Larry Bird of Indiana State, Earvin Magic Johnson of Michigan State and Michael Jordan of North Carolina. Darrell Griffith was No. 1 after he scored 23 points to lead L o u i s v i l l e over UCLA i n the 1980 N C A A c h a m- p i o n s h i p g a m e. Had the threepoint field goal existed during Pete Maravich s career from , the LSU star would have added who knows how many more points to his NCAA career record total of 3,667. Only one father and son combination qualified for N C A A Men s Basketball s Finest and that s the Bibbys. Father Henry Bibby led UCLA as a point guard to three NCAA t i t l e s while son, Mike (pictured above), took Arizona to the championship as a freshman point guard in

4 C h r i s t i a n L a e t t n e r appeared in 23 NCAA t o u r- n a m e n t games for Duke from and scored 407 points. Both marks are t o u r n a m e n t c a r e e r r e c o r d s. Danny Manning led sixth-seeded Kansas over Oklahoma in the 1988 NCAA title game as he scored 31 points, grabbed 18 rebounds, blocked two shots, had five steals and was named the tournament s MVP. D u k e s Mike Gminski is one of only 13 players to earn three first-team academic all-america h o n o r s. One of the newest members of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, Larry Bird led Indiana State to the N C A A championship game in It has been the only tournament appearance for Indiana State. 148

5 Tony Delk scored 24 points to lead Kentucky past Syracuse in the 1996 NCAA championship game. Bill Walton was almost perfect when he led U C L A p a s t Memphis in the 1973 NCAA t i t l e game. Wa l t o n made 21 of 22 shots from the field for a Final Four record 95.5 shooting percentage and a c h a m p i o n s h i p game record 44 p o i n t s. Among the numerous honors earned by North Carolina S t a t e s David Thompson are the N C A At o u r n a m e n t M V P, several p l a y e r - o f - t h e - y e a r awards, three firstteam all-america selections and membership in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of F a m e. Bill Russell led San Francisco to back-to-back NCAA c h a m- pionships in 1955 and

6 H o u s t o n s Akeem Olajuwon (later changed to Hakeem) was the last player from a nonchampionship team to be named the N C A A tournament MVP when he earned the honor in Walt Hazzard was named the N C A A t o u r n a- ment MVP i n 1964 when U C L A won its first national c h a m p i o n s h i p. A master at the line, I n d i a n a s Steve A l f o r d led the nation in f r e e - t h r o w p e r c e n t a g e in Isiah Thomas had a game-high 23 points to lead Indiana past North Carolina in the 1981 championship game. 150

7 Ed O Bannon has lasting memories of the 1995 season as the N C A A tournament MVP led UCLA to its first championship in 20 y e a r s. To be like Mike, you would have to earn several p l a y e r - o f - t h e - year awards, first team all- America honors, be named to the Final Four alltime team and hit the winning basket in the N C A A c h a m p i- onship game. In case you didn t k n o w, Mike is Michael Jordan of North C a r o l i n a. Of all the great centers to play for Georgetown, Patrick Ewing tops the s c h o o l s list as the Hoyas a l l - time leading rebounder and shot blocker. Grant Hill played in 20 NCAA tournament games for Duke from 1991 to 1994 and totaled a tournament career record 39 steals. 151

8 In the highestrated televised college basketball of all-time, Magic Johnson s l a m m e d Michigan State past Larry Birdled Indiana State in the 1979 N C A A title game as almost onequarter of all TVs in the U.S. were tuned in. Bryant Big Country Reeves led Oklahoma State to the 1995 Final Four, the Cowboys first appearance there since John Wa l l a c e was a double threat in his four years at Syracuse as he collected 1,065 rebounds and 2, 119 points. Sean Elliott decided to attend the University of Arizona in his hometown Tucson and ended up leading the Wildcats to their first Final Four appearance in

9 The Coaches The highest winning percentage in the NCAA tournament for a coach belongs to Ed Jucker, who was 11-1 (.917) while leading Cincinnati to two NCAA titles and a runner-up spot in the early 1960s. Gene Bartow is one of only 11 coaches to take two different teams to the Final Four. Bartow guided Memphis in 1973 and UCLA in Tubby Smith topped off a period of five straight NCAA tournament appearances with three different teams by winning the 1998 national championship with Kentucky. Denny Crum is one of only three active coaches with more than one NCAA championship, having led Louisville to the title in 1980 and

10 Through the 1998 season, Jim Boeheim has led the Orangemen to 18 NCAA tournament appearances in 22 seasons at Syracuse. Adolph Rupp coached Kentucky for 41 years, totaled 876 victories and won four NCAA championships. When Texas Christian made the 1998 NCAA tournament field, it marked the third different tournament school for Billy Tubbs, who also guided Lamar and Oklahoma. Guy Lewis took Houston to five Final Four appearances in his 30-year career with the Cougars. 154

11 Joe B. Hall got to cut down the nets in 1978 as one of four different coaches to lead Kentucky to the NCAA title. Mike Krzyzewski coached Duke to five straight Final Four appearances from and two national titles in 1991 and In 26 years at Georgetown, John Thompson has a.717 winning percentage, 20 NCAA tournament appearances, three Final Four appearances and an NCAA championship in Most of Phog Allen s 46 years of coaching came before the first NCAA tournament in 1939, but he still managed to lead Kansas to four appearances and a championship in Those 1952 Jayhawks featured Clyde Lovellette, the only player ever to lead the nation in scoring the same year his team won the NCAA title. 155

12 I n d i a n a s Bob Knight has the most NCAA championships of any active coach with titles in 1976, 1981 and The record for most career victories by a coach is 879 by Dean Smith, who coached 36 years at North C a r o l i n a. V is for Jim Valvano, who led his Cinderella North Carolina State team to an upset victory over Houston in the 1983 NCAA title game. Nolan Richardson had plenty to smile about after his Arkansas Razorbacks won the NCAA title in

13 Eddie Sutton is the only coach to take four schools - Creighton, Arkansas, Kentucky and Oklahoma State - to the N C A A tournament. Steve Fisher made the most of his opportunity when he was promoted from Michigan assistant coach to interim head coach just before the 1989 N C A A t o u r n a- ment. The Wolverines won their next six games, the N C A A c h a m p i- onship and the interim was dropped from F i s h e r s title. K a n s a s R o y Williams has 282 victories the most ever nationally by a coach after his first 10 seasons. Henry Iba coached Oklahoma State in 36 seasons of his 41- year career as a head coach including back-to-back NCAA titles in 1945 and

14 Jerry Tarkanian has one of the best all-time winning percentages for a coach after leading Long Beach State, UNLV and Frenso State. In 1995, Jim Harrick guided UCLA to its first NCAA title in 20 years and its 11th overall. Ray Meyer spent his entire 42-year c o a c h i n g career at DePaul and earned national coach-ofthe-year honors in four different seas o n s. Don Haskins helped change the face of college basketball as his 1966 UTEP team won the NCAA t i t l e. 158

15 In 1998, Rick Majerus reached the Final Four with Utah in his 14th season of coaching. In a 25-year c a r e e r, Lute Olson has taken trips to the Final Four with both Iowa and Arizona. He finally took home the trophy with the Wildcats in Al McGuire led Marquette to the 1977 national c h a m p i o n s h i p and is one of only three coaches to win the NCAA title in his last game as a collegiate head coach. The other two coaches are John Wo o d e n with UCLA i n 1975 and Larry Brown with Kansas in The first NCAA tournament in 1939 was won by the Oregon Ducks, whose coach Howard Hobson suggested innovations to the game of basketball in the 1940s such as a wider foul lane and the three-point field goal. Both rules changes were adopted years later. 159

16 John Wooden coached UCLA to 10 NCAA championships over a 12-year period. Norm Sloan cut down the net after leading North Carolina State to its first N C A A title in Rick Pitino guided Providence and Kentucky to the Final Four and came away the winner with the Wildcats in Ralph Miller coached a total of 38 years at Wi c h i t a State, Iowa and Oregon State and was elected into the N a i s m i t h M e m o r i a l B a s k e t b a l l Hall of Fame in