1982

Ralph Sampson of Virginia was the consensus Player of the Year for the third season in a row, but this was North Carolina State's year. N.C. State's year? Wait a minute, wasn't the Wolfpack 17–10 going into the ACC tournament? True, but then they won nine straight games.

NCSU played Sampson and Virginia twice during that streak and won by a combined four points—first in the ACC tournament final (81–78) and then in the NCAA West Regional Final (63–62).

Good luck followed coach Jim Valvano's squad to the Final Four in Albuquerque where No.1 Houston and No.2 Louisville faced off in one semifinal and the Wolfpack met No.18 Georgia in the other.

The eventual Houston-N.C. State title game was a slow-paced contest that came down to one shot: a desperation jumper by Dereck Whittenburg in the last seconds that Lorenzo Charles picked off and dunked at the buzzer for the 54–52 upset.

Houston center Akeem Olajuwon was named the tournament's outstanding player, making him the 12th member of a losing team to receive the honor in 45 years.

The tournament expanded by four teams to 52. One of the 48 teams that didn't make it to Albuquerque was No.3 St. John's, which went 28–4 before losing to Georgia in the East Regional semifinals.

		Before NCAAs	Head Coach	Final Record
1	Houston	27–2	Guy Lewis	31–3
2	Louisville	29–3	Denny Crum	32–4
3	St. John's	27–4	Lou Carnesecca	28–5
4	Virginia	27–4	Terry Holland	29–5
5	Indiana	23–5	Bob Knight	24–6
6	UNLV	28–2	Jerry Tarkanian	28–3
7	UCLA	23–5	Larry Farmer	23–6
8	North Carolina	26–7	Dean Smith	28–8
9	Arkansas	25–3	Eddie Sutton	26–4
10	Missouri	26–7	Norm Stewart	26–8
11	Boston College	24–6	Gary Williams	25–7
12	Kentucky	22–7	Joe B. Hall	23–8
13	Villanova	22–7	Rollie Massimino	24–8
14	Wichita St.	25–3	Gene Smithson	same
15	Tennessee-Chat.	26–3	Murray Arnold	26–4
16	North Carolina St.	20–10	Jim Valvano	26–10
17	Memphis St.	22–7	Dana Kirk	23–8
18	Georgia	21–9	Hugh Durham	24–10
19	Oklahoma St.	24–6	Paul Hansen	24–7
20	Georgetown	21–9	John Thompson	22–10

1. Houston
2. Louisville
3. St. John's
4. Virginia
5. Indiana
6. Nevada-Las Vegas
7. UCLA
8. North Carolina
9. Arkansas
10. Missouri

1. Houston
2. Louisville
3. St. John's
4. Virginia
5. Indiana
6. Nevada-Las Vegas
7. UCLA
8. North Carolina
9. Arkansas
10. Kentucky

First Round
Preliminary Round
Midwest: Alcorn State 81, Xavier 75
Mideast: Robert Morris (Pa.) 64, Ga. Southern 54
West: Princeton 53, North Carolina A&T 41
East: La Salle 70, Boston University 58
First Round
#8 Maryland 52, #9 Tennessee-Chattanooga 51
#5 Georgetown 68, #12 Alcorn State 63
#11 Lamar 73, #6 Alabama 50
#7 Iowa 64, #10 Utah State 59
#8 Tennessee 57, #9 Marquette 56
#5 Purdue 55, #12 Robert Morris (Pa.) 53
#11 Ohio University 51, #6 Illinois State 49
#7 Oklahoma 71, #10 UAB 63
#8 Washington State 62, #9 Weber State 52
#12 Princeton 56, #5 Oklahoma State 53
#6 North Carolina State 69, #11 Pepperdine 67 (2OT)
#10 Utah 52, #7 Illinois 49
#9 Rutgers 60, #8 Southwestern Louisiana 53
#5 Virginia Commonwealth 76, #12 La Salle 67
#6 Syracuse 74, #11 Morehead State 59
#10 James Madison 57, #7 West Virginia 50
Second Round
#1 Houston 60, #8 Maryland 50
#4 Memphis State 66, #5 Georgetown 57
#3 Villanova 60, #11 Lamar 58
#7 Iowa 77, #2 Missouri 63
#1 Louisville 70, #8 Tennessee 57
#4 Arkansas 78, #5 Purdue 68
#3 Kentucky 57, #11 Ohio University 40
#2 Indiana 63, #7 Oklahoma 49
#1 Virginia 54, #8 Washington State 49
#4 Boston College 51, #12 Princeton 42
#6 North Carolina State 71, #3 UNLV 70
#10 Utah 67, #2 UCLA 61
#1 St. John's 66, #9 Rutgers 55
#4 Georgia 56, #5 Virginia Commonwealth 54
#3 Ohio State 79, #6 Syracuse 74
#2 North Carolina 68, #10 James Madison 49
Regional Semifinals
Villanova 55, Iowa 54
Houston 70, Memphis State 63
Kentucky 64, Indiana 59
Louisville 65, Arkansas 63
North Carolina State 75, Utah 56
Virginia 95, Boston College 92
North Carolina 64, Ohio State 51
Georgia 70, St. John's 67
Regional Finals
Midwest: Houston 89, Villanova 71
Mideast: Louisville 80, Kentucky 68 (OT)
West: N.C. State 63, Virginia 62
East: Georgia 82, North Carolina 77
National Semifinals
North Carolina State 67, Georgia 60
Houston 94, Louisville 81
Championship Game
North Carolina State 54, Houston 52

North Carolina State leaders: Dereck Whittenburg, Sr., G; Thurl Bailey, Sr., C-F; Sidney Lowe, Sr., G; Ernie Myers, Fr., G; Lorenzo Charles, So., F; Cozell McQueen, So., C

Leaders
Team
Offense: Boston College, Syracuse, 84.3
Defense: Princeton, 52.0

Individual Scoring

• North Carolina State sophomore Lorenzo Charles scored four points in the title game, but the last two gave the Wolfpack the crown. He tipped in Dereck Whittenburg’s desperation shot at the buzzer to win.

It was more than a nickname. For the Houston basketball team, it was an identity. The Cougars exulted in their image as high fliers who elevated their sport to unprecedented heights.

Jim Valvano

These were the brothers of Phi Slama Jama, a fraternity invented by a Houston sportswriter and adopted by a group of players who believed the primary object of the game was to dunk as often as possible.

"We figure the team with the most dunks will win," said 7-foot center Akeem Olajuwon, a native of Nigeria and the focal point of the Cougars' airborne attack.

The team with the most dunks invariably was Houston, which arrived at the Final Four with the top ranking in both wire-service polls and a 25-game winning streak, longest in the nation. Of the 52 teams invited to the NCAA Tournament -- the highest number ever -- none appeared capable of stopping Houston.

Not only were the Cougars big -- freshman point guard Alvin Franklin was the only starter under 6-6 -- but they also had extraordinary athletic talent, running the floor with the speed and grace of an NBA team.

Still, what separated the Cougars from their peers was their leaping ability, which enabled them to block shots and score over defenders. To them, a dunk represented a psychological weapon as much as the ultimate high-percentage shot.

As chance would have it, Houston's opponent in the national semifinals was Louisville. The Cardinals not only were ranked second nationally but had won the NCAA title three years earlier with a team known as the "Doctors of Dunk."

When the Final Four teams assembled in mile-high Albuquerque, it was assumed that the NCAA champion would emerge from the Houston-Louisville game.

One was Georgia, which had finished tied for fourth in the Southeastern Conference but had won the league's postseason championship to earn its first NCAA Tournament bid. The Bulldogs then had stunned top-seeded St. John's and North Carolina in the East Regional.

The other entry, North Carolina State, had lost 10 games but swept the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament, staggered past Pepperdine in two overtimes and finally squeezed past Virginia, 63-62, in the West Regional final.

"Everybody is saying Louisville-Houston is the heavyweight game and we're the JV game," said N.C. State coach Jim Valvano, whose team would try to become the first NCAA champion with a double-digit loss total.

The N.C. State-Georgia game certainly looked like a warmup game to witnesses in University Arena, which natives fondly called "The Pit."

Suffering from jangled nerves, Georgia made only 27.8 percent of its shots from the field in the first half and 35.1 percent for the game. Meanwhile, seniors Dereck Whittenburg, Sidney Lowe and Thurl Bailey combined for 50 points and the Wolfpack advanced with a pedestrian 67-60 victory.

In a breathtaking display of speed, power and thrust, Houston up-and-overwhelmed Louisville, 94-81. The fact the Cougars scored 58 points in the second half to eradicate a five-point halftime deficit almost was secondary to the verve with which they operated.

After a slow first half in which they managed only two dunks, the Cougars held a party above the rim for the final 20 minutes. Twenty-two of Houston's points in the second half were the result of dunks, a few of such uncommon variety they merited style points.

Even a Bulgarian judge might have been moved to award a perfect 10 to 6-7 forward Clyde Drexler and 6-5 forward/guard Benny Anders, who brought down the ball and then brought down the house.

McCray, the Louisville forward/center who thought he had seen everything, reconsidered.

"We've put on a show like that for our fans during preseason," he said, "but never during a real game."

"On behalf of Phi Slama Jama fraternity," said Anders, a sophomore reserve, "we do our best dunks during a game."

Fittingly, a 13-0 Houston run that obliterated the Cardinals' last lead began with successive slams by 6-6 Michael Young, Drexler and Anders. Two free throws by Franklin tied the score at 57-57, and one free throw in two tries by Olajuwon gave the Cougars the lead and set the stage for Drexler, who changed hands on the fly, double-pumped and threw down a two-handed exclamation point for a 60-57 lead.

Olajuwon, who had an extraordinary 22 rebounds as well as 21 points, sealed the victory with four stuffs down the stretch. And then Anders provided the finishing touch by completing a three-on-none break with a reverse, two-handed slam.

After that astonishing performance, Houston was heavily favored to crush N.C. State and secure its first title. Of course, the Wolfpack had no intention of getting into a run-and-dunk contest with the Cougars, as Louisville had.

"I've never seen anything like that in 16 years of coaching college basketball," Valvano said. "We'll try to handle their team by playing, shall I say, a slower tempo.

He was exaggerating but only slightly. Because of its experience and its outstanding backcourt of Whittenburg and Lowe, N.C. State was superb at controlling the pace. And the Wolfpack had upset so many highly-ranked teams en route to the championship game that it appeared unfazed by Houston's pyrotechnics.

"So many things have been happening right for us," said Bailey, a 6-11 forward. "We might be catching them at the right time."

It was clear from the outset the Wolfpack not only was prepared for the Cougars' high-powered offense but had some surprises of its own. For starters, Bailey scored the first basket of the game on, of all things, a dunk.

And by limiting fast-break opportunities and packing its zone defense around the basket, N.C. State curtailed Houston's most devastating weapon. Phi Slama Jama didn't manage its first dunk until Olajuwon followed a missed shot with 5:05 left in the first half.

The frustration was evident in its .313 field-goal percentage in the first half. Meanwhile, after making maximum use of long-range shooting in both the ACC (which was experimenting with the 3-point field goal) and throughout the NCAA Tournament, the Wolfpack also was misfiring from outside.

But Bailey was superb around the baseline. He scored 11 of his 15 first-half points during a 19-10 stretch that enabled N.C. State to build a 33-25 half time lead.

More critical to Houston than the deficit were the four personal fouls on Drexler. In the semifinal game against Louisville, coach Guy Lewis and his staff had lost track of the foul situation on 6-9 Larry Micheaux and allowed the senior forward to foul out with 13:28 left.

In the title game, Drexler was charged with his third personal only 7:39 into the game but, for some reason, kept playing for almost five more minutes. After being removed with 7:35 left in the half, he was reinserted 98 seconds later, giving him plenty of time to commit his fourth foul.

Drexler began the second half on the bench alongside Micheaux who, for reasons unknown, played only two of the final 20 minutes. Yet, such was the depth and talent of the Cougars that they outscored the Wolfpack by a 17-2 margin in the first 10 minutes of the second half to assume a 42-35 lead.

The upstarts appeared to be reeling when Lewis ordered his team into a delay game.

The coach called it his "locomotion" offense. He wanted the Cougars to spread the court and force N.C. State out of its constrictive zone.

"I have a lot of confidence in that offense," Lewis said. "I felt we could get some layups."

"I felt that we should have kept playing the way we were playing," Micheaux said. "Our game is to get up and down the door and dunk the ball."

Handcuffed by the slowdown, the members of Phi Slama Jama managed only four baskets (one a layup) the rest of the way.

The Wolfpack took advantage of the strategy. Two long jump shots by Lowe sandwiched around a pair of free throws by Drexler pulled the "Cardiac Pack," as N.C. State had become known for its many narrow victories down the stretch, within four, 52-48.

Whittenburg took care of that deficit with two jumpers from well beyond the ACC's 3-point distance, tying the score at 52-52 with 1:59 to play. Valvano motioned his players to foul Franklin. The freshman promptly missed the front end of a one-and-one.

Suddenly, the game was N.C. State's to win. It held the ball until the final seconds, hoping to free Whittenburg for an open jump shot. But a pass from Bailey was high, and Drexler managed to slap the ball away.

Whittenburg grabbed the ball on the first bounce but was left with a desperation heave of about 30 feet. The shot was short, very short.

Olajuwon did not react to the ball, but Lorenzo Charles, a 6-7 sophomore forward who had spent a frustrating night trying to battle the towering center, slid down the lane.

"I knew when Whit let the shot go that it was short," Charles said. "I didn't know where Akeem was, just that he was behind me. I knew I was the closest one to the basketball.

Actually, he caught the ball in midair and slammed it through with one second remaining. Remarkably, ironically, N.C. State won the game and the championship, 54-52, on a dunk.

"The team with the most dunks wins the game," Lewis had stated on the eve of the final. "That's our slogan."

In the NCAA championship, the team with the most dunks was N.C. State, by the margin of two-to-one.

Rank	Team	W-L	Post-Season Result
1.	Houston	30-2	NCAA 2nd Place
2.	Louisville	32-2	Lost NCAA semifinal
3	St. John’s	28-5	Lost NCAA regionals
4.	Virginia	29-5	Lost NCAA regionals
5.	Indiana	24-6	Lost NCAA regionals
6.	UNLV	28-3	Lost NCAA regionals
7.	UCLA	23-6	Lost NCAA regionals
8.	North Carolina	27-8	Lost NCAA regionals
9.	Arkansas	26-4	Lost NCAA regionals
10.	Missouri	26-8	Lost NCAA regionals

1. Harry Kelly	Texas Southern	28.8
2. Jeff Malone	Mississippi State	26.8
3. Carlos Yates	George Mason	26.8
4. Charlie Brdley	South Florida	26.7
5. Joe Jakubick	Akron	26.7
6. Greg Goojian	Loyola (Marymount)	26.1

1. Xavier McDaniel	Wichita State	14.4
2. Franklin Giles	South Carolina State	12.9
3. Michael Cage	San Diego State	12.6

First Round	Player	College
1. Houston Rockets	Ralph Sampson	Virginia
2. Indiana Pacers	Steve Stipanovich	Missouri
3. Houston Rockets	Rodney McCray	Louisville
4. San Diego Clippers	Byron Scott	Arizona State
5. Chicago Bulls	Sidney Green	Nevada-Las Vegas
6. Golden State Warriors	Russell Cross	Purdue
7. Utah Jazz	Thurl Bailey	North Carolina State
8. Detroit Pistons	Antoine Carr	Wichita State
9. Dallas Mavericks	Dale Ellis	Tennessee
10. Washington Bullets	Jeff Malone	Mississippi State
11. Dallas Mavericks	Derek Harper	Illinois
12. New York Knicks	Darrell Walker	Arkansas
13. Kansas City Kings	Ennis Whatley	Alabama
14. Portland Trail Blazers	Clyde Drexler	Houston
15. Denver Nuggets	Howard Carter	Louisiana State
16. Seattle SuperSonics	Jon Sundvold	Missouri
17. Philadelphia 76ers	Leo Rautins	Syracuse
18. Milwaukee Bucks	Randy Breuer	Minnesota
19. San Antonio Spurs	John Paxson	Notre Dame
20. Cleveland Cavaliers	Roy Hinson	Rutgers
21. Boston Celtics	Greg Kite	Brigham Young
22. Washington Bullets	Randy Wittman	Indiana
23. Indiana Pacers	Mitchell Wiggins	Florida State
24. Cleveland Cavaliers	Stewart Granger	Villanova

Name	Cl.	Pos	Team
Thurl Bailey	Sr.	F	No. Carolina State
Hakeem Olajuwon	So.	C	Houston
Sidney Lowe	Sr.	G	No. Carolina State
Milt Wager	So.	G	Louisville
Dereck Whittenburg	Sr.	G	No. Carolina State