The Players The year 1982 was a good one for James Wor t h y . He was named a consensus first team all-American, the NCAA to u r n a - ment MVP and helped lead North Carolina to the NCAA ti t l e . Er n i e Di G r e g o r i o averaged 25.6 points per game in five NC A A to u r n a - ment contests for Providence in 1973. Na v y ’ s David Robinson had an N C A As e a s o n record 207 blocked shots in 1986. Pr 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 Wic h i t a State in 1965. Bradley sank 14 free throws to rank him in a tie for fourth for most free throws made in a Final Four ga m e . – 145 – 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 per- centage three ti m e s , re b o u n d i n g twice and was named player of the year in 1961 and 19 6 2 . Lew Al c i n d o r (K a r e e m Ab d u l - J a b b a r ) is the only player to earn three NCAA to u r n a m e n t MV P aw a r d s . Alcindor won the honors while leading UC L A to na t i o n a l ch a m p i - onships in 1967, 1968 Always looking to pass, Duke’s Bobby Hurley holds the and 1969. NC A A career record for assists. – 146 – Wilt Chamberlain of Kansas was named to the Final Four all- time 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 Lo u i s v i l l e over UCLA in the 1980 NC A A ch a m - pi o n s h i p ga m e . Had the three- point field goal existed during Pete Maravich’s career from 1968- 70, 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 NC A A Men’s Basketball’s Finest and that’s the Bibbys. Father Henry Bibby led UCLA as a point guard to three NCAA ti t l e s while son, Mike (pictured above), took Arizona to the cham- pionship as a freshman point guard in 1997. – 147 – 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. Ch r i s t i a n La e t t n e r appeared in 23 NCAA to u r - na m e n t games for Duke from 1989-92 and scored 407 points. Both marks are to u r n a m e n t ca r e e r re c o r d s . Du k e ’ s Mike Gminski is one of only 13 play- ers to earn three first-team acade- mic all-America ho n o r s . One of the newest members of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, Larry Bird led Indiana State to the NC A A championship game in 1979. It has been the only tournament appearance for Indiana State. – 148 – Tony Delk scored 24 points to lead Kentucky past Syracuse in Bill Walton was the 1996 NCAA championship game. almost perfect when he led UC L A pa s t Memphis in the 1973 NCAA ti t l e game. Wal t o n made 21 of 22 shots from the field for a Final Four record 95.5 shooting per- centage and a ch a m p i o n s h i p game record 44 po i n t s . Among the numer- ous honors earned by North Carolina St a t e ’ s David Thompson are the N C A At o u r n a m e n t MV P , several pl a y e r - o f - t h e - y e a r awards, three first- team all-America selections and mem- Bill Russell led San Francisco to back-to-back NCAA ch a m - bership in the pionships in 1955 and 1956. Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fa m e . – 149 – Ho u s t o n ’ s Akeem Olajuwon (later changed to Hakeem) was the last player from a nonchampionship team to be named the NC A A tournament MVP when he earned the honor in 1983. Walt Hazzard was named the NC A A to u r n a - ment MVP in 1964 when UC L A won its first national ch a m p i o n s h i p . A master at the line, In d i a n a ’ s Steve Al f o r d led the nation in fr e e - t h r o w pe r c e n t a g e in 1984. Isiah Thomas had a game-high 23 points to lead Indiana past North Carolina in the 1981 championship game. – 150 – To be like Mike, you would have Ed O’Bannon has lasting memories of the 1995 season as the to earn several NC A A tournament MVP led UCLA to its first championship in 20 pl a y e r - o f - t h e - ye a r s . year awards, first team all- America honors, be named to the Final Four all- time team and hit the winning basket in the NC A A ch a m p i - onship game. In case you didn’t kn o w , “Mike” is Michael Jordan of North Ca r o l i n a . Of all the great centers to play for Georgetown, Patrick Ewing tops the sc h o o l ’ s list as the Hoyas’ al 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 – In the highest- rated televised Bryant “Big Country” Reeves led Oklahoma State to the 1995 college basket- Final Four, the Cowboys’ first appearance there since 1951. ball of all-time, Magic Johnson sl a m m e d Michigan State past Larry Bird- led Indiana State in the 1979 NC A A title game as almost one- quarter of all TVs in the U.S. were tuned in. John Wal l a c e was a double threat in his four years at Syracuse as he collected 1,065 rebounds and 2, 1 19 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 1988. – 152 – The Coaches The highest winning percentage in the NCAA tournament for a coach belongs to Ed Jucker, who was 11-1 (.917) while lead- ing 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 dif- ferent teams to the Final Four. Bartow guided Memphis in 1973 and UCLA in 1976. Tubby Smith topped off a period of five straight NCAA tournament appearances with three dif- ferent 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 1986. – 153 – Adolph Rupp coached Kentucky for 41 years, totaled 876 vic- tories and won four NCAA championships. Through the 1998 season, Jim Boeheim has led the Orangemen to 18 NCAA tournament appearances in 22 seasons at Syracuse. When Texas Christian made the 1998 NCAA tournament field, it marked the third differ- ent tourna- ment 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 – Joe B. Hall got to cut down the nets in 1978 as one of four dif- ferent coaches to lead Kentucky to the NCAA title. Mike Krzyzewski coached Duke to five straight Final Four appearances from 1988-92 and two nation- al titles in 1991 and 1992. In 26 years at Georgetown, John Thompson has a .717 winning percentage, 20 NCAA tourna- ment appear- ances, three Final Four appearances and an NCAA championship in 1984. 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 1952. 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 – In d i a n a ’ s Bob Knight has the most NCAA championships of any active coach with titles in 1976, 1981 and 1987. The record for most career vic- tories by a coach is 879 by Dean Smith, who coached 36 years at North Ca r o l i n a .