When underdogs dance-Biggest N.C.A.A. Upsets -- Fordham Rams Basketball Message Board

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Date Posted: Mon March 28, 2005 20:50:31
Author: Smoochy
Subject: When underdogs dance-Biggest N.C.A.A. Upsets

1. NC State stuns Houston in championship game (1983)

State had lost 10 regular season games, and nobody expected them to get to the Elite Eight, much less the championship game. But the Wolfpack was on a postseason roll, having won the ACC tournament and then advancing past Pepperdine, Virginia, and Georgia in tight games. Now they had the opportunity to face Houston's Akeem Olajuwon and the Phi Slamma Jamma gang.

The top-ranked Cougars were cocky, and had reason to be. "We figure the team with the most dunks will win," predicted Olajuwon.

If only it was so easy. NC State led at the half, and overcame a 17-2 run by Houston at the start of the second half to tie the game at 52 with two minutes left. The Wolfpack then fouled freshman guard Alvin Franklin, who missed the front end of a one-and-one. State rebounded and held the ball for the last shot, but the final play went awry, and Dereck Whittenburg -- who'd sunk two straight to tie the game -- missed a desperation 30-footer. As it fell far short of the rim, Lorenzo Charles went up, grabbed it, and slammed it in with one second left for an amazing Wolfpack win.

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Replies:

NC State was an underrated team that year. Whittenburg was the spark that made that team go, but he missed a significant portion of the season with an injury. I think he played in only 22 games that season, and the Wolfpack lost many of its 10 games without Whittenburg in the lineup. But when he returned, the team got on a roll. They won the ACC championship. One regular poster here commented at that time, after seeing NC State in the ACC tournament, that the Wolfpack would win the NCAAs. BTW, if the college game had a three-point shot back then, Whittenburg would have been even better. He could shoot lights out from 20. (NT) -- JoltinJoe, Tue March 29, 2005 07:04:41
- Wittenburg shot the most famous airball in history! (NT) -- The Fish, Tue March 29, 2005 07:56:15
  - It wasn't an airball. It was a well calculated pass. He got an assist..... (NT) -- Ram It '66, Tue March 29, 2005 08:15:18
The Cougars were one of the best high school teams ever ("Cougar High", as we non-UH grads in TX like to call it). (NT) -- txram, Tue March 29, 2005 10:01:30

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