By TITO S. TALAO
March Madness in the US NCAA reached its climax Tuesday (in Manila), with the University of Michigan Wolverines emerging as champions after beating University of Connecticut, 69–63, denying the Huskies a third consecutive crown.
It is only the second national title for the Wolverines in 37 years and eases the pain of six Finals heartbreaks, including four in a row between 1992 and 2018. Michigan—distinct from Magic Johnson’s Michigan State —won its first title in 1989, edging Seton Hall in overtime 80–79.
I haven’t closely followed the NCAA Division I men’s basketball tournament in recent years. But an article on the Wolverines by legendary Detroit Free Press columnist Mitch Albom, author of the best-selling “Tuesdays with Morrie,” brought back a flood of memories from old Sports Illustrated features and grainy championship footage.
Unforgettable among them was the game-winning 16-foot jumper by a 19-year-old freshman named Michael Jordan, lifting the North Carolina Tar Heels past the Georgetown Hoyas and Patrick Ewing 63–62, in the 1982 Finals. As a side note, that was the year this publication, Tempo, was born.
Then there was the “Perfect Game” engineered by coach Rollie Massimino, with Ed Pinckney leading the eighth-seed Villanova Wildcats to a 66–64 shocker over Georgetown in the 1985 championship. Two years later came Keith Smart’s baseline jumper with four seconds remaining, delivering coach
Bob Knight’s Indiana Hoosiers a 74–73 victory over the Syracuse Orangemen in the 1987 title game.
Not all were nail-biters. Most notable was the one-sided 1990 championship, when the UNLV Running Rebels—powered by Larry Johnson and coached by Jerry Tarkanian, famous for chewing on his towel on the bench—routed the Duke Blue Devils by 30 points, 103–73.
Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski could only lament his team’s helplessness. Coach K would avenge that humiliating loss the following year, when Duke eliminated UNLV in the Final Four and went on to win the title against Kansas. The Blue Devils then repeated in 1992—against, of course, Michigan.
Amid all those riveting championships, however, one stands out—partly because of an inside account I later heard about its dramatic finish.
It was the 1983 national championship between the North Carolina State Wolfpack and the Houston Cougars: the “Cardiac Pack” versus “Phi Slama Jama,” featuring future NBA greats Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler, along with Michael Young and Benny Anders.
With the score tied at 52 and NC State holding for the last shot, guard Dereck Whittenburg launched a desperate 30-footer just before time expired. The shot fell short, and Olajuwon appeared ready to grab the rebound.
But he never jumped.
Instead, 6-foot-7 forward Lorenzo Charles—who had scored only two points up to that moment—rose, caught the ball midair, and dunked it as the buzzer sounded, igniting pandemonium led by coach Jim Valvano. (Thank the gods of online video—YouTube—for preserving that moment.)
Three years later, when Houston’s Benny Anders came to the Philippines to play for Tanduay Rhum in the PBA, he guested at a weekly SCOOP sa Kamayan session. During a break, I managed to ask him a lingering question.
Why didn’t Olajuwon jump?
Anders smiled and explained, in essence, “Olajuwon could have—but after being called for goaltending earlier in the game, he hesitated, fearing another whistle. So he held back.”
Immortalized on the cover of Sports Illustrated—Charles slamming the ball home while Olajuwon looks on helplessly—that moment remains frozen in time, a lasting symbol of what March Madness is all about.
