In honor of the now-annual cultural and sports ritual known as March Madness, the MediaLog presents this pair of video clips from the 1983 NCAA men's basketball championship. Until the early-1980s, the NCAA tournament was a much smaller affair than it has become in the decades since. The 1979 championship game between Magic Johnson's Michigan State Spartans and Larry Bird's Indiana State Sycamores (won by Michigan State) raised the tournament's profile greatly, and by 1985 the tournament had expanded to the 60-plus team size it has been ever since.
The 1983 championship was a match-up between the North Carolina State Wolfpack, coached by Jim Valvano, and the Houston Cougars, best known that year for their group of players (including future NBA stars Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler) nicknamed "Phi Slama Jama." Valvano's Wolfpack pulled out a last-second upset over the favored Houston team. The first clip is a network preview package by sportscaster Dick Schaap that consists mainly of interview footage with Valvano. The second clip is the last minute or so of the championship game itself, with the customary immediate post-game jubilation.
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