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This Day In Sports…March 24, 1974:
North Carolina State wins the NCAA Tournament, edging Marquette 76-74 at Greensboro, NC, in the first title game since 1966 that didn’t include UCLA. The Wolfpack was led by the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player, David Thompson, who scored 21 points. The game turned late in the first half when legendary Marquette coach (and future broadcaster) Al McGuire picked up two technical fouls in just 2½ minutes. North Carolina State then took the lead with a 10-0 run and didn’t look back. It was the first national championship in NC State history.
It was the 28 points Thompson put up a day earlier that had an even bigger impact, though. N.C. State’s semifinal win over UCLA was historic. The Bruins had won seven straight national championships and 38 consecutive games in the tournament. But the Wolfpack overcame a double-digit hole in the second half and a seven-point deficit in the second overtime to bring down UCLA 80-77 in a thriller.
NC State’s 7-4 center, Tom Burleson, was a huge (literally) part of the victory, netting 20 points with 14 rebounds. But that hardly made Bruins superstar Bill Walton go away, as the Big Redhead notched 29 points and 18 boards. Walton would later call that loss the most disappointing of his career—high school, college or pro. Walton was a senior, but that wasn’t his final game. In those days, there was a national third-place game pitting the Final Four’s losing teams against each other. The Bruins beat Kansas 78-61 for the consolation prize.
UCLA came back to win the national crown in 1975 in John Wooden’s final season as coach. Wooden announced his retirement immediately following the Bruins’ 92-85 victory over Kentucky. North Carolina State has captured one national title since its landmark 1974 championship—that was in 1983, when the Wolfpack upset Houston at the buzzer and the late Jim Valvano ran around the court looking for someone to hug.
(Tom Scott hosts the Scott Slant segment during the football season on KTVB’s Sunday Sports Extra. He also anchors four sports segments each weekday on 95.3 FM KTIK and one on News/Talk KBOI. His Scott Slant column runs every Wednesday.)
