Fifty years after they met for the NCAA championship, Marquette will face NC State again

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Monday marked the 50th anniversary of the last meeting between North Carolina State and Marquette in the NCAA Tournament, a clash that decided the 1974 NCAA championship. The two programs will renew acquaintances in the Sweet 16 on Friday in Dallas.

The 76-64 win for the Wolfpack on March 25, 1974, nonetheless marked a big step forward for MU, though a subplot for those following college athletics.

That’s because N.C. State, ranked No. 1 in the country, squared off with seven-time reigning national champion (and No. 2-ranked) UCLA in the semifinal. N.C. State won in double overtime, 80-77, despite 29 points and 18 rebounds from UCLA superstar Bill Walton. For good measure, UCLA would win the following title, too, for a run of eight crowns in nine years and nine in 11.

But Marquette was three years away from its own title, in 1977. Here’s what you may know (or not) about the 1974 run to the title game:

In March 1974, well-wishers and jubilant fans turned out at Mitchell Field to greet Al McGuire and the Marquette basketball team on its return from Tuscaloosa, Alabama where they won the NCAA Mideast Regional crown.

More: From Al McGuire’s temper to a donnybrook involving ‘The Black Swan,’ Marquette has seen memorable top-5 clashes

It was essentially a home game for N.C. State

The Final Four — it wasn’t called that yet; more on that in a second — took place that year in Greensboro, North Carolina, less than an hour and a half from the N.C. State campus in Raleigh. As you can imagine, the environment was decidedly pro-Wolfpack inside the Greensboro Coliseum.

The location had been chosen for the 1974 semifinals and final four years earlier.

It had already been a wild year for Marquette

This was the year coach Al McGuire jumped on a scorer’s table after Marquette won a thriller over Wisconsin.

Then came a nail-biting journey that got Marquette to the national semifinal in the first place, a 72-70 win over Michigan.

Michigan star Campy Russell had two looks just before the buzzer…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/fifty-years-met-ncaa-championship-192605806.html

Author : Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Publish date : 2024-03-25 19:26:05

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