WOLFPACK HAZES PHI SLAMMA JAMA
The University of Houston basketball team had been in the NCAA Final-Four three straight seasons. At their level of ascendancy weaker NBA teams would have taken them seriously. Houston’s two leading players, the commanding center Hakeem Olajuwon and the smooth and explosive forward Clyde “The Glide” Drexler, would soon become NBA all-stars. Houston arrived at the 1983 national championship game riding a 25-game win streak and owning a reputation as fast-break dunking demons known by the catchy faux-fraternity nickname Phi Slama Jamma. The odds-makers loved Houston, and they looked unbeatable.
Houston’s underdog opponent in the title game was the North Carolina State Wolfpack coached by the clever and inspirational Jim Valvano. N.C. State took Houston’s game away by playing tenacious defense, cutting off the fast-break lanes, and keeping the score close. During halftime in the locker room they chanted “No slama jamma”.
Houston led by four points late when N.C. State’s Dereck Whittenburg hit two long jumpers to tie. Houston had possession with seconds remaining, but N.C. State stole the ball, and Whittenburg launched a long jumper. Teammate Lorenzo Charles grabbed the air ball and stuffed a buzzer-beater for the national championship. North Carolina State’s glutinous defense and telepathic shooting closed down Phi Slama Jamma with the ultimate fraternity hazing, and the Wolfpack’s improbable upset became a basketball legend.
At game’s end the emotional Jim Valvano rushed around looking for someone to hug, but the players were too busy hugging each other. Valvano later became a broadcaster and motivational speaker. Sadly, he died at age 47 after a yearlong battle with cancer.
Clyde Drexler entered the NBA draft, and without him the University of Houston lacked the depth to hold off Georgetown and Patrick Ewing in the 1984 NCAA Championship game. Following the loss, Hakeem Olajuwon gave up his final year of college eligibility to enter the NBA draft. Given the departure of talent and two straight title-game losses the Phi Slama Jamma era was over, and the University of Houston basketball team went back to being the Cougars.
In 12 seasons with Portland, Drexler was an eight-time All Star and led the Trailblazers to the NBA Finals in 1990 and 1992. After being traded to Houston in 1995, Drexler was reunited with college teammate Hakeem Olujawon, and helped lead the Rockets to the franchise's second NBA championship.⁷
7 Courtesy of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame,
OVER 75% CHANCE OF STEADY RAIN
Philadelphia is college basketball’s steamiest hotbed. The Big Five: LaSalle, Penn, St. Joseph’s, Temple, and Villanova scrap like hellhounds for city supremacy. The closest thing to it in college sports is Boston’s Beanpot Tourney where the Boston College, Harvard, Boston University, and Northeastern hockey teams bloody the ice trying to win the coveted trophy.
The 1985 Villanova basketball team, led by their colorful and effective coach, Rollie Massamino, clawed their way to the top of Philadelphia college basketball, competed fiercely in the Big East Conference, got into the NCAA playoffs, and although not ranked in the top 15 teams went all the way to the championship game. Like N.C. State two years earlier, Villanova faced a colossus. Georgetown was hugely talented and heavily favored to win their second straight title, with the seven-foot, future-NBA-superstar Patrick Ewing dominating as the top college center in the country. To make the odds against Big East rival Villanova even longer, the Hoyas had beaten them twice during the regular season. But both games were tight, and that had to be on the minds of the Georgetown players and coach John Thompson.
Although the shot clock was used during the regular season, it was not used in the tournament. Villanova played deliberate basketball, took high-percentage shots, made few mistakes, and used Massamino’s flexible defensive setups to keep Georgetown from breaking out. Villanova center Ed Pinckney played the game of his life against Ewing, and the Villanova players hit a stream of clutch free throws in the closing minutes to seal a phenomenal 66-64 upset. Oh, almost forgot, Villanova shot over 75% from the floor, and that steady rain surely dampened Georgetown’s spirits.
Excerpted from the print and e-Book Guts in the Clutch: 77 Legendary Triumphs, Heartbreaks and Wild Finishes in 12 Sports with a Foreword by Drew Olson of ESPN.
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