The 1983 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament involved 52 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball. The 45th annual edition of the tournament began on March 17, 1983, and ended with the championship game on April 4 at The Pit, then officially known as University Arena, on the campus of the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. A total of 51 games were played.
North Carolina State, coached by Jim Valvano, won the national title with a 54–52 victory in the final game over Houston, coached by Guy Lewis. The ending of the final game is one of the most famous in college basketball history, with a buzzer-beating dunk by Lorenzo Charles off a desperation shot from 30 feet out by Dereck Whittenburg. This would also be NC State's last appearance in the Final Four until 2024.
Both Charles's dunk and Valvano's running around the court in celebration immediately after the game have been staples of NCAA tournament coverage ever since. North Carolina State's victory has often been considered one of the greatest upsets in college basketball history, and is the fourth biggest point-spread upset in Championship Game history.
Akeem Olajuwon of Houston was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player, becoming the last player to date to earn this award while playing for a team that failed to win the national title.
National championship game
In the final game, played in Albuquerque, New Mexico, NC State led at halftime by a score of 33–25. Houston was hampered by foul trouble that plagued star Clyde Drexler, who picked up four first half fouls. In the second half, the Cougars came out with a second wind and established control of the game, eventually taking a seven-point lead.
However, things were not all good for Houston. Since the game was played in Albuquerque, players had to deal with the city's mile-high altitude. The Cougars' star center, Akeem Olajuwon, had problems adjusting to the environment and tired quickly, needing to check out of the game multiple times so he could put on an oxygen mask and recover. With Olajuwon on the bench, Houston head coach Guy Lewis decided that in order to protect the lead and the health of his big man at the same time, the Cougars needed to start slowing the game down.
Once again, this enabled the Wolfpack to return to their standby strategy of extending the game. Houston's free throw shooting was very suspect entering the game, which worked greatly in NC State's favor as they were able to rally back and even the score at 52 in the final two minutes. On what would be the last Houston possession, Valvano called for his players to back off and let freshman guard Alvin Franklin bring the ball up the court. The Wolfpack defenders would let the Cougars employ their slowdown strategy of passing it around. Once the ball got back to Franklin he was to be fouled immediately. With 1:05 left, the freshman was fouled and sent to the line for a one-and-one. The idea to foul Franklin sprung from the enormity of the moment; NC State believed that the relatively inexperienced Franklin could not withstand the pressure of going to the line with the championship at stake and knowing that fifty million viewers were tuned in to watch the game. The theory proved correct as Franklin failed to convert and the Wolfpack grabbed the rebound. Valvano called timeout with 44 seconds left and drew up a play for senior guard Dereck Whittenburg during the timeout, which called for the team to pass him the ball with ten seconds left on the clock so he could take the final shot.
Houston needed a defensive stop so they could get another chance to close out the game. Lewis decided to move from the man-to-man defense his team had been running the whole game to a half court zone trap defense. The Wolfpack, who were not expecting the defensive adjustment, were forced to deviate and began passing the ball around just to keep the Cougars from stealing it. Houston nearly got the turnover it was looking for when Whittenburg made an errant pass to Terry Gannon that Drexler nearly came away with before the sophomore regained control of the ball. The ball eventually wound up in the hands of guard Sidney Lowe, who gave it to forward and fellow senior Thurl Bailey in the corner.
Trying to keep the ball moving, as he had been double teamed as soon as he received the pass, Bailey looked back toward Whittenburg, who was approximately thirty feet away from the hoop near midcourt. Bailey threw what Whittenburg would later call a "poor fundamental" overhanded pass which Houston's Benny Anders, guarding Whittenburg on the play, was in position to steal. At this point, Whittenburg hearkened back to his high school days with Morgan Wootten at DeMatha Catholic High School, where he was taught to always catch the basketball with both hands. If Whittenburg had not attempted to do so in this case, Anders may have gotten the steal and a game-winning breakaway layup. In college basketball at the time, the game clock continued to run after a made field goal, and the Wolfpack likely would not have had time even to inbound the ball. As it was, Anders knocked the ball out of Whittenburg's hands, but Whittenburg quickly regained control.
The clock, meanwhile, had ticked down to five seconds and Whittenburg was still standing a significant distance from the goal. Once he regained control, Whittenburg turned and launched a desperation shot, later claimed by Whittenburg to be a pass, to try and win the game for NC State. The shot's trajectory took it to the front of the basket where Olajuwon was covering Wolfpack center Lorenzo Charles. As he watched the shot, Olajuwon said he knew the shot was going to come up short but he also did not want to go for the ball too early because of the potential for goaltending. Charles took advantage of the indecision by Olajuwon and went up for the air ball, and, in one motion, he scored the go-ahead points with a two-handed dunk. The final second ticked off the clock before Houston could inbound the ball (the rule which stops the clock on a made basket in the last minute of the second half and any overtime period(s) was not adopted until the 1993–94 season), and with that, the game ended, and the Wolfpack were the national champions.
Schedule and venues
The following are the sites that were selected to host each round of the 1983 tournament:
Opening Round March 15 East & West Regions Palestra, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (Hosts: University of Pennsylvania, Ivy League) Mideast & Midwest Regions University of Dayton Arena, Dayton, Ohio (Host: University of Dayton)
First and Second Rounds March 17 and 19 East Region Greensboro Coliseum, Greensboro, North Carolina (Host: Atlantic Coast Conference) Mideast Region USF Sun Dome, Tampa, Florida (Host: University of South Florida) Midwest Region The Summit, Houston, Texas (Hosts: University of Houston, Rice University, Southwest Conference) West Region BSU Pavilion, Boise, Idaho (Host: Boise State University) March 18 and 20 East Region Hartford Civic Center, Hartford, Connecticut (Host: University of Connecticut) Mideast Region Roberts Municipal Stadium, Evansville, Indiana (Hosts: University of Evansville, Midwestern City Conference) Midwest Region Freedom Hall, Louisville, Kentucky (Host: University of Louisville) West Region Gill Coliseum, Corvallis, Oregon (Host: Oregon State University)
Regional semifinals and finals (Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight) March 24 and 26 Mideast Regional, Stokely Athletic Center, Knoxville, Tennessee (Host: University of Tennessee) West Regional, Dee Events Center, Ogden, Utah (Host: Weber State University) March 25 and 27 East Regional, Carrier Dome, Syracuse, New York (Host: Syracuse University) Midwest Regional, Kemper Arena, Kansas City, Missouri (Host: Big 8 Conference)
National semifinals and championship (Final Four and championship) April 2 and 4 University Arena ("The Pit"), Albuquerque, New Mexico (Host: University of New Mexico)
Teams Region Seed Team Coach Conference Finished Final Opponent Score East East 1 St. John's Lou Carnesecca Big East Sweet Sixteen4 GeorgiaL 70–67 East 2 North Carolina Dean Smith ACC Regional Runner-up4 GeorgiaL 82–77 East 3 Ohio State Eldon Miller Big Ten Sweet Sixteen2 North CarolinaL 64–51 East 4 Georgia Hugh Durham SEC Final Four6 NC StateL 67–60 East 5 VCU J.D. Barnett Sun Belt Second Round4 GeorgiaL 56–54 East 6 Syracuse Jim Boeheim Big East Second Round3 Ohio StateL 79–74 East 7 West Virginia Gale Catlett Atlantic 10 First round10 James MadisonL 57–50 East 8 Southwestern Louisiana Bobby Paschal Independent First round9 RutgersL 60–53 East 9 Rutgers Tom Young Atlantic 10 Second Round1 St. John'sL 66–55 East 10 James Madison Lou Campanelli ECAC South Second Round2 North CarolinaL 68–49 East 11 Morehead State Wayne Martin Ohio Valley First round6 SyracuseL 74–59 East 12 Boston University Rick Pitino ECAC North Preliminary Round12 La SalleL 70–58 East 12 La Salle Lefty Ervin East Coast First round5 VCUL 76–67 Mideast Mideast 1 Louisville Denny Crum Metro Final Four1 HoustonL 94–81 Mideast 2 Indiana Bob Knight Big Ten Sweet Sixteen3 KentuckyL 64–59 Mideast 3 Kentucky Joe B. Hall SEC Regional Runner-up1 LouisvilleL 80–68 Mideast 4 Arkansas Eddie Sutton Southwest Sweet Sixteen1 LouisvilleL 65–63 Mideast 5 Purdue Gene Keady Big Ten Second Round4 ArkansasL 78–68 Mideast 6 Illinois State Bob Donewald Missouri Valley First round11 OhioL 51–49 Mideast 7 Oklahoma Billy Tubbs Big Eight Second Round2 IndianaL 63–49 Mideast 8 Tennessee Don DeVoe SEC Second Round1 LouisvilleL 70–57 Mideast 9 Marquette Hank Raymonds Independent First round8 TennesseeL 57–56 Mideast 10 UAB Gene Bartow Sun Belt First round7 OklahomaL 71–63 Mideast 11 Ohio Danny Nee MAC Second Round3 KentuckyL 57–40 Mideast 12 Georgia Southern Frank Kerns Trans America Preliminary Round12 Robert MorrisL 64–54 Mideast 12 Robert Morris Matt Furjanic ECAC Metro First round5 PurdueL 55–53 Midwest Midwest 1 Houston Guy Lewis Southwest Runner Up 6 NC StateL 54–52 Midwest 2 Missouri Norm Stewart Big Eight Second Round7 IowaL 77–63 Midwest 3 Villanova Rollie Massimino Big East Regional Runner-up1 HoustonL 89–71 Midwest 4 Memphis State (vacated) Dana Kirk Metro Sweet Sixteen1 HoustonL 70–63 Midwest 5 Georgetown John Thompson Big East Second Round4 Memphis StateL 66–57 Midwest 6 Alabama Wimp Sanderson SEC First round11 LamarL 73–50 Midwest 7 Iowa Lute Olson Big Ten Sweet Sixteen3 VillanovaL 55–54 Midwest 8 Maryland Lefty Driesell ACC Second Round1 HoustonL 60–50 Midwest 9 Chattanooga Murray Arnold Southern First round8 MarylandL 52–51 Midwest 10 Utah State Rod Tueller Pacific Coast First round7 IowaL 64–59 Midwest 11 Lamar Pat Foster Southland Second Round3 VillanovaL 60–58 Midwest 12 Alcorn State Davey Whitney SWAC First round5 GeorgetownL 68–63 Midwest 12 Xavier Bob Staak Midwestern City Preliminary Round12 Alcorn StateL 81–75 West West 1 Virginia Terry Holland ACC Regional Runner-up6 NC StateL 63–62 West 2 UCLA Larry Farmer Pacific-10 Second Round10 UtahL 67–61 West 3 UNLV Jerry Tarkanian Pacific Coast Second Round6 NC StateL 71–70 West 4 Boston College Gary Williams Big East Sweet Sixteen1 VirginiaL 95–92 West 5 Oklahoma State Paul Hansen Big Eight First round12 PrincetonL 56–53 West 6 NC State Jim Valvano ACC Champion1 HoustonW 54–52 West 7 Illinois Lou Henson Big Ten First round10 UtahL 52–49 West 8 Washington State George Raveling Pacific-10 Second Round1 VirginiaL 54–49 West 9 Weber State Neil McCarthy Big Sky First round8 Washington StateL 62–52 West 10 Utah Jerry Pimm WAC Sweet Sixteen6 NC StateL 75–56 West 11 Pepperdine Jim Harrick West Coast First round6 NC StateL 69–67 West 12 North Carolina A&T Don Corbett MEAC Preliminary Round12 PrincetonL 53–41 West 12 Princeton Pete Carril Ivy League Second Round4 Boston CollegeL 51–42
Bracket * – Denotes overtime period
Preliminary round