I am so fortunate to have been born and raised in Boston. I've been to so many games at the Garden to watch "Larry Legend" school so many great NBA legends including Barkley, Magic, Jordan, Malone, Pippen, Dr. J., I. Thomas, Sampson, and that animal, Laimbeer! But the best was the game between Bird and Wilkins! Man, that was most definitely a show! Dominique was an amazing player that's for sure. But Larry just "out- lasted" him. And when Bird stole the inbound pass from Thomas in the playoffs, that was just vintage Bird never, ever quitting! Larry Bird is quite simply the greatest "all-around" player the NBA has ever seen. Period!
Love Coach Meyer’s comment at the end: “No matter how we tried to tell our boys not to turn their heads on Bird when he gets the ball, they still do it.” Lol! Easier said than done, Coach. Meyer was a Chicago icon who was in his 37th season at DePaul at the time! Those were indeed different times.
I was attending ISU in 1976 to 1978 and watched as a young upstart Larry Bird brought the Hulman Center consistent full houses at every home game. We knew we were watching a superstar in the making but would never know the magnitude of the heights he was going to reach. Best basketball player of all time.
@@jamescress yeah the 2020's fucking suck lol.....hopefully we can't get back to those golden days. At least I got to be a kid during the 90's, poor kids these days.
Larry Legend Stats: 35 pts on 16/19 shooting, 3/4 FT's, 16 Rebounds, & 9 assists.....should have been at least 12 if his teammates would have hit lay-ups. I remember watching this game as a kid. I was 10 years old. My dad was an ISU grad from Terre Haute. He said, "you have to come watch this guy play." He was right, I became a Bird fan that night and was for his 13 years in Boston. GOAT
That was one of Larry's greatest performances ever college and pro! I believe he would have scored over 40 in this game had the 3 point shot existed at the time!
The years of the late 1970’s until the early 1990’s were a magical time of Blue Demon basketball! From the age of 3, I remember watching games at the historic Alumni Hall throughout the late 1970’s. My father was a professor at DePaul and my family would enjoy season tickets at the Rosemont Horizon. I remember seeing Coach Ray Meyer (DePaul) license plate in Three Lakes, Wisconsin where he had his boys basketball camp on Little Fork Lake. My family had a cottage on Island Lake just next door (chain of 28 interconnected lakes) and we could boat to Meyer’s camp within minutes. Those were awesome memories. Thanks for posting this!
Had the pleasure of watching the 1979 season on my new cable tv in 79. There was a superstation out of Indianapolis that broadcast their season that year . The wildest game that year was Brad Heaton hitting a 50 footer at the buzzer to beat New Mexico St. Bird had fouled out and everybody thought their undefeated season was ending that day. People forget that Heaton, Nicks and Miley were great roll players and played a big part in them going to the championship game against MSU
I was living in Terre Haute in 79 as a young kid. To say that team changed our city is a huge understatement. The energy an excitement was amazing. I wish it had happened in my college days, but I followed LB for the next 13 years and missed only a few games. I think he brought more to a team than any player ever. His stats were amazing but don't include the intangibles. His intangibles separated him from rest of his era. Jordan was as valuable, just different. Magic was great but also had considerably more support. Russel and Wilt were before my time. Safe to say they with Kareem are the best 6 ever. If I was building a team, I would take LB first. Could do it all at an elite level and as impressively, made his team WAY better than they would have been. To say a guy made McHale, Parish, Ainge, Johnson, Walton... way better is saying a lot. He did. They, without Larry, would not have made the finals.
I was born in 79! Lol. Always wished I was born a little sooner. But it could be worse I could've been born a little later! Atleast I grew up before the technology boom!
I had the pleasure of meeting Ray Meyer while attended DePaul between 1976 and 1981. He was humble, gracious, and higly friendly...God bless him RIP....I was lucky enough to be season ticket holder during those years. Great game...i had a feeling Bird would beat us...but it was a great year for DePaul ...going to the Final Four ....they actually eon the also ran ran between them and PittPenn..so the award given to the school shows themin 3rd place!!!
I watched this game as a 12 year old and was locked to that screen. Bird and DePaul were both must see TV back then. And the country couldn't wait to see Bird vs Magic.
All the subtle parts of Birds game were on full display in this game the head fakes, touches passes, rebounding. He was crushing a pretty good DePaul squad on offense. It took a complete team effort from Michigan State to stop him.
Loved the interview with the DePaul coach at the end. His priorities were in order. He was able to be gracious and upbeat. He knew the game could have went either way. Nowadays, there's so much money tied up into sports and the coaches make so much money. It's hard to tell if they enjoy coaching or just the money, prestige and power that comes with it.
Ray Meyer had class. Most coaches today can be described as crass, not class. That period, the 1970s and early '80s, was college basketball at its height.
Great to see this game again. The finals between ISU and MSU is still the most watched game ever. It was a great time to be a basketball fan as Bird and Magic brought the same excitement to the NBA.
The 2 greatest Final Four games U saw was the 1979 DePaul versus Indiana State game and the 1989 Illinois versus Michigan game. That 1979 game saw freshman Mark Aguirre set a freshman scoring mark of 38 while Larry Bird had 37. There was one play in this game I can never forget. Bird flashed across the paint, received a entry pass, flip it over his opposite shoulder to Alex Gilbert in what should have been a easy score and Gilbert missed the layup . Prettiest pass I had ever seen
I remember watching this game. I was 15 and although Larry Bird was the main attraction that freshman for De Paul caught my eye and continued to follow him.Mark Aguirre is my favorite player.And when he joined the Pistons....yeah.
Bird looking buff. It’s obvious that when he was healthy he was a way better athlete than given credit for; all those injuries marred his game terribly, and he was still an MVP
@@dabneyoffermein595 The first injury was a broken finger that never healed properly which he suffered after college but before the NBA. That affected his shooting touch for the rest of his life. Later he injured his back a season or two before he hit his prime. It happened during the off-season and would eventually lead to his retirement but he played with it for several years. It basically put pressure on his spinal cord and caused immense pain on a good days and prevented him from even feeling his feet while playing on bad days. He also had double Achilles surgery if I remember correctly. He also had a ton of concussions including one where his eye popped out of his skull.
@@bobthabuilda1525 holy crap, i can't imagine what he would have been like at Boston without all of those injuries, especially early on with that bad digit, he should have gone to the Indiana Hand Clinic, which is/was #1 in the country. I don't know why he didn't go there to have it re-broken and fixed, ...yea, it would have cost him 3/4 of a season, but it would have been worth it to see him shoot 60 percent from the field.
@@dabneyoffermein595 I couldnt say for sure, but I'd guess the reason was that he hadn't signed his contract with Boston yet and they were worried that he would be "damaged goods" (a term I heard Red Auerbach himself use in an interview). If he would have lost any significant time he might have missed out on the contract.
@@bobthabuilda1525 Don't forget than fight at a Boston bar during (or before, can't remember) the 84-85 season. He hurted his hand, struggled with his shooting and I've read somewhere that it was a key factor for the Celtic's loss in the finals.
and in true Bird fashion he was not even the first player to touch the ball nor the last and he was not even the one to score, yet he was the star of the play
@MANCHESTER UNITED F.C I hope you are right. It's annoying that only basketball is only 5 players on the court and only 30 teams. What use is a sport that only 150 people can play?
I was a student at ISU during that time and they started many games in that exact fashion and we knew it was coming. I was astounded that teams didn't see that on tape and come up with a way to counter it.
I loved Billy Packer because he loved and knew the history of the game. He would allways point out historical games at venue sites. These guys today can't find the highway.
This was the tournament that transformed postseason college basketball from a curiosity into a national event. There was no "March Madness" before 1979. Only 40 teams were invited, and there was still a third-place game between the two semifinal losers. It was rare indeed that two superstars the magnitude of Bird and Magic would meet in an NCAA final, and while it certainly wasn't the greatest championship ever played, few games impacted college basketball the way that one did. This was also the last Final Four to be played in an on-campus arena--the University of Utah, although subsequent Final Fours have been held at a school's primary off-campus arena. Given the use of domed stadiums for most Final Fours now, this tournament will likely stand as the last on-campus Final Four.
It was strange to see a traveling call. Today: palming, carrying, eurostep, three step layups, step back , changing pivot foot. And refs that are afraid to call the violation.
@@orange22ify I didnt know what that meant? Then my girl told me its the newest shortcut to thinking for your generation! The most bitch made generation to ever walk the earth! Feminine males and masculine women! I was born in 89 by the way and am probably younger than you! Well age wise anyway!
Yeah, but he was NOWHERE near 6'8" like Bryant Gumbel said at the beginning. Closer to 6'4" - 6'5" tops. But an underrated player who averaged 20 pts for his career and got back to back rings as a key player on the Bad Boy Pistons. A prototypical scoring forward who could play inside/out.
@@Israel-nb7ip IF THE CELTICS STAY HEALTHY THROUGH THE 80'S INTO THE 90'S NOT ONLY THE LAKERS BUT THE PISTONS MIGHT NOT HAVE WON ANY CHAMPIONSHIPS NOT TO MENTION MJ & THE BULLS LOSING THE FIRST 3 RINGS ESPECIALLY WITH BIAS BEING WITH THE CELTICS THROUGH THE EARLY 90'S!!!!!!!!
@@mikebeasley6447 if "if" was a fifth we'd all be drunk...what you're saying is 100% conjecture. Nobody can say what Bias would've turned into. He could've been a bust like most players from that '86 class. Reggie Lewis was born with a genetic heart defect so no amount of what ifs will change that. The only part I may agree are the Bird and McHale injuries which were 100% self-induced...but, still, even with both of them fully healthy, the Pistons were ready to win and had the roster to match...and the Jordan Bulls were just the next stage of NBA basketball, which was a team where their two best players were two-way perimeter monsters with one of them being the best to ever play the game. I don't see how an older Bird Celtics matches up with that if Bias (an unproven NBA player) and Reggie Lewis (who still had that heart condition) are your two best players. Also, Reggie Lewis didn't come into his own until '92-'93 when Bird would've been 36 years old, Parish 37 and McHale 35. That team wasn't going to beat a prime Jordan, Pippen and their supporting cast.
@@Israel-nb7ip BELIEVE WHAT YOU WANT BUT LARRY LEGEND WITHOUT THE BACK PROBLEM DID NOT NEED NEAR AS MUCH HELP AS THE DISABLED VERSION OF HIMSELF REQUIRED! STILL HE CONTINUOUSLY HAD TRIPLE DOUBLES AGAINST ANY & ALL!!!!!! WITH JUST A LITTLE HELP MANY MORE CHAMPIONSHIPS WERE NOT ONLY POSSIBLE BUT PROBABLE!!!!!!!!! I HAVE LOVED THE NBA SINCE 1963 BUT TRUTH BE TOLD WITHOUT LARRY LEGEND & MAGIC IT IS EXTREMELY POSSIBLE THAT THE NBA WOULD HAVE REMAINED A FOOTNOTE IN MODERN SPORTS HISTORY!!!!!!!!!
Many people forgot during his NBA career that Bird was a natural lefty. He shot right-handed, pitched baseball right-handed but signed his checks left-handed. He was as close to being ambidextrous as could be.
College basketball back in the day where was no 3 point line, no shot clock, and no fouls called every 5 seconds. Just great fluid basketball playing by both teams.
Watched ISU play Creighton in 1979. Had never heard of Bird before. The guy was unstoppable. Everything he threw up was going in, no one could guard him. I think he had 39 points that night. I think pre 3 point days. Need to check the records.
Bird was the most skilled player his size in history. I didn’t say the “best” player. Just had the best basketball IQ , shooting and passing skills ever. Combined with his toughness and leadership the man was on another level. Bobby Knight said Bird had the greatest hand eye coordination in basketball history. That’s THE Bobby Knight. High praise. Edit: love hearing Al McGuires old school NYC accent.
@@telefunkenyou47 1987 Eastern Semifinal between Celtics and Bucks. Six of top eight players of Celtics were injured. Line-up of Celtics were called: Conner Henry Darren Daye Sam Vincent Greg Kite Bucks assistant coach John Killilea said : They are just average players ( implicating Bucks could beat them) Right then, the announcer called the Celtics 5th player - - - Larry Bird! Don Nelson, the head coach of Bucks, replied to his assistant: "Yes, but look now - there are five great players standing there" Don Nelson knew very well that Larry Bird could turn average players into great players. Source: My Favorites quotes about Larry Bird
Larry and Magic completely changed the game with a pass first mentality. Pistol, Bird, Magic and Jason Williams are the best passers in league history, thats the list.
I was at this game. Bird had one of the greatest games of all time. MSU nuked Penn off the court in the first game, 101-67. On the bus ride from the U-Utah campus to downtown SLC after the game, I sat in a bus seat between Larry Bird's mother and Earvin Johnson's father.
Think about it, Bird played against an Arkansas team with Sidney Moncrief, Depaul with Mark Aguirre, and then a guy named Magic at Michigan State. What competition! Damn
@@Hooozyer I have a feeling he would mostly mention his own shortcomings and great moments by the other guys. But it would be cool to hear his perspective into what really went on in this or that moment.
Interesting to note that both Indiana State and Michigan State had designed plays off the opening tip off and both Bird and Magic were positioned on the other side of the circle to receive that tip and get the ball ahead for a fast break.
lol I didn't think Bird would be as great as he was in NBA, slow, can't jump, boy was I wrong on that one. I underestimated the power of vision and bball IQ
lol...love the interview with the ISU coach who "Built the team and installed all the great drills and hired and mentored all the great coaches who works so good with the kids"...lol...when Larry Bird walked in it was a final four team, without him it was a .450 team.
I could be wrong but I think Bobby Heaton hit the winning shot in that game. I was a senior at Indiana State in 1979. Best time of my life. My wife and now live about 2 hours away from Terre Haute and we go to at least one game a year.
WOW i remember that game but it was better watching the 2nd time!! My god Bird was amazing!! But hes not a ball hog or a glory hog!! It was a shame someone had to lose that last game!! Ive always been a laker fan but i have new found respect for Bird!
Do you all see the difference in Larrys shooting style ; After the season was over he broke his right index finger very badly playing baseball ! After that he said he never had the same feeling of the ball. He changed his mechanics a little bit and if that accident never happened he would be even greater shooter ! One big what if arises there ...
soj. H Yes that opening tip pass by Bird foreshadow of his awesome passing skill to be seen his whole NBA career. Bird is my all-time favorite college/pro bb player.
Bird was the most clutch player in college and the pros. The Celtics were never out of it even when down 12 points with a minute to go how many times did bird orchestrate the win? It’s uncountable. He also was the player who was the best team player and made his teammates the best better than magic Johnson. Johnson had more talent, bird made the average players around him great.
This is why I consider Bird the GOAT, took a bunch of nobodies' to the NCAA Title and 33-1 Record and his Rookie season in the NBA, he took a team and I mean exact same team who won 27 games the year before and won 60 games, Jordan never impacted Chicago like that.
from Chile.... estoy totalmente de acuerdo contigo.... you are right Bird have something that in difficult to explain, he understan the game and mentally strong....
@@ww387gr (1) I got tired typing (2) I wrote that Mark was traded and continued his career in a secondary role winning two NBA titles. The criticism of Aguirre was that he was a ball hog and had a bad attitude. The critics said he wouldn't accept a reduced role and would be a headache for the Pistons. He proved his critics wrong.
@@cygnusx-3217 Don't care - you shouldn't write "career" stats if you leave out the last 5 years of his playing career. That's historical revisionism , basically a nice way of saying you are lying about the past to make Aguirre look better by leaving out his last 5 years of about 10 points a game - maybe the ball hog got old and couldn't score that much anymore.
Bird always looks like a muscular giant in the college footage. Too bad he didn't go in NBA at eighteen years old. Developed his game in college, but would have in NBA, and had more stats. Either way, still the GOAT.
Now the players not only walk with the ball with no penalty, they also travel while running to do dunk shots. Main reason I stopped watching the game, it is now a dunking contest; just need ten 7 ft players on the court that can almost touch the rim.
I'm been playing and watching for almost 50 years, the biggest change in my lifetime, by far, is the number of steps the players get away with now and how much easier that has made it to score. If old timers like Dr J and Connie Hawkins, whose only weakness was their average jump shots, could play with today's rules they would have been completely unstoppable.
I thought I was the only one who saw that. The game today, the pro game sucks especially. Saw one game, not the entire game, but one with LeBron, lost track of the number of times he traveled. Not one call against him. The officiating is abysmal.
The opening tip-off is all we needed to see as evidence of how intellect superceded athleticism. With all things assumed as equal, of course; an athletic intellect remains supreme. That is Bird, btw. He was very athletic, despite the stereotypes.
You know for a fact that any of these teams can beat any WNBA team. Thank god for Coronavirus. I can finally sit back and catch up on games that happened before I was born. I would kill to watch Larry Bird in person.
It's interesting to listen to the props and respect the announcers were giving Bird in college. Even with this being true, little did they know who and what they were witnessing.
5 nba players in this game. sad that carl nicks parents didn't have the money for the plane ticket, ironically nicks was from chicago. he did get 4 years in the nba, unfortunately they didn't make the money back then that they do today. depaul was a powerhouse for a city school back in the day. weird watching a game back with no shot clock or 3 point line. bird was amazing.
Yes, Bob McAdoo. Not saying he was as great a player as Bird but he's a hall of famer, MVP and champion who was a shooting big man before it was popular and dominant in his prime.
It didn't take a genius to see in this game the future GOAT in the NBA! How could a guy who could shoot from the outside, take it to the hoop, block the other team's big guy's inside shots and like the greats who played against Bird in the NBA would say we were all playing checkers while Bird was playing chess!
Bird averaged 10 boards a game in the NBA....playing with the Chief, McHale..Cornbread and Walton at times. Best frontline ever....still got 10 Boards a game.
I think this was the first time I saw Bird. I was 10 years old . I followed the scoring leaders race in the paper cause that's what kids did back then. No social media back then or picts of Bird in the paper. All year I thought Bird was Black!
Joe Cap I had been out of high school for 9 yrs and was working for Coca-Cola and I was also broke. However, I could buy a case of cokes for $3 and buy a coke in the vending machine for a dime. 'In the good ole days, when times were bad.' (Dolly Parton)
I LOVE the old days of "no call" on incidental contact. 14 free throws the entire game, no need to blow the whistle every time someone hits the court. Contact happens in basketball, the BS now where they blow the whistle every time (unless it is Duke charging) sucks.
Miss this era of NCAA tournament games. Seen both Bird and Aguire play personally, great talent even at a younger age, especially Aguire. Al McGuire was usually spot on as an analyst .I don't think Packer cared unless the ACC was involved. Spartans just too much for ISU in the final.
Your host is Bryant Gumbel. The commentators are Dick Enberg, Al MacGuire & Billy Packer. The officials and their duties: Hank Nichols, referee. Gary Muncy, Leonard Wirtz, linesmen.
Basketball used to be great. I quit watching after Bird, Magic, and Michael GOAT retired. The NBA absolutely sucks nowadays. All these players calling each other to form super teams what a joke.
But the nba today is more talented, there were always superteams, Magic/Bird for the 80s Lakers/Celtics super teams? nice try, but they started it and now they perfected it in a much better way with more talent is what was supposed to happen, it doesn't happen just in nba but in other sports aswell, just get over it and enjoy greatness.
Those rims look unfriendly. Watching this again I didn't give the rest of Indiana State--other than Larry Bird enough credit. They were better than I remember. In addition to traveling calls I think more charging calls. Watching today's final 8 it seems like they're letting them play more in today's college game. Curtis Watkins a year behind me at my high school.
Loved coach Ray Meyer, always a great interview on TV.....hated he always took a no. 1 rated team to the NCAA (in the early 80's) and then got upset in the 1st or 2nd round. Mark Aguirre took a lot of the heat, as I recall.
You're absolutely right! The next 3 DePaul teams, after this season, only lost one regular season game each season and drew a #1 seed in the NCAA tournament and lost their very first game in the tournament each time. It's like they were snake bitten the moment they entered the NCAA tournament!
I am so fortunate to have been born and raised in Boston. I've been to so many games at the Garden to watch "Larry Legend" school so many great NBA legends including Barkley, Magic, Jordan, Malone, Pippen, Dr. J., I. Thomas, Sampson, and that animal, Laimbeer! But the best was the game between Bird and Wilkins! Man, that was most definitely a show! Dominique was an amazing player that's for sure. But Larry just "out- lasted" him. And when Bird stole the inbound pass from Thomas in the playoffs, that was just vintage Bird never, ever quitting! Larry Bird is quite simply the greatest "all-around" player the NBA has ever seen. Period!
I was so fortunate to be at ISU in the late 70's'. Best time in my life.
I'm from french lick born and raised. I know what you mean
@@TylerSmith-fu2rp Hey there Tyler!
😊
LARRY SAID THAT HONOR BELONGS TO MAGIC. FACTS. ARE U SAYING YOUR WORD IS LAW FOR LARRY??,
Love Coach Meyer’s comment at the end: “No matter how we tried to tell our boys not to turn their heads on Bird when he gets the ball, they still do it.” Lol! Easier said than done, Coach. Meyer was a Chicago icon who was in his 37th season at DePaul at the time! Those were indeed different times.
I was attending ISU in 1976 to 1978 and watched as a young upstart Larry Bird brought the Hulman Center consistent full houses at every home game. We knew we were watching a superstar in the making but would never know the magnitude of the heights he was going to reach. Best basketball player of all time.
I was at ISU from 1977 to 1980. One of the best times of my life.
@@jamescress yeah the 2020's fucking suck lol.....hopefully we can't get back to those golden days. At least I got to be a kid during the 90's, poor kids these days.
Incredible player, but MJ is the GOAT!!!
Larry was great but did you see magic play ?
Magic was a special player too and deserves to be ranked near the top. @@djBangzWell
Larry Legend Stats: 35 pts on 16/19 shooting, 3/4 FT's, 16 Rebounds, & 9 assists.....should have been at least 12 if his teammates would have hit lay-ups.
I remember watching this game as a kid. I was 10 years old. My dad was an ISU grad from Terre Haute. He said, "you have to come watch this guy play." He was right, I became a Bird fan that night and was for his 13 years in Boston. GOAT
He was awesome, but you failed to mention his 11 turnovers.
GOAT !
That was one of Larry's greatest performances ever college and pro! I believe he would have scored over 40 in this game had the 3 point shot existed at the time!
Bird has 35 while Mark Aguirre didn’t get 15.
@@geezusgeezus4413 players reaching
The years of the late 1970’s until the early 1990’s were a magical time of Blue Demon basketball! From the age of 3, I remember watching games at the historic Alumni Hall throughout the late 1970’s. My father was a professor at DePaul and my family would enjoy season tickets at the Rosemont Horizon. I remember seeing Coach Ray Meyer (DePaul) license plate in Three Lakes, Wisconsin where he had his boys basketball camp on Little Fork Lake. My family had a cottage on Island Lake just next door (chain of 28 interconnected lakes) and we could boat to Meyer’s camp within minutes. Those were awesome memories. Thanks for posting this!
it took all of his coaching powers to lose that game lol.
Had the pleasure of watching the 1979 season on my new cable tv in 79. There was a superstation out of Indianapolis that broadcast their season that year . The wildest game that year was Brad Heaton hitting a 50 footer at the buzzer to beat New Mexico St. Bird had fouled out and everybody thought their undefeated season was ending that day. People forget that Heaton, Nicks and Miley were great roll players and played a big part in them going to the championship game against MSU
I was living in Terre Haute in 79 as a young kid. To say that team changed our city is a huge understatement. The energy an excitement was amazing. I wish it had happened in my college days, but I followed LB for the next 13 years and missed only a few games. I think he brought more to a team than any player ever. His stats were amazing but don't include the intangibles. His intangibles separated him from rest of his era. Jordan was as valuable, just different. Magic was great but also had considerably more support. Russel and Wilt were before my time. Safe to say they with Kareem are the best 6 ever. If I was building a team, I would take LB first. Could do it all at an elite level and as impressively, made his team WAY better than they would have been. To say a guy made McHale, Parish, Ainge, Johnson, Walton... way better is saying a lot. He did. They, without Larry, would not have made the finals.
One of the greatest NCAA games ever 1979 was a magical year to be alive
1980 wasn't too bad either, with Louisville and the , 'doctors of dunk'
I was born in 79! Lol. Always wished I was born a little sooner. But it could be worse I could've been born a little later! Atleast I grew up before the technology boom!
The most exciting game i ever watched was the 83 championship between Houston and a big underdog in NC State
I had the pleasure of meeting Ray Meyer while attended DePaul between 1976 and 1981. He was humble, gracious, and higly friendly...God bless him RIP....I was lucky enough to be season ticket holder during those years. Great game...i had a feeling Bird would beat us...but it was a great year for DePaul ...going to the Final Four ....they actually eon the also ran ran between them and PittPenn..so the award given to the school shows themin 3rd place!!!
I watched this game as a 12 year old and was locked to that screen. Bird and DePaul were both must see TV back then. And the country couldn't wait to see Bird vs Magic.
JACK I WAS 22 & I WAS JUST AS MESMERIZED!!!!!!! I HAVE BEEN A LIFELONG BASKETBALL MEGAFAN ESPECIALLY WHEN.BIRD & OR MAGIC WAS PLAYING!!!!!!!!!!
I remember watching it as a 10 year old in loogootee Indiana in a trailer park Carl Nick's was a great player
All the subtle parts of Birds game were on full display in this game the head fakes, touches passes, rebounding. He was crushing a pretty good DePaul squad on offense. It took a complete team effort from Michigan State to stop him.
That Classic, complete "No Look" pass by Bird behind his head & neck at about 15:15 of this youtube was AMAZING !
Loved the interview with the DePaul coach at the end. His priorities were in order. He was able to be gracious and upbeat. He knew the game could have went either way. Nowadays, there's so much money tied up into sports and the coaches make so much money. It's hard to tell if they enjoy coaching or just the money, prestige and power that comes with it.
He was George Mikan's coach.
Ray Meyer had class. Most coaches today can be described as crass, not class. That period, the 1970s and early '80s, was college basketball at its height.
Great to see this game again. The finals between ISU and MSU is still the most watched game ever. It was a great time to be a basketball fan as Bird and Magic brought the same excitement to the NBA.
The 2 greatest Final Four games U saw was the 1979 DePaul versus Indiana State game and the 1989 Illinois versus Michigan game.
That 1979 game saw freshman Mark Aguirre set a freshman scoring mark of 38 while Larry Bird had 37.
There was one play in this game I can never forget.
Bird flashed across the paint, received a entry pass, flip it over his opposite shoulder to Alex Gilbert in what should have been a easy score and Gilbert missed the layup .
Prettiest pass I had ever seen
I remember watching this game. I was 15 and although Larry Bird was the main attraction that freshman for De Paul caught my eye and continued to follow him.Mark Aguirre is my favorite player.And when he joined the Pistons....yeah.
Todd L. Chatman that little blonde cheerleader is who caught my eye ☺️👍🏿😉
Bird looking buff. It’s obvious that when he was healthy he was a way better athlete than given credit for; all those injuries marred his game terribly, and he was still an MVP
what did he suffer from and did he suffer in high school and college too?
@@dabneyoffermein595 The first injury was a broken finger that never healed properly which he suffered after college but before the NBA. That affected his shooting touch for the rest of his life.
Later he injured his back a season or two before he hit his prime. It happened during the off-season and would eventually lead to his retirement but he played with it for several years. It basically put pressure on his spinal cord and caused immense pain on a good days and prevented him from even feeling his feet while playing on bad days.
He also had double Achilles surgery if I remember correctly. He also had a ton of concussions including one where his eye popped out of his skull.
@@bobthabuilda1525 holy crap, i can't imagine what he would have been like at Boston without all of those injuries, especially early on with that bad digit, he should have gone to the Indiana Hand Clinic, which is/was #1 in the country. I don't know why he didn't go there to have it re-broken and fixed, ...yea, it would have cost him 3/4 of a season, but it would have been worth it to see him shoot 60 percent from the field.
@@dabneyoffermein595 I couldnt say for sure, but I'd guess the reason was that he hadn't signed his contract with Boston yet and they were worried that he would be "damaged goods" (a term I heard Red Auerbach himself use in an interview). If he would have lost any significant time he might have missed out on the contract.
@@bobthabuilda1525 Don't forget than fight at a Boston bar during (or before, can't remember) the 84-85 season. He hurted his hand, struggled with his shooting and I've read somewhere that it was a key factor for the Celtic's loss in the finals.
Best high-school basketball class of all time, class of 79. Wish UA-cam had that game.
Which game you referring to? Mcdonalds All-American?
Thank you, Ray! Your modesty as the Bird helped to pull the paint of the wall of your win is impressive. Wow, what a game, what a game.
DePaul only played 5 guys, in a game with no TV timeouts. The good old days!
So true
7:35 Larry Legend trickery right from the opening tip.
Indeed! haha!
and in true Bird fashion he was not even the first player to touch the ball nor the last and he was not even the one to score, yet he was the star of the play
@MANCHESTER UNITED F.C I hope you are right. It's annoying that only basketball is only 5 players on the court and only 30 teams. What use is a sport that only 150 people can play?
That was awesome!!
I was a student at ISU during that time and they started many games in that exact fashion and we knew it was coming. I was astounded that teams didn't see that on tape and come up with a way to counter it.
Never seen anything like Larry Bird, he was amazing.
Simply the best, ever.
The GOAT !
I loved Billy Packer because he loved and knew the history of the game. He would allways point out historical games at venue sites. These guys today can't find the highway.
This was the tournament that transformed postseason college basketball from a curiosity into a national event. There was no "March Madness" before 1979. Only 40 teams were invited, and there was still a third-place game between the two semifinal losers. It was rare indeed that two superstars the magnitude of Bird and Magic would meet in an NCAA final, and while it certainly wasn't the greatest championship ever played, few games impacted college basketball the way that one did.
This was also the last Final Four to be played in an on-campus arena--the University of Utah, although subsequent Final Fours have been held at a school's primary off-campus arena. Given the use of domed stadiums for most Final Fours now, this tournament will likely stand as the last on-campus Final Four.
It was strange to see a traveling call. Today: palming, carrying, eurostep, three step layups, step back , changing pivot foot. And refs that are afraid to call the violation.
Yeah it's pretty bad! Especially Hardens step 3 where he takes 3 sometimes 4 steps altogether after pulling up his dribble.
Ok Boomer
@@orange22ify ok woketard!
@@CoreyT127 ok boomer
@@orange22ify I didnt know what that meant? Then my girl told me its the newest shortcut to thinking for your generation! The most bitch made generation to ever walk the earth! Feminine males and masculine women! I was born in 89 by the way and am probably younger than you! Well age wise anyway!
Mark Aguirre had some serious inside/outside game even as a freshman.
Mark Aguirre great college basketball player, love legendary coach ray mejer, George milken former coach
Yeah, but he was NOWHERE near 6'8" like Bryant Gumbel said at the beginning. Closer to 6'4" - 6'5" tops. But an underrated player who averaged 20 pts for his career and got back to back rings as a key player on the Bad Boy Pistons. A prototypical scoring forward who could play inside/out.
@@Israel-nb7ip IF THE CELTICS STAY HEALTHY THROUGH THE 80'S INTO THE 90'S NOT ONLY THE LAKERS BUT THE PISTONS MIGHT NOT HAVE WON ANY CHAMPIONSHIPS NOT TO MENTION MJ & THE BULLS LOSING THE FIRST 3 RINGS ESPECIALLY WITH BIAS BEING WITH THE CELTICS THROUGH THE EARLY 90'S!!!!!!!!
@@mikebeasley6447 if "if" was a fifth we'd all be drunk...what you're saying is 100% conjecture. Nobody can say what Bias would've turned into. He could've been a bust like most players from that '86 class. Reggie Lewis was born with a genetic heart defect so no amount of what ifs will change that. The only part I may agree are the Bird and McHale injuries which were 100% self-induced...but, still, even with both of them fully healthy, the Pistons were ready to win and had the roster to match...and the Jordan Bulls were just the next stage of NBA basketball, which was a team where their two best players were two-way perimeter monsters with one of them being the best to ever play the game. I don't see how an older Bird Celtics matches up with that if Bias (an unproven NBA player) and Reggie Lewis (who still had that heart condition) are your two best players. Also, Reggie Lewis didn't come into his own until '92-'93 when Bird would've been 36 years old, Parish 37 and McHale 35. That team wasn't going to beat a prime Jordan, Pippen and their supporting cast.
@@Israel-nb7ip BELIEVE WHAT YOU WANT BUT LARRY LEGEND WITHOUT THE BACK PROBLEM DID NOT NEED NEAR AS MUCH HELP AS THE DISABLED VERSION OF HIMSELF REQUIRED! STILL HE CONTINUOUSLY HAD TRIPLE DOUBLES AGAINST ANY & ALL!!!!!! WITH JUST A LITTLE HELP MANY MORE CHAMPIONSHIPS WERE NOT ONLY POSSIBLE BUT PROBABLE!!!!!!!!! I HAVE LOVED THE NBA SINCE 1963 BUT TRUTH BE TOLD WITHOUT LARRY LEGEND & MAGIC IT IS EXTREMELY POSSIBLE THAT THE NBA WOULD HAVE REMAINED A FOOTNOTE IN MODERN SPORTS HISTORY!!!!!!!!!
Thank you Troy Pritchett for the memories, the laughs, smiles, and basketball from this era.
Larry Bird at the Center position.
Bird certainly was versatile...
Many people forgot during his NBA career that Bird was a natural lefty. He shot right-handed, pitched baseball right-handed but signed his checks left-handed. He was as close to being ambidextrous as could be.
College basketball back in the day where was no 3 point line, no shot clock, and no fouls called every 5 seconds. Just great fluid basketball playing by both teams.
Yup. Stupid,
No shot clock was hardly fluid.
I hated the no shot clock.
Great upload! Brings back a lot of memories. One of my favorite broadcasting crews, Enberg, McGuire and Packer.
They were the greatest broadcaster team ever by far
Watched ISU play Creighton in 1979. Had never heard of Bird before. The guy was unstoppable. Everything he threw up was going in, no one could guard him. I think he had 39 points that night. I think pre 3 point days. Need to check the records.
Definitely pre-3 point line.
Bird had some great passing and court vision already back then!
I remember watching this game . CHANNEL 2.......I WAS 13.....RIP COACH
Bird was the most skilled player his size in history. I didn’t say the “best” player. Just had the best basketball IQ , shooting and passing skills ever. Combined with his toughness and leadership the man was on another level. Bobby Knight said Bird had the greatest hand eye coordination in basketball history. That’s THE Bobby Knight. High praise.
Edit: love hearing Al McGuires old school NYC accent.
My first final four. Is there any doubt why I fell in love with with the college game.
Bird's scoring ability was one thing, but his passing is just off the charts.
Larry made his teammates better. Jordan made his teammates stay beyond the three point line and give him the ball.
@@telefunkenyou47 1987 Eastern Semifinal between Celtics and Bucks. Six of top eight players of Celtics were injured. Line-up of Celtics were called:
Conner Henry
Darren Daye
Sam Vincent
Greg Kite
Bucks assistant coach John Killilea said : They are just average players ( implicating Bucks could beat them)
Right then, the announcer called the Celtics 5th player - - - Larry Bird!
Don Nelson, the head coach of Bucks, replied to his assistant:
"Yes, but look now - there are five great players standing there"
Don Nelson knew very well that Larry Bird could turn average players into great players.
Source: My Favorites quotes about Larry Bird
Larry and Magic completely changed the game with a pass first mentality. Pistol, Bird, Magic and Jason Williams are the best passers in league history, thats the list.
What a awesome video...Bird is Mighty
Today is December 7. God bless our WW II veterans of Pearl Harbor and happy birthday, Larry Bird!
I was at this game. Bird had one of the greatest games of all time. MSU nuked Penn off the court in the first game, 101-67.
On the bus ride from the U-Utah campus to downtown SLC after the game, I sat in a bus seat between Larry Bird's mother and Earvin Johnson's father.
Right on! thx for sharing.
You should have taken a picture with your cell phone.
Sum Ego I was live blogging the game.
JStarStar00 indeed
So cool
Think about it, Bird played against an Arkansas team with Sidney Moncrief, Depaul with Mark Aguirre, and then a guy named Magic at Michigan State. What competition! Damn
thank you for posting this. gives me chills from the tip off. wow.
this would be great to watch with commentary from Larry Bird himself
I got the championship game on dvd
@@Hooozyer I have a feeling he would mostly mention his own shortcomings and great moments by the other guys. But it would be cool to hear his perspective into what really went on in this or that moment.
Interesting to note that both Indiana State and Michigan State had designed plays off the opening tip off and both Bird and Magic were positioned on the other side of the circle to receive that tip and get the ball ahead for a fast break.
Also, I had to crack up when they showed ISU's coach's career record as 32-0. One season under Bird will do that for you.
That guy Bird is pretty good, and so is that guy Johnson for Michigan State. I predict big things from both of them at the next level.
lol I didn't think Bird would be as great as he was in NBA,
slow, can't jump, boy was I wrong on that one.
I underestimated the power of vision and bball IQ
Pistol Pete likes this comment
Tell you what, you can predict they will play in the '79 NCAA Final then win the next three NBA championships as well from '80-'82.
Mark Aguirre ain't bad either
Nah....they’ll both get their ass handed to them in the NBA.....mark my words on this!
lol...love the interview with the ISU coach who "Built the team and installed all the great drills and hired and mentored all the great coaches who works so good with the kids"...lol...when Larry Bird walked in it was a final four team, without him it was a .450 team.
Very true.
But it was a "team" 🙂
DePaul, Marquette must see TV back then. Back when games of the week were special.
The ISU/Arkansas game was even better. Bird and Sidney Moncrief. Classic game.
I could be wrong but I think Bobby Heaton hit the winning shot in that game. I was a senior at Indiana State in 1979. Best time of my life. My wife and now live about 2 hours away from Terre Haute and we go to at least one game a year.
@@jamescress - Sir, you are correct. That was indeed the Heaton game. Salute!
WOW i remember that game but it was better watching the 2nd time!! My god Bird was amazing!! But hes not a ball hog or a glory hog!! It was a shame someone had to lose that last game!! Ive always been a laker fan but i have new found respect for Bird!
The golden era of college basketball!
That opening tip play was pretty awesome.
Larry BURNED Packer at the end! "You didn't think we'd get here." Ouch! Good for you, Larry!
he never missed a trick
Bob King lived another 25 years after this game, despite the medical issues that forced him to retire at age 55.
Bird is the Word
Man these jams that are played in between the highlights is just sick. I wish they brought that back lol.
Do you all see the difference in Larrys shooting style ; After the season was over he broke his right index finger very badly playing baseball ! After that he said he never had the same feeling of the ball. He changed his mechanics a little bit and if that accident never happened he would be even greater shooter ! One big what if arises there ...
Softball
He had a smoooooth shot in college
Never knew that thanks for the info he was a pretty damn good shooter even with a broken index finger but damn imagine if he didn't break it.
this bird kid has great potential...mark my words...he ll become an nba superstar
Yeah, I agree. If he keeps working hard, he may have a future in this game.
Aguirre abd Bird were such great players, one at the start of his NCAA career, the other at the end, both deserving Hall players.
Say what you want but Larry Bird was the real deal! #LARRYLEGEND #BIRDFUNDAMENTAL
Even the very first tip by Larry Bird at 7:48 is a great pass.
soj. H Yes that opening tip pass by Bird foreshadow of his awesome passing skill to be seen his whole NBA career. Bird is my all-time favorite college/pro bb player.
Larry Bird is the best college basketball player I've seen in my lifetime...
@wakey wakey Bird only played 3 years in college and put up career numbers like this. www.sports-reference.com/cbb/players/larry-bird-1.html
Bird was the most clutch player in college and the pros. The Celtics were never out of it even when down 12 points with a minute to go how many times did bird orchestrate the win? It’s uncountable. He also was the player who was the best team player and made his teammates the best better than magic Johnson. Johnson had more talent, bird made the average players around him great.
D Brother what about Kareem? Good
LOL
@D Brother David Thompson was an amazing basketball player from NC State in the early to mid 70s
It’s an honor to have gone to DePaul and been beaten by some of the best basketball talent ever. Gotta love the basement of the Big East 😵💫
DePaul started that game like they weren't going to miss any shots.
This is why I consider Bird the GOAT, took a bunch of nobodies' to the NCAA Title and 33-1 Record and his Rookie season in the NBA, he took a team and I mean exact same team who won 27 games the year before and won 60 games, Jordan never impacted Chicago like that.
from Chile.... estoy totalmente de acuerdo contigo.... you are right Bird have something that in difficult to explain, he understan the game and mentally strong....
45:24 There's your GOAT. 55 rebounds in a game against Bill Russell.
Larry did this when rims were stiff and violations were called. All time best shooter.
No 3 pointers, either.
Mark Aguirre Career Stats...
1981 18.7 points 4.9 rebounds. 3.2 assists
1982 24.4 points 6.3 rebounds. 4.1 assists
1983 29.5 points 5.9 rebounds. 4.5 assists
1984 25.7 points 6.0 rebounds. 3.1 assists
1985 22.6 points 6.0 rebounds. 4.6 assists
1986 25.7 points 5.3 rebounds. 3.2 assists
1987 25.1 points 5.6 rebounds. 3.6 assists
1988 18.9 points 4.8 rebounds. 3.5 assists
1989 21.7 points 5.3 rebounds. 4.3 assists
Traded to Detroit (1988-89) where he accepted a secondary role and won two NBA titles.
those are not "career stats" as you intentionally left out his stats from 1990 - 1994 where he avg around 10 points a game
@@ww387gr (1) I got tired typing (2) I wrote that Mark was traded and continued his career in a secondary role winning two NBA titles. The criticism of Aguirre was that he was a ball hog and had a bad attitude. The critics said he wouldn't accept a reduced role and would be a headache for the Pistons. He proved his critics wrong.
@@cygnusx-3217 Don't care - you shouldn't write "career" stats if you leave out the last 5 years of his playing career. That's historical revisionism , basically a nice way of saying you are lying about the past to make Aguirre look better by leaving out his last 5 years of about 10 points a game - maybe the ball hog got old and couldn't score that much anymore.
Larry Legend enough said
And to think at IU, Bobby Knight publically ignored him, and Kent Benson Bullied and Hazed him in practice...You Cant Fix Stupidity...
Bird was a man among boys. Wow he was good at that age.
I don't see any players covered in tattoos.
I remember Larry Bird does wear long hair back in 1979, before joining the NBA.
David Tosh I think he did too !
His hair was not cut close until after 86.
Bird always looks like a muscular giant in the college footage. Too bad he didn't go in NBA at eighteen years old. Developed his game in college, but would have in NBA, and had more stats. Either way, still the GOAT.
No way we would of missed the start of the RIVALRY of Bird vs Magic. Plus taking a tiny school to the championship game is unbelievable.
Second best after Mike. LeBron not close
Gods Child ppppffff schooled mj every time they played.
And he promised his mom he'd stay at this school and graduate. 😊. Gotta respect that.
At 18 he was only 6'7" and skinny as a rail. He even has said when asked that there was no way he could have went straight to the NBA
Lots of traveling calls. You don't see that today.
yep.
Now the players not only walk with the ball with no penalty, they also travel while running to do dunk shots.
Main reason I stopped watching the game, it is now a dunking contest; just need ten 7 ft players on the court that can almost touch the rim.
I'm been playing and watching for almost 50 years, the biggest change in my lifetime, by far, is the number of steps the players get away with now and how much easier that has made it to score. If old timers like Dr J and Connie Hawkins, whose only weakness was their average jump shots, could play with today's rules they would have been completely unstoppable.
@Jack D Eurostep = Traveling
I thought I was the only one who saw that. The game today, the pro game sucks especially. Saw one game, not the entire game, but one with LeBron, lost track of the number of times he traveled. Not one call against him. The officiating is abysmal.
The opening tip-off is all we needed to see as evidence of how intellect superceded athleticism. With all things assumed as equal, of course; an athletic intellect remains supreme. That is Bird, btw. He was very athletic, despite the stereotypes.
You know for a fact that any of these teams can beat any WNBA team.
Thank god for Coronavirus. I can finally sit back and catch up on games that happened before I was born. I would kill to watch Larry Bird in person.
It's interesting to listen to the props and respect the announcers were giving Bird in college. Even with this being true, little did they know who and what they were witnessing.
That's for sure, McGuire thought Bird would be a good NBA player not a great one. A slight Bird never forgot.
I was 14 in 79 and I knew bird would be a all time great...plain to see. Celtic fan
They knew be sure.
You would think already being selected by Red Auerbach would mean something
5 nba players in this game. sad that carl nicks parents didn't have the money for the plane ticket, ironically nicks was from chicago. he did get 4 years in the nba, unfortunately they didn't make the money back then that they do today. depaul was a powerhouse for a city school back in the day. weird watching a game back with no shot clock or 3 point line. bird was amazing.
Has there even a player with such shooting ability from the perimeter AND a rebounding threat?
I truly miss this era of college basketball. Things were a lot simpler back then.
yeah, I forgot what a good rebounder he was
Yes, Bob McAdoo. Not saying he was as great a player as Bird but he's a hall of famer, MVP and champion who was a shooting big man before it was popular and dominant in his prime.
He was already his great self then. Already wiping the bottom of his sneakers, making great passes and burying shots. The best ever
He picked up that sneaker habit from his older brothers. 🙂
What a classic. Coach Meyer sure us humble .
It didn't take a genius to see in this game the future GOAT in the NBA! How could a guy who could shoot from the outside, take it to the hoop, block the other team's big guy's inside shots and like the greats who played against Bird in the NBA would say we were all playing checkers while Bird was playing chess!
Bird broke the calculator.
Bird averaged 10 boards a game in the NBA....playing with the Chief, McHale..Cornbread and Walton at times. Best frontline ever....still got 10 Boards a game.
Lmao....Indiana State implemented great coaching? It's called Larry Bird
Bird: 16-19 from the field, 16 rebounds and 9 assists. But he strangely also had 11 turnovers.
It's a triple double
@@bjornyesterday2562 😄
Someone has to catch the ball.
I think this was the first time I saw Bird. I was 10 years old . I followed the scoring leaders race in the paper cause that's what kids did back then. No social media back then or picts of Bird in the paper. All year I thought Bird was Black!
I started following Bird during his junior year and I also assumed he had more melanin.
Basketball was better back then. Players played for the sport.
Loved Ray Meyer and Al McGuire. Incredible coaches in an incredible era.
Man I miss 1979..despite being a teenager with no money..lol
Joe Cap I had been out of high school for 9 yrs and was working for Coca-Cola and I was also broke. However, I could buy a case of cokes for $3 and buy a coke in the vending machine for a dime.
'In the good ole days, when times were bad.' (Dolly Parton)
That Bird kid's got some potential!
I LOVE the old days of "no call" on incidental contact. 14 free throws the entire game, no need to blow the whistle every time someone hits the court. Contact happens in basketball, the BS now where they blow the whistle every time (unless it is Duke charging) sucks.
1979 Indiana State University Basketball vs DePaul. Larry Bird, wow a small state Indiana TEAM against the powerhouse Depaul.
Clay City, In was watching Bob Heaton. 1975 Graduate.
I have been to Clay City a few times. My best friend's grand parents lived there. Nice little town.
Played with Sinbad the comic at the University of Denver till they dropped basketball. True story.
Bird's shooting form hir is smooth and really different before his finger injury came to the NBA.
Indiana St. was so limited talent wise but they had so much heart; plus one of the greatest players of all time. Great stuff
lol @ limited....you don't know basketball
Miss this era of NCAA tournament games. Seen both Bird and Aguire play personally, great talent even at a younger age, especially Aguire. Al McGuire was usually spot on as an analyst .I don't think Packer cared unless the ACC was involved. Spartans just too much for ISU in the final.
Your host is Bryant Gumbel. The commentators are Dick Enberg, Al MacGuire & Billy Packer.
The officials and their duties: Hank Nichols, referee. Gary Muncy, Leonard Wirtz, linesmen.
This is the 1st college ball game I ever watched.
When Depaul exactly had a basketball program!! LMAO.
Basketball used to be great. I quit watching after Bird, Magic, and Michael GOAT retired. The NBA absolutely sucks nowadays. All these players calling each other to form super teams what a joke.
Michael Clyburn, can’t agree more.
But the nba today is more talented, there were always superteams, Magic/Bird for the 80s Lakers/Celtics super teams? nice try, but they started it and now they perfected it in a much better way with more talent is what was supposed to happen, it doesn't happen just in nba but in other sports aswell, just get over it and enjoy greatness.
@@DrizzIeego somewhere and cry like today players do
@@DrizzIee JUMPING HIGH AND DUNKING IS NOT TALENT.
90% CANT SHOOT A BACKBOARD SHOOT OR POST UP
what talent
Ok Boomer
Those rims look unfriendly.
Watching this again I didn't give the rest of Indiana State--other than Larry Bird enough credit. They were better than I remember.
In addition to traveling calls I think more charging calls. Watching today's final 8 it seems like they're letting them play more in today's college game.
Curtis Watkins a year behind me at my high school.
agreed, I forgot hown good his mates were.
Very sad that all 3 of these great announcers are now gone. ☹
Loved coach Ray Meyer, always a great interview on TV.....hated he always took a no. 1 rated team to the NCAA (in the early 80's) and then got upset in the 1st or 2nd round. Mark Aguirre took a lot of the heat, as I recall.
You're absolutely right! The next 3 DePaul teams, after this season, only lost one regular season game each season and drew a #1 seed in the NCAA tournament and lost their very first game in the tournament each time. It's like they were snake bitten the moment they entered the NCAA tournament!