Digger Phelps enjoyed a long and successful career as the Notre Dame basketball coach and today he’s a fixture on ESPN’s Gameday coverage with Rece Davis and Jay Bilas. Phelps was the architect behind several big wins, including ending UCLA’s 88-game winning streak in the John Wooden era. But only once did Phelps ever reach the Final Four, and that was 1978.
DePaul was coming off a disappointing season in 1977 where injuries prevented the Blue Demons from gaining any consistency. Ray Meyer’s program had been consistently running a step behind Notre Dame and Marquette, their rivals as independent Catholic basketball programs in the Midwest. In 1978, DePaul made a huge step forward, joining the Irish and […]
Marquette basketball was facing a new world in 1978, one without Al McGuire. Their great head coach had gone out in a blaze of glory in 1977, winning the national championship after announcing his retirement. Al’s top assistant, Hank Raymonds, was promoted to the head job. Throughout the regular season, it looked like nothing had […]
Jud Heathcote’s career as Michigan State basketball coach didn’t start well. He inherited a program that had produced five straight winning seasons and promptly went 10-17 in 1977. But a big turnaround was coming—Heathcote brought in a recruit by the name of Earvin “Magic” Johnson. In Magic’s freshman year, he led the 1978 Michigan State […]