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1982 Final Four

The Road To The 1982 Final Four

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The 1982 Final Four produced one of the great national championship games, as North Carolina and Georgetown went down to the wire before Dean Smith won his first title. With Louisville and Houston also in New Orleans, it showcased a dazzling array of talent–James Worthy, Patrick Ewing, Sam Perkins, Sleepy Floyd, Michael Jordan, Clyde Drexler and Hakeem Olajuwon were all on college basketball’s center stage. Here’s a look back on the road all four teams took to get there.

1982 North Carolina Basketball Gets Dean His First Ring

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Though UNC was the #1 team in the nation, the Hoyas were the hot team, playing stifling defense. None of their tournament opponents had scored more than 50 points and they were anchored in the middle by freshman center Patrick Ewing, shotblocker extraordinaire. The close friendship of Smith and Georgetown coach John Thompson was a big part of the storyline and it was a superb championship game matchup for CBS in its first year of televising the tournament, a run that has gone on uninterrupted to this day.

Party In New Orleans: 1982 North Carolina Basketball & 1982 Penn State Football

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The place to be if you were a sports fan in 1982 was New Orleans. Not because the Saints had a big year, or that LSU was dominant. But two head coaches, already on their way legendary status, won their first national championships in 1982. In the springtime, North Carolina’s Dean Smith brought his seventh Final Four team to New Orleans and finally won a national championship. And later in the year, Penn State’s Joe Paterno took home his first crown in the Sugar Bowl, a title that was the first in Penn State football history.