1983-84

Final National Polls - Coming Soon
National Statistical Leaders - Coming Soon
NCAA Tournament Results - Coming Soon
Final Four Box Scores - Coming Soon
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All-Conference Teams - Coming Soon

At a Glance
NCAA Champion--Georgetown (34-3; coached by John Thompson/12th of 27 seasons with Hoyas; won Big East title by two games with a 14-2 record).
NIT Champion--Michigan (23-10; coached by Bill Frieder/fourth of nine seasons with Wolverines; finished in fourth place in Big Ten with a 10-8 record).
New Rules--Two free throws are taken for each common foul committed within the last two minutes of the second half and the entire overtime periods, if the bonus rule is in effect (rule was rescinded one month into the season). . . . One additional NCAA Tournament opening-round game was established, requiring 10 automatic-qualifying conferences to compete for five positions in the 53-team bracket.
NCAA Probation--San Diego State.
NCAA Consensus First-Team All-Americans--Patrick Ewing, C, Jr., Georgetown (16.4 ppg, 10 rpg, 3.6 bpg, 65.8 FG%); Michael Jordan, G, Jr., North Carolina (19.6 ppg, 5.3 rpg, 2.1 apg, 1.6 spg, 55.1 FG%); Hakeem Olajuwon, C, Jr., Houston (16.8 ppg, 13.5 rpg, 5.6 bpg, 67.5 FG%); Sam Perkins, C, Sr., North Carolina (17.6 ppg, 9.6 rpg, 1.9 bpg, 58.9 FG%, 85.6 FT%); Wayman Tisdale, C-F, Soph., Oklahoma (27 ppg, 9.7 rpg, 2.2 bpg, 57.7 FG%).
National Player of the Year--Jordan (AP/UPI/NABC/USBWA/Naismith/Wooden).
National Coaches of the Year--Washington's Marv Harshman (24-7/NABC); Purdue's Gene Keady (22-7/USBWA), and DePaul's Ray Meyer (27-3/AP, UPI).

In a ballyhooed regular-season matchup for the ages, Ralph Sampson-led Virginia defeated fellow center Patrick Ewing and the Georgetown Hoyas, 68-63. Sampson collected 28 points and 16 rebounds compared to Ewing's 16 points and eight rebounds.

In the first regular-season meeting in 61 years between in-state rivals Kentucky and Louisville, the Wildcats whipped the Cardinals, 65-44. Later, Kentucky's Melvin Turpin tied a SEC Tournament record with 42 points against Georgia. UK finished among the Top 10 in a final wire-service poll for the seventh time in the last 10 years under coach Joe B. Hall. UK's Sam Bowie became the only player ever to return to All-American status after being a medical redshirt. Bowie achieved the feat after sitting out two seasons because of a leg injury.

Houston's Hakeem Olajuwon set a SWC record with 16 blocked shots against Arkansas. . . . North Carolina was ranked No. 1 with a 19-0 record when the Tar Heels succumbed at Arkansas, 65-64, in Pine Bluff on a last-second basket by Charles Balentine. . . . Carolina junior Michael Jordan became unanimous national player of the year despite scoring fewer than 14 points in six of his first nine games, including a season-low four points at Stanford. . . . Maryland coach Lefty Driesell won his first ACC Tournament in 15 tries.

Oklahoma's Wayman Tisdale poured in a national-high and school-record 61 points against Texas-San Antonio in the All-College Tournament at Oklahoma City. St. Joseph's Tony Costner tied a school standard with 47 points against Alaska-Anchorage in the Cable Car Classic at San Francisco. . . . Akron senior guard Joe Jakubick became the nation's only player to average more than 30 points per game in a six-year span from 1980-81 through 1985-86. He was named Ohio Valley Conference player of the year although the Zips finished in last place with a 3-11 league record and 8-19 mark overall. . . . Jakubick (30.1 ppg), Brigham Young's Devin Durrant (27.9), Loyola of Chicago's Alfredrick Hughes (27.6), OU's Tisdale (27), San Diego State's Michael Cage (24.5) and Cal State Fullerton's Leon Wood (24) set school Division I records for highest scoring average in a single season. . . . Cage was named WAC player of the year although the Aztecs finished four games below .500 in league competition (6-10).

Harvard, coached by Frank McLaughlin, set an NCAA single-season record for free-throw accuracy at 82.2 percent (see accompanying box). The Crimson had two players finish among the top four in the country in free-throw percentage - Joe Carrabino (2nd at 90.5) and Bob Ferry (4th at 90.3). . . . Lamar's 80-game homecourt winning streak, which started in 1978, was snapped by Louisiana Tech, 68-65, in the Southland Conference Tournament.

Duke, winning 11 games by fewer than five points, appeared in the Top 20 of a final wire-service poll for the first time under coach Mike Krzyzewski. The Blue Devils were nine games below .500 after his first three years (38-47), including a school-record 43-point loss against Virginia in the first round of the ACC Tournament to end his third season. Duke, after losing its previous nine games to Virginia, started a streak of 16 consecutive victories over the Cavaliers. . . . Ricky Stokes, Virginia's leader in free-throw shooting (79.3%), eventually became Virginia Tech's coach. Teammate Rick Carlisle would later coach the NBA's Detroit Pistons, Indiana Pacers and Dallas Mavericks. . . . Virginia Tech (22-13), coached by Charles Moir, had eight contests decided by fewer than three points in a 10-game span in mid-season. The Hokies averaged 13 games annually decided by fewer than six points in a five-year span from 1979-80. . . . Georgia Tech began to assert itself in the Yellow Jackets' fifth year in the ACC. Five ACC home games were decided in the final seconds of play, four of them on the last play of the contest. . . . North Carolina (14-0) and Maryland (9-5) were the only ACC teams to compile winning records in league competition. . . . Matt Doherty, who led Carolina in assists for the second straight season, went on to become coach at Notre Dame, his alma mater and SMU. . . . Wake Forest was a classic example of the rigors of ACC play. The Demon Deacons, coached by Carl Tacy, won at least 19 games for the sixth time since 1976-77 but they had only a .500 record in ACC competition during that eight-year span.

Massachusetts posted its lone victory over West Virginia (71-60) in a 20-game stretch of their series from 1979 through 1989. . . . Temple, coached by John Chaney, went unbeaten in the Atlantic 10 Conference after posting a 5-9 league record the previous year. It was the first of five consecutive seasons with at least 25 victories for the Owls. Another A-10 member making a big turnaround was George Washington, which finished in third place after placing last in the West Division the previous year. . . . Northeastern, coached by Jim Calhoun, went unbeaten in North Atlantic Conference competition after finishing in sixth place the previous season with a 4-6 league mark. . . . Karl Hobbs, an All-Big East Conference third-team selection after leading Connecticut in assists for the fourth straight year, eventually became coach at George Washington. . . . Tim O'Shea, a backup to Boston College standout guard Michael Adams, went on to coach Ohio University. . . . St. John's, coached by Lou Carnesecca, had an amazingly close 18-game stretch where 16 of the contests were decided by fewer than six points. . . . St. Peter's (23-6), coached by Bob Dukiet, won eight games by fewer than four points.

Houston (32-5/coached by Guy Lewis), Northeastern (27-5/Jim Calhoun), Lamar (26-5/Pat Foster), Marshall (25-6/Rick Huckabay), Morehead State (25-6/Wayne Martin), Miami of Ohio (24-6/Darrell Hedric) and Houston Baptist (24-7/Gene Iba) had their winningest seasons in school Division I history. Alabama State (22-6/James Oliver) tied its school Division I record for most victories in a single season. . . . Bucknell, coached by Charlie Woollum, won 24 games just two years after the worst season in Bison history (7-20). Four of Bucknell's five defeats were by fewer than four points.

Senior forward Robert Jackson shared Northeast Conference player of the year honors although St. Francis (N.Y.) finished in last place with a 1-15 league record and 2-26 mark overall. . . . Cornell, coached by Tom Miller, compiled a 16-10 record for its first winning season in 17 years. . . . Massachusetts (12-17) lost six of its last seven games but managed to avoid its sixth consecutive season with at least 20 defeats. . . . Todd Bozeman, Rhode Island's leading scorer with 11.9 ppg, went on to coach California and Morgan State in the NCAA playoffs. . . . Richmond, coached by Dick Tarrant, captured the ECAC South title after finishing in last place the previous season. . . . Freshman center David Robinson was scoreless and had only one rebound in his Navy debut against Yale. In 1987, he became the top pick in the NBA draft. . . . UNC Charlotte dropped its season opener to UNC Asheville, 57-56, to end the 49ers' 11-year, 59-game winning streak in their on-campus Mine Shaft gym.

SMU and Auburn finished in the Top 20 of a final wire-service poll for the first time since 1957 and 1960, respectively. . . . Louisville and Memphis State, combining to capture 10 consecutive Metro Conference regular-season crowns from 1979 through 1988, shared the league title for the only time in the Metro's 19-year history through 1995 that it didn't have an undisputed champion. . . . LSU, coached by Dale Brown, won nine games by fewer than five points after losing nine in the same category the previous season. . . . South Carolina backup Scott Sanderson eventually coached Lipscomb when it made the transition to the NCAA Division I level. . . . SWAC Player of the Year Lewis Jackson went on to coach Alabama State, his alma mater, more than 20 years later.

Illinois, coached by Lou Henson, captured its first Big Ten Conference title in 21 years and only conference championship in a 34-year stretch from 1964 through 1997. . . . Forward Cory Blackwell became Wisconsin's first All-Big Ten first-team selection in 16 years. . . . Forward-center Jim Rowinski, after averaging only 2.9 points per game in his first three seasons with Purdue, blossomed into Big Ten MVP as a senior. . . . Miami (Ohio) won all eight of its games decided by fewer than six points in Darrell Hedric's 14th and final season as coach. His 77-57 career mark (.575) in such contests is better than luminaries such as Gene Bartow, Dale Brown, Gale Catlett, John Chaney, Tom Davis, Lefty Driesell, Hugh Durham, Marv Harshman, Don Haskins, Lou Henson, Abe Lemons, Guy Lewis, Rollie Massimino, Ralph Miller, Lute Olson, Johnny Orr, Digger Phelps, Eddie Sutton, John Thompson Jr., Billy Tubbs, Tex Winter and Ned Wulk.

Kansas suffered its fifth consecutive loss to Oklahoma State in their series before starting a 12-game winning streak against the Cowboys. . . . Arkansas-Little Rock's Donald Newman set a Trans America Athletic Conference single-game record by grabbing 29 rebounds against Centenary. . . . Centenary forward Willie Jackson became the TAAC's only four-time all-league first-team selection in the 20th Century. . . . Tennessee-Chattanooga's only two defeats in a 31-game span stretching from midway through the previous season were to ACC opponents Maryland and North Carolina. . . . Western Kentucky (12-17), coached by Clem Haskins, lost eight consecutive contests midway through a streak of 14 straight games decided by fewer than five points.

Guard Chris Beasley, Arizona State's leading scorer (18.3 ppg), went on to pitch for the California Angels in 1991. . . . Washington State wound up in the Pacific-10 Conference cellar after finishing runner-up the previous season. . . . Coach Lute Olson had an inauspicious start with Arizona, posting an 11-17 mark. He lost nine of his first 10 games decided by fewer than six points. . . . Stanford, coached by Tom Davis, lost its first six Pac-10 assignments amid having its first nine league contests decided by fewer than seven points.

DePaul's Ray Meyer retired after a 42-year coaching career with a 724-354 record. Meyer, who compiled a 14-16 record in 13 tournament appearances with DePaul, is the only coach to go more than 40 years from his first appearance in the playoffs to his last (1943 to 1984). He averaged 26 victories over his last seven seasons after averaging a modest 14 triumphs annually in a 21-year span from 1956-57 through 1976-77. The Blue Demons finished among the top six in final AP polls six times in those last seven campaigns, winning 50 of 65 games decided by fewer than six points in that span. They were among the Top 20 only once (ninth in 1963-64) in a 22-year stretch from 1953-54 through 1974-75. "Basketball is a slice of life," Meyer said. "There is good in every experience if you learn from it."

1984 NCAA Tournament
Summary: Georgetown's Patrick Ewing and Houston's Hakeem Olajuwon, the nation's two most celebrated centers who lost their previous title bids on last-second freak plays, clashed in the championship game but the head-to-head duel didn't live up to its lofty billing. It was little consolation to Olajuwon when he played Ewing to a standoff on the backboards (each grabbed nine rebounds) and outscored his rival, 15-10. At the end, Olajuwon was on the national runner-up for the second consecutive season as freshmen Reggie Williams and Michael Graham combined for 33 points to spark the Hoyas to a 84-75 triumph in a battle of the two previous national runners-up. Georgetown became the first Eastern school in 30 years to win an NCAA title. Ewing, the Hoyas' leading scorer on the season, tied the all-time low scoring total for a Final Four Most Outstanding Player with 18 points in two games (fifth on the team), but he was the key component in Georgetown's suffocating defense. The Hoyas led the nation in field-goal percentage defense (39.5%) and exhibited their tenacity in the national semifinals when they harassed Kentucky into shooting a dismal 9.1% in the second half (3 of 33) en route to a 53-40 victory. Georgetown's Michael Jackson, a 6-1 guard averaging 1.4 rebounds per game entering the Final Four, retrieved 10 missed shots against Kentucky's formidable frontline to help the Hoyas overcome a seven-point halftime deficit in the national semifinals. The Wildcats went 13 minutes in one stretch without a basket. Georgetown didn't have a player score at least 20 points in any of its five playoff games. Twenty-nine years later, Graham won $1 million in the Powerball lottery.
Outcome for Defending Champion: North Carolina State (19-14) finished in seventh place in the ACC before losing at home to Florida State in the first round of the NIT. The Wolfpack twice lost five consecutive ACC regular-season games.
Star Gazing: Ewing, the only individual to fail to score more than 10 points in either the national semifinal or championship game in the year he was named Most Outstanding Player, tallied eight points in a 53-40 triumph over Kentucky in the semifinals and 10 in an 84-75 decision over Houston in the final.
Biggest Upset: Many observers predicted Georgetown would meet top-ranked North Carolina in the national final, but the Tar Heels were upset in the East Regional semifinals by Indiana (72-68) when national player of the year Michael Jordan was limited to 13 points, one rebound and one assist. Dan Dakich, who went on to become coach at Bowling Green, was averaging only 10 minutes per game for Indiana before toiling 33 minutes in his sixth start with his principal duty trying to hold Jordan in check. This is the only season in a 16-year span from 1980 through 1995 that neither Duke nor North Carolina reached a regional final.
One and Only: Virginia became the only school to reach the Final Four despite compiling a losing record in conference competition (6-8 in ACC) and succumbing in the first round of its league tournament. The Cavaliers lost nine of 13 games in a mid-season stretch. . . . Georgetown became the only school to win an NCAA championship after enduring a dry spell of more than 30 years without participating in the playoffs. The Hoyas did not appear in the tourney from 1944 through 1974. . . . Georgetown's John Thompson is the only person to play for an NBA championship team (Boston Celtics '65) before coaching an NCAA titlist. . . . This is the only year both national semifinal games were under a total of 100 points since the national tournament went from two regionals to four in 1956.
Celebrity Status: Mike Whitmarsh, one of the top players on the professional volleyball circuit and a 1996 U.S. Olympian, scored a team-high 17 points for San Diego in its 65-56 loss to Princeton in the preliminary round. . . . Reggie Rogers, an All-American defensive tackle and NFL first-round draft choice of the Detroit Lions, played in a total of four West Regional NCAA Tournament games for Washington in 1984 and 1985. The 6-6, 260-pounder hit four of five field-goal attempts in the Huskies' 80-78 second-round victory over Duke in Blue Devils coach Mike Krzyzewski's first NCAA playoff game. . . . Curt Clawson, who scored six points for Purdue in setback against Memphis State, was a Republican who served as U.S. representative for Florida's 19th congressional district from 2014 to 2017, delivering the Tea Party response to President Obama's State of the Union Address in 2015.
Numbers Game: Dayton forward Roosevelt Chapman became the only non-guard to be the undisputed leading scorer of an NCAA Tournament and not participate in the Final Four (105 points in four games). He poured in a tourney-high and existing school NCAA playoff single-game record of 41 points in an 89-85 victory over Oklahoma in the second round of West Regional. . . . Northeastern hit 75% from the floor (33-of-44), including 15-of-17 by freshman Reggie Lewis, in the first round of the East Regional, but bowed to Virginia Commonwealth, 70-69. . . . Arkansas' Alvin Robertson finished his career with an average of six steals in four playoff games. . . . The Big Ten compiled its only winning record (4-3) in a five-year span from 1982 through 1986. . . . Oral Roberts' Mark Acres grabbed a tourney-high 18 rebounds in a 92-83 opening-round loss to Memphis State. . . . Auburn, coached by Sonny Smith, and Richmond, coached by Dick Tarrant, appeared in the NCAA playoffs for the first time. . . . In the second and final year of preliminary round competition, Alcorn State (Midwest) and Princeton (West) won games for the second straight season to advance to the first round of their respective regionals. . . . Kentucky's 11-point output after intermission matched the lowest-scoring half in Final Four history. Oregon State trailed Oklahoma A&M, 21-11, at halftime of the 1949 Western Regional final. . . . BYU's Ladell Andersen (Utah State in 1962) and Kansas' Larry Brown (UCLA in 1980) became the first two coaches to win at least one NCAA playoff game in their first season with two different schools. . . . Washington's Marv Harshman posted the only two tourney triumphs of his 27-year major-college coaching career in his 26th DI season.
What Might Have Been: Eventual top six NBA draft choices Sam Bowie, Melvin Turpin and Kenny Walker combined to shoot 56.4 percent from the floor to help Kentucky register 51.5 percent field-goal accuracy as a team in the 1983-84 season. If only the Wildcats managed to hit 30.3 percent of their second-half field-goal attempts instead of 9.1 percent (3 of 33) in the national semifinals, they could have defeated eventual champion Georgetown rather than blowing a seven-point halftime lead. Kentucky's starters missed all 21 of their field-goal attempts after intermission. The first-round starting frontcourt of Bowie, Turpin and Walker combined to shoot 25 percent from the floor (6 of 24) in the entire game. . . . BYU (20-11) probably would have given Kentucky more of a battle in the second round of the Mideast Regional if Cougars forward Timo Saarelainen didn't sit out the season as a redshirt. Saarelainen became WAC Most Valuable Player the next year. . . . Houston (32-5) might have possessed the firepower necessary to upend Georgetown in the NCAA final if Clyde Drexler didn't turn pro early. . . . Alabama (18-12/without Ennis Whatley), Illinois (26-5/Derek Harper) and Purdue (22-7/Russell Cross) might have advanced farther in the playoffs if standout players had exercised their remaining eligibility instead of defecting to the NBA. . . . Marquette (17-13) probably would have participated in the NCAA Tournament instead of the NIT if Doc Rivers didn't leave school early for the NBA. Ditto for New Mexico (24-11) if two-time WAC field-goal shooting leader George Scott didn't sit out the season as a medical redshirt.
NCAA Champion Defeats: At DePaul (2-point margin), Villanova (2 in 2OT), and St. John's (4). The high game by an individual opponent against Georgetown was 29 points by St. John's Chris Mullin in the Big East Tournament semifinals.
Scoring Leader: Roosevelt Chapman, Dayton (105 points, 26.25 ppg).
Highest Scoring Average: Kevin Mullin, Princeton (56 points, 28 ppg).
Rebounding Leader: Hakeem Olajuwon, Houston (57 rebounds, 11.4 rpg).
Highest Rebounding Average: Keith Lee, Memphis State (37 rebounds, 12.3 rpg).

All-Tournament Team
*Patrick Ewing, C, Jr., Georgetown (18 points, 18 rebounds in final two games)
Alvin Franklin, G, Soph., Houston (27 points, 16 assists)
Michael Graham, F, Fr., Georgetown (22 points, 11 rebounds)
Hakeem Olajuwon, C, Jr., Houston (27 points, 20 rebounds, seven blocked shots)
Michael Young, F, Sr., Houston (35 points, 12 rebounds)
*Named Most Outstanding Player.

Championship Team Results
Second Round: Georgetown 37 (Ewing team-high 10 points), Southern Methodist 36 (Koncak 13)
Regional Semifinal: Georgetown 62 (Ewing/Jackson 16), UNLV 48 (Flowers 10)
Regional Final: Georgetown 61 (Ewing 15), Dayton 49 (Young 14)
National Semifinal: Georgetown 53 (Jackson 12), Kentucky 40 (Bowie 10)
Championship Game: Georgetown 84 (Williams 19), Houston 75 (Franklin 21)