is also the year that the Portland Trailblazers, who
had the second pick in the draft, made perhaps the
gravest mistake in the history of sports franchises. In
need of a center, Portland selected Kentucky’s Sam
Bowie, bypassing Michael Jordan, who was quickly
snatched by the Chicago Bulls with the third pick in
the draft. Though Bowie had a respectable career,
Jordan became not only the greatest player of his
generation but also arguably the most transcendent
player in sports history.
The Houston Rockets, after suffering through
two consecutive miserable seasons and accusations
of self-sabotage, selected Hakeem Olajuwon with
the first pick in the draft, altering the course of the
franchise for the next two decades. Olajuwon even-
tually lead the Rockets to back-to-back NBA champi-
onships in the mid-1990’s. Other notable players
such as Charles Barkley, John Stockton, Kevin Willis,
Otis Thorpe, Jerome Kersey, and Jordan’s teammate
at the University of North Carolina (UNC) Sam
Perkins were selected in the 1984 draft. The super-
stars drafted in 1984 ensured the lasting prosperity
of the league both on the court—where high levels
of athleticism were on display every night—and
off the court—through product endorsement and
worldwide recognition.
Men’s College Basketball The expansion of the
NCAA tournament from the exclusivity of the early
years to forty teams in 1979, forty-eight teams in
1980, fifty-two teams in 1983, and finally sixty-four
teams in 1985 was, on one hand, decried as an af-
front to the elite teams and, on the other, hailed as a
reflection of the increasing parity in intercollegiate
athletics. The NCAA’s foresight to expand the tour-
nament to include not only conference champions
but also sometimes fourth- and fifth-place finishers
piqued the interest of a large portion of the Ameri-
can population and turned the event into a lucrative
and highly anticipated spring ritual.
In most cases, higher-ranked teams advanced to
appropriate levels in the tournament. The 1982
championship between UNC and Georgetown fea-
tured numerous future NBA stars, including Jordan,
James Worthy, Perkins, Patrick Ewing, and Eric
“Sleepy” Floyd. Both teams entered the tournament
as favorites, seeded first in their respective region.
The game climaxed when Jordan connected on a
sixteen-foot jump shot that gave UNC a 63-62 lead
and the championship. The season was the first year
that CBS broadcast the tournament, and the final
was credited by broadcaster Curt Gowdy as elevating
the event to the status of the Super Bowl.
For fans, the most tantalizing aspect of the tour-
nament’s expanded format was the possibility of
lower-ranked teams upsetting favorites. In 1983,
coach Jim Valvano led North Carolina State—with
ten losses on its résumé—into the final game to face
the heralded University of Houston squad, dubbed
“Phi Slama Jama,” for its propensity to slam-dunk,
and anchored by Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler. In
the minds of most, Valvano had taken his “Cinder-
ella” team as far as they could go; but in the waning
seconds of the game, Lorenzo Charles corralled an
errant long-distance shot attempt and, ironically,
slammed home the game-winner for North Carolina
State. What followed was perhaps the most iconic im-
age in tournament history: Valvano sprinted wildly
down the court, his arms and hands flailing in cele-
bration.
The tournament saw other momentous upsets in
the 1980’s, such as Villanova’s defeat of defending-
champion Georgetown in 1985 and the University of
Kansas’s victory over the brash and confident Uni-
versity of Oklahoma in 1988. In both instances, the
favorite had defeated its underdog opponent twice
during regular-season conference play, only to lose
the third meeting when it mattered most.
Intercollegiate rule changes, specifically Proposi-
tion 48, which defined academic guidelines for sports
scholarships, forced some players to hone their aca-
demic and athletic skills at the junior-college level.
In 1987, two such players, Dean Garrett and Keith
Smart, helped IU capture its fifth championship,
three of which belonged to coach Bobby Knight.
The proposition was construed by some as specifi-
cally targeting African American players.
Buoyed by the success of Johnson and Bird, for-
mer NCAA foes, the NBA continued to view the
NCAA as a breeding ground for potential profes-
sional stars. However, the excitement produced by
the expansion of the tournament and the presence
of colorful coaches and highly skilled players made
the NCAA tournament an event worth watching in
its own right.The Women’s Game Emerges Title IX of Congress’s
1972 education amendments forbade the exclusion of
opportunity solely based on gender. Though Title IX
did not specify athletics as included under its equal96 Basketball The Eighties in America