[Cerek the Barbaric]

My personal favorite occurred in the 1983 NCAA Tournament. For those who are unfamiliar with this event, it is a 3-week long series of games to determine the best college basketball team in America.

In 1983, no basketball team could match Houston University. They had such stellar stars as Clyde "The Glide" Drexler and Akeem "The Dream" Olajuwan. This team trampled any and all opponents.

They ended up playing against N.C. State in the championship game of the tournament. N.C. State was given NO chance to win. They had played so poorly that season that they shouldn't have even been in the tournament. But - against amazing odds - they won their Conference Tournament, which automatically put them in the National Tournament (nicknamed "The Big Dance"). Out of the 5 games N.C. State had to win to reach the championship game, they were behind in 3 of them....and only won in the last minutes of the ball game.

The same scenario was true for the championsip game. Houston was expected to absolutely squash this upstart team, but N.C. State stayed with them and neither team ever had a lead of more than 4 points.

Finally, it came down to the final minute of the game. The scored was tied 52-52 and N.C. State had gained possession of the ball. They called a time-out to discuss their strategy. They only had enough time to take 1 shot for the championship. They brought the ball back into play...and their composure began to crack. A long pass to Derek Whittenburg (the team's "star") almost got away from him. He had to grab the ball and make a desperately long shot. He threw the ball up, but it was obvious that it wouldn't make it to the basket. Houston relaxed a bit, getting ready to advance to Overtime. Suddenly, an N.C. State player appeared right under the basket. He jumped and grabbed the ball in mid-air and SLAMMED it through the basket as the game-ending buzzer sounded.

The entire arena stared in stunned disbelief. Lorenzo Charles had just helped N.C. State pull off one of the biggest - and most exciting - upsets in the history of the NCAA Tournament.

It was even more special for me because I had been just been accepted to attend classes at N.C. State. What a thrill it was to walk on that campus just a few months after they were the National Champions.