1993 College Basketball Recap
The national championship was lost for lack of a timeout. Well, not exactly but close. The Michigan Wolverines, heavy preseason favorites to win it all, had lived up to the incredible hype and found themselves in the Superdome for the Final Four championship thanks to their stellar “Fab Five”.
But the walls came tumbling down when perhaps the most fab of the five, Chris Webber, got the ball with his team down by two with 20 seconds remaining in the game. Webber dribbled the ball downcourt and with 11 seconds called a timeout in order to setup the potentially national championship-winning play. One problem. Michigan had no timeouts left. North Carolina's Donald Williams, who would be named the Tournament's Most Outstanding Player, subsequently sank the two technical free throws to put the Tarheels and the national championship out of reach.
It was the second national championship for coaching living legend Dean Smith. Ironically his first title came in a similar fashion when Georgetown guard Freddie Brown erroneously threw the ball to a surprised Tarheel, James Worthy, in the waning seconds of the 1982 title game, also held in the Superdome.
Other news of note:
Jim Valavano, 47, died on April 28 following a year-long battle with cancer. The former N.C. State coach, who surprised everyone and led the Wolfpack to the 1983 national championship over Houston, had spent his last year raising awareness of and money for cancer research.
California head coach Lou Campanella was abrubtly fired by Cal AD Bob Bockrath who caught heat from the NABC for the decision but stood by it. Campanella's interim replacement led point guard Jason Kidd and the Golden Bears to the Sweet 16. Their tournament run included an 82-77 win over defending national champion Duke in the second round of the Midwest Regional.
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