Doctors of Dunk

Two NCAA Finals were contested on this day in history, and two gravity-defying superstars were named the tournaments' Most Outstanding Players:

3/24/74
N.C. State 76, Marquette 64
The Wolfpack finished off the inevitable on this night in 1974, drubbing Marquette in the NCAA Final in what seemed like a formality after their semi-final conquest of the mighty UCLA Bruins, winners of the last seven NCAA championships and nine of the last ten. N.C. State was led by the Skywalker, David Thompson, one of the true pioneers of the above-the-rim game, he of the 48-inch vertical leap, he of the stupid-fly Pony's, he of the "look I invented the alley oop so back yourself up when you talk to me fool." Thompson scored 28 against the Bruins, and then 21 in the final to pace the Wolfpack over Marquette and their All-American superstar, Maurice Lucas. For his efforts, the Skywalker was named the Most Outstanding Player of the Tournament. One year later, he would be the first pick of the NBA Draft, and two years later, he would face off with Dr. J in the final of the first and arguably greatest slam-dunk competition at the ABA All-Star Game in Denver. Over three decades later, Thompson's number 44 remains the only number retired in N.C. State men's basketball history.

3/24/80 - Louisville 59, UCLA 54
This was Larry Brown's first season with the Bruins, a team that was not expected to even make it to the tournament, let alone the finals. Meanwhile, Louisville was a powerhouse in 1980 and dominated the tournament, led by the Doctors of Dunk - Rodney McCray and Dr. Dunkenstein himself, Darrell Griffith. Griffith won the Outstanding Player award after putting on an aerial show in the final, scoring 23 of his team's 59 points and landing some wicked slams over UCLA's star duo of Kiki Vandeweghe and Rod Foster. In the NBA draft that year, Griffith would go second to the Jazz, after Golden State's top-choice blunder of the great Joe Barely Cares.