Today In History

Three of the top teams in the country, NC State, Maryland, and North Carolina, all of whom were loaded with future NBA stars, competed in the tournament. While top ranked NC State, led by David Thompson breezed to the final, Maryland, led by John Lucas, Len Elmore, and Tom McMillen defeated North Carolina, led by Bobby Jones, Walter Davis, and Mitch Kupchak in the semifinals by a score of 105-85. That led to one of the great conference finals in NCAA history, in which NC State beat Maryland 103-100 in overtime. The significance of that championship game was that Maryland, considered to be one of the top teams in the nation, did not get to play in the NCAA Tournament, which back then only admitted one team per conference. In large part due to Maryland’s exclusion from the tournament that year, the field was expanded the following year to 32 teams to allow for some at large bids. After defeating Maryland in the memorable 1974 ACC final, NC State went on to win the national championship.