Dereck Whittenberg: N.C. State survives

Many may say that Villanova's win over Georgetown in 1985 was the biggest upset in NCAA Championship game history...hogwash!!!...Villanova and Georgetown are both from the Big East and the Wildcats knew how to play the Hoyas as they already lost to them twice earlier in the season...

The greatest upset came in 1983 when the late Jim Valvano's N.C. State Wolfpack upset the dunking force of Houston...people often forget that N.C. State needed to win the ACC tournament to even secure a bid to The Big Dance...

The greatest upset is best remembered for Lorenzo Charles dunking home the winning points as the game clock expired...Charles' points would never have mattered if N.C. State guard Dereck Whittenberg was not off mark with his clock expiring heave...

Whittenberg, was the star of that Wolfpack team...he missed most of the conference games with a broken ankle which put the Pack on the outside of the bubble come ACC Tournament time...

He was drafted in the third round by Phoenix Suns (51st overall) in the 1983 NBA Draft...by 1985 he was back at N.C. State serving as an assistant coach...he also served as an assistant at George Mason, West Virginia, Colorado, Long Beach State, and Georgia Tech...

Finally in 1999 he got his first head coaching chance when the Wagner Seahawks hired him...after four seasons and a record of 66-50, Whittenberg moved on to coach the Fordham Rams...he coached six full season and five games into this season before being fired...he put up a 69-112 mark while at Fordham...

Tyus Edney: the miracle worker

The dream season looked over...the UCLA Bruins were favored to win the tournament...and at the very least, they were a lock to at least make the Final Four...

But it was only the second round and they were 4.8 seconds away from being eliminated by 8th seeded Missouri...the Bruins chance at their first title since the days of John Wooden looked hopeless -- until Tyus Edney took the ball...

Edney took the inbounds pass and shot up the left sideline...as he crossed midcourt, with the Missouri players closing in on him, Edney went with a behind-the-back dribble...with another player closing in to block the shot, the 5'10" Edney adjusted and banked the shot in at the buzzer...UCLA won 75-74...

UCLA went on to win its 11th NCAA basketball championship, defeating the defending champion Arkansas Razorbacks 89-78...

Edney was selected by the Sacramento Kings in the second round with the of the 1995 NBA Draft...he played for the Kings, Boston Celtics, and Indiana Pacers during his six year NBA career...

After his NBA was over, Edney played for several European teams including Benetton Treviso and Olympiacos fo the Greek League...

Miles Simon: Simon Says Championship

Miles Simon and Mike Bibby comprised a backcourt that led the Arizona Wildcats to the national title in 1997 over a stacked Kentucky team...this brought head coach Lute Olsen his long overdue national title...

Simon walked away with the Most Outstanding Player of the tournament...he returned for his senior season and was named First Team All-Amerocan...the fame of that tournament did not translate into an NBA career as he played briefly for the Orland Magic and made almost $700,000 during his stay in the league...

Simon managed to carve a niche for himself in the CBA as he became the league's most decorated player in 2002...he led the Dakota Wizards to the title and earned Player of the Week four times, CBA Newcomer of the Year, the CBA MVP, and the Play-off MVP...he also holds the CBA record for most free throws made in a row at 60...

His time in the CBA lasted just three years...with his playing career over, Simon was named an assistant coach at his alma mater...Simon served as an assistant until 2008...

Simon is now a television analyst for Fox Sports Net...as a sidenote, Simon's brother-in-law is Darryl Strawberry...

Bobby Hurley: the toughest true point guard

I'm 41-years-old and the best pure point guard that I have ever seen in college basketball was Duke's Bobby Hurley...Hurley was not flashy, but he was so consistent and determined...he is still the NCAA all-time leader in assists with 1,076...

Hurley was the engineer of Duke's back-to-back national titles in 1991 and 1992...in his four years at Duke, he led the Blue Devils to three NCAA Championship Games...Hurley was the Most Outstanding Player of the tournament in 1992 when Duke beat Michigan in the title game...his Duke jersey number 11 was retired in 1993...in 2002, Hurley was named to the ACC 50th Anniversary men's basketball team as one of the fifty greatest players in Atlantic Coast Conference history...

His NBA career was cut short after a near fatal car accident in 1993 during his rookie season with the Sacramento Kings...

Currently, Hurley is involved in the thoroughbred horse racing business...his stable, called Devil Eleven (named after his uniform number) had a horse, Songandaprayer, who won the 2001 Fountain of Youth Stakes...

In 2009, Hurley was interviewed by the Raleigh News Observer...he had this to say about his thoroughbred business, "It’s exciting. It gave me a way, when the basketball career ended, to still stay in sports competitively. With the races, I get into it when my horses are running, wherever they are. ... You get sort of those same feelings in the pit of your stomach for the races that you do for basketball. The down side is you have very little control over what’s going to happen in a race. It’s up to the jockey and the horse." ...

The worst team ever: 1972-73 Philadelphia 76ers

The New Jersey Nets may set the record as the worst NBA team, record-wise, in the history of the league...the record they may break belongs to the 1972-73 Philadelphia 76ers who posted a 9-73 mark...Fred Carter (photo) was named the team MVP...

Phil Jasner of the Philadelphia Daily News has this interesting story about that 76ers team...1972-73 Philadelpia 76ers