30 Years ago Today

The Dawn of Madness
30 Years Ago, Larry Bird and Magic Johnson clashed for the NCAA title and changed basketball forever
March 26, 2009 marks the 30th anniversary of the epic NCAA championship clash between Larry Bird of Indiana State and Magic Johnson of Michigan State.

March Madness was in full swing in 1979 when the Michigan State Spartans locked horns with the undefeated Indiana State Sycamores in the NCAA basketball title game. Featuring two future NBA superstars, the championship game proved to be one of the most heralded in college basketball history.

The Michigan State Spartans, of the powerful Big Ten conference, were led by a flashy, gregarious point guard who represented black and urban America. On the other side, the unheralded Indiana State Sycamores had gone 33-0 on the back of the reclusive “hick from French Lick” who represented white and small town America.

On Monday night, March 26, 1979, Indiana State and Michigan State met for the NCAA basketball championship in Salt Lake City. The place was buzzing with excitement, as a capacity crowd of 15,410 fans packed the Events Center at the University of Utah.

It was the MSU Spartans who took command early, rolling to a 37-28 advantage at halftime. The numbers told the story, with Michigan State shooting 52 percent from the field and the Sycamores 38 percent.

The second half didn't prove to be much better for Indiana State, as the Spartan defense continued to bottle up Larry Bird while Magic Johnson, Greg Kelser and Terry Donnelly put the necessary tallies on the board. At one point, the Sycamores managed to pull within six, but that's the closest they got, as Bird could only manage seven of 21 from the field and hand out two assists.

When the final buzzer sounded, the score stood Michigan State 75, Indiana State 64. Magic Johnson, who scored 24 points in the title game, was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player.

The final game marked the beginning of the rivalry between future Hall of Famers. To this day, it remains the highest-rated game in the history of televised college basketball. Both Magic and Bird would enter the NBA in the fall of 1979, and the rivalry between them and their teams (respectively, the Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics) was a major factor in the league's renaissance in the 1980s and 1990s.