NCAA at 75 - College Basketball
15. Whitehead lays it in
Marquette's Jerome Whitehead was an unlikely hero in one of the most dramatic finishes in NCAA tournament history. After UNC Charlotte's Cedric "Cornbread" Maxwell tied the score at 49 with three seconds to go in the 1977 national semifinal, Marquette coach Al McGuire called timeout. McGuire designed a play for Butch Lee to throw a full-court pass to center Bo Ellis, with Whitehead setting a screen. But Lee's pass was tipped by Maxwell and ended up in Whitehead's hands inside the free throw line. Whitehead tried to dunk the ball, but Maxwell recovered to partially block his shot. Miraculously, the ball bounced off the backboard and into the rim at the buzzer to give Marquette a 51-49 victory. Whitehead, who died in December at age 56, scored 21 points with 16 rebounds. Marquette defeated North Carolina 67-59 in the final.
-- Mark Schlabach
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