At least 20 times since the night North Carolina State took the air out of Phi Slamma Jamma, Dave Rose has received a call, after midnight, from somewhere across the country. Someone will be watching ESPN or the Classic Sports Network, and say, Hey, I was just surfing channels and, Rose Man, the '83 game was on and I saw you. You were there!
"I keep telling them, `Yeah. I know. I even know the outcome. They keep replaying it, and we keep losing,' " says Rose.It has been 15 years since Rose, now an assistant coach at BYU, set foot in The (New Mexico) Pit. Wednesday night he returns for the first time since Houston lost on one of the most famous shots in basketball history. It was the 1983 NCAA Championship game, in which the amazingly talented, supremely confident Houston Cougars lost to North Carolina State. Most famous of all is the oft-replayed moment when Derek Whittenburg took a long desperation shot that fell a foot short of the rim, but teammate Lorenzo Charles caught the ball and dunked it as the buzzer sounded.
"It will probably bring back a lot of memories," says Rose of his return to Albuquerque. "There will be a lot of things going through my head."
Fifteen years is plenty of time to second-guess yourself, and Rose has taken full advantage. A Houston reserve, he was front and center for the final shot of that fateful game, watching from the bench.
In most ways, all was going well until the final second. Rose remembers figuring with four minutes left and a seven-point lead, the Cougars would win the national title. Even when N.C. State cut the lead to two, it wasn't a problem. Houston had a trapping defense that usually ended with Clyde Drexler stealing the ball. Unfortunately, Drexler was enjoying the same view as Rose - he had fouled out. Consequently, on the in-bounds pass after a time out, Houston failed to get possession.
Not to be deterred, the Houston defense backed Whittenburg some-where beyond the outskirts of Albuquerque. From there it was impossible for the Wolf Pack to run a set play. Then the Cougars dared him to take a shot. Never one to let distance get in the way of a good idea, Whittenburg let loose. If he had been a golfer it would have been a fine approach shot. If he had been playing horse shoes, it would have gone for points. But he was playing basketball and it was a disaster. The ball came down like a wounded pheasant. Twenty thousand people in the arena winced in unison. It didn't land in the hoop but it did land in arms of a surprised Lorenzo Charles, who had clearly parked in the right stall.
It was all over but Wolf Pack coach Jim Valvano making like Mor-gan-na the Kissing Bandit.
"The next thing you see, right in front of our bench, is Valvano running and looking up, trying to find someone to hug," says Rose. "We felt like, `Where's he going?' "
Although there was still one second left when the shot went in, and Houston's Michael Young was calling time out, the officials called it a night. The teams had already used up their quota of miracles.
Immediately after the game, some of the Houston players collapsed on the court in despair, others cried. For his part, Rose "was just looking around, checking everything out." There was a brief stop in the locker room, then he went outside for some Houston TV interviews. When he returned to The Pit, the place was empty.
"I waited for the team bus, and that's the last I've been there," he says.
Even in losing, good things came from the experience. After being interviewed by former Deseret News columnist Lee Benson during the weekend, Rose got several inquiries from Utah high school principals wanting to know if he were interested in coaching after graduation. It wasn't his fault nobody blocked out Charles.
Rose went on to coach three years at Millard High, one at Pine View and 10 years at Dixie College - the last eight as head coach - before taking the BYU job. Drexler and Hakeem Olajuwon went on to stardom in the NBA. Charles went on to star in late-night video replays.
Rose admits he could talk ad nauseum to today's players about the Final Four experience, about believing in winning against a superior opponent, as did N.C. State. Instead, he keeps a low profile. "I don't really talk to the players that much unless they bring it up. I kind of assume most guys know what happened," he says. "But if someone wants to talk about it, I'll go on forever."
Either that or they can just switch on the TV and see the lesson for themselves.