Hogs' Old Foe Can Exorcise Demons from Phi Slama Jama Days

While Eddie Sutton made the Arkansas Razorbacks a well-known and highly-respected national contender in college basketball, he never achieved the ultimate goal.

That was accomplished by his successor, Nolan Richardson, who matched Sutton's feat of leading the Hogs to the Final Four and then took it a step further by winning the 1994 national championship.

Both Hall of Fame coaches lost in the national semifinals to blueblood programs on their initial visits to the Final Four, Sutton in St. Louis and Richardson in Denver.

Sutton's 1978 team lost to the Kentucky Wildcats, 64-59, and Richardson's 1990 squad fell to the Duke Blue Devils, 97-83.

Only difference was until 1982, a third-place game was played at the Final Four. In '78, Arkansas edged the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, 71-69, on Ron Brewer's last-second shot.

Brewer's game-winner is the second buzzer-beating shot in this video that shows every one in the NCAA Tournament from '77 to 2024.

Brewer, of course, is Razorback royalty, along with his son, Ronnie Brewer Jr., who also played in the NBA. Both were first-round draft picks: Ron going No. 7 overall to the Portland Trailblazers and Ronnie 14th to the Utah Jazz.

The younger Brewer, of course, is part of current Arkansas coach John Calipari's support staff, a valuable man on the bench and in recruiting.

Calipari got the Hogs within a snout of the Elite Eight in his first year as Arkansas' bench boss, an up-and-down season that included an eight-point loss to the Florida Gators, now vying for the national title.

Arkansas Razorbacks coach John Calipari directs play against the Texas Tech Red Raiders during a West Regional semifinal of the 2025 NCAA tournament at Chase Center in San Francisco on March 27. | Kyle Terada-Imagn Images

Calipari got his start on a college coaching staff -- as a graduate assistant -- at Kansas in 1982, about 16 months after the last third-place game in the Final Four.

Hall of Fame center Ralph Sampson's Virginia Cavaliers won that last third-place game, beating LSU in Philadelphia in 1981.

Hall of Famer Isaiah Thomas led the Indiana Hoosiers of coach Bob Knight to the '81 title over the North Carolina Tar Heels of Dean Smith and Hall of Famer James Worthy, in a battle of Hall of Fame coaches.

Those games, after much discussion and with a certain amount of reluctance, were played the same day President Ronald Reagan was shot hours earlier in Washington, D.C.

After that 1978 trip to the Final Four, Sutton's Hogs nearly made it back the next season but were beaten in the Elite Eight on a last-second bucket, 73-71.

That thriller featured a match-up of first-team All-Americans: Arkansas' 6-foot-4 Sidney Moncrief and 6-foot-9 Larry Bird of the undefeated Indiana State Sycamores.

Bird had 31 points, 10 rebounds and three assists while Super Sid had 24, 8 and two. Both played all 40 minutes, as did Razorback senior 7-footer Steve Schall and 6-10 freshman Scott Hastings.

Point is, it's hard enough to reach the Final Four once. To do it two straight is quite a feat. Richardson did that when his Hogs won the 1994 national championship and reached the title game in '95, losing to the UCLA Bruins.

There have been 10 men's programs reach the Final Four at least three times in a row. That includes the Houston Cougars, who square off Monday against Florida for this season's championship.

Those reaching the Final Four three times consecutively are:
• Michigan State (1999-2001)
• Kentucky (1996-98)
• Houston (1982-84)
• North Carolina (1967-69)
• Ohio State (1960-62)
• San Francisco (1955-57)
• Ohio State (1944-46)

More impressively, these two appeared five straight season:
• Duke (1988-92)
• Cincinnati (1959-63)

Of course, one legendary program dwarfs all others when it comes to NCAA Tournament success. That's the school led by perhaps the two greatest college players ever — Lew Alcindor (later known as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) and Bill Walton.

The school with the most Final Four appearances in a row is:
* UCLA (1967-76)
Yes, dear readers, that's an astounding 10 straight Final Fours, the first nine under the direction of Bruins revered coach John Wooden, who won eight of those championships.

Thing is, Wooden and UCLA also cut down nets in 1964 and 1965. If Alcindor could've played as a freshman, the big bad Bruins would've won 10 straight championships. Hard to fathom these days.

Wooden retired after winning it all in 1975 and his successor, Gene Bartow, made the '76 Final Four, but lost to Indiana. Those Hoosiers gave Knight the first of his three titles and they are the last undefeated men's champion.

Houston is playing in its seventh Final Four, having also competed on the season's last week in 1967, 1968, 1982, 1983, 1984 and 2021.

Those 1960s teams featured Hall of Famer Elvin Hayes, but they were always outmanned by Alcindor and UCLA.

The early 1980s Cougars were tremendously talented, led by a pair of future Hall of Famers in Akeem (later Hakeem) Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler.

Olajuwon was a game-changer, a program-changer, when he arrived from Nigeria for the 1981-82 season. Clearly a gifted athlete with quick, agile feet fashioned by playing soccer, the 6-11 "Akeem the Dream" was raw when it came to basketball but developed quickly.

"Phi Slama Jama" was the nickname bestowed upon the high-flying dunking Coogs, known as the world's tallest fraternity.

Arkansas finished a game ahead of Houston in the Southwest Conference standings in 1982 with a 12-4 record and finished 23-6 overall.

Houston and Olajuwon, though, improved as the season progressed and reached the Final Four in New Orleans. Waiting for the Coogs was North Carolina, which boasted a plethora of talent in junior James Worthy, sophomore Sam Perkins and freshman Michael Jordan.

The Tar Heels beat Houston by five and nipped Georgetown by a point for the title on Jordan's game-winning jumper from the wing., finishing 32-2 on the season.

Houston returned to the Final Four in '83 and was a prohibitive favorite over upstart North Carolina State and coach Jim Valvano, who only got into the NCAA Tournament by winning their league tournament after finishing 8-6 in the ACC.

NC State's improbable run to the Final Four included a first-round win by two in double overtime, followed by victory margins of one, 19, one and seven over Georgia in the national semifinal.

All five Wolfpack starters became NBA draft picks: one in the first round, two in the second, and one each in the third and fourth.

Meanwhile, Olajuwon was the overall No. 1 pick following the 1984 season, Drexler was a first-rounder in 1983 and Michael Young in 1985. Five other Coogs were drafted from the 1983 and 1984 teams.

But, it was Valvano who is credited with creating the now famous phrase about the NCAA Tournament when "survive and advance" became his team's rallying cry in 1983.

Still, Houston was the clear favorite, the No. 1 team in the country against the sixth seed from the Midwest Regional. Nobody was surprised when the Cougars led, 42-35, with 10 minutes to play.

Shockingly, NC State rallied and won on a last-second dunk of a 35-footer that came up well short of the rim. It's a loss Houston's players and program have never truly lived down.

With Drexler gone, Olajuwon led Houston to its third Final Four in three years, this time facing mighty Georgetown and Hall of Fame center Patrick Ewing. The Hoyas prevailed, 84-75 to finish 34-3.

Arkansas finished with national rankings of Nos. 9 and 8 in the 1983 and '84 seasons, but finished behind Houston in the SWC standings each year despite a pair of 14-2 records. Houston was 16-0 and 15-1 in those seasons in the league.

For the Cougars of 2025, all of that history probably doesn't matter. But their coach, 69-year-old Kelvin Sampson, is well aware of Olajuwon and those great Phi Slama Jama teams of the '80s.

Despite six trips to the Final Four, Houston is still chasing that elusive national championship. They're about a free throw or two underdog to Florida, but they weren't supposed to beat Duke in the semifinals.

Houston's defensive-minded guards will have to contain Walter Clayton Jr., Florida's sensational shooter who's scored 30 and 34 points in the last two games to beat Texas Tech and Auburn.

Like against Duke, if the game is in the 70s or 80s, Florida should win. If the Cougars can control Clayton and his high-octane teammates, this one's up for grabs.

In contrast to 1983, it's Houston that wants a game in the 60-point range. That'll suit Sampson just fine, even though his team could win a shootout if they bury a basket full of threes.

Arkansas fans likely will pull for Florida, as it'll help justify the 14 SEC teams invited to the 68-team NCAA Tournament and the league's reputation this season of being historically strong.

Personally, it'll be more fun to see Sampson win a national championship and for Houston to exorcise the demons from four decades ago when the school boasted its most talented teams.

Hogs' Old Foe Can Exorcise Demons from Phi Slama Jama Days

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