Look back at the history of the NCAA Tournament in the 1970s and ’80s with new episodes of Christopher “Mad Dog” Russo’s SiriusXM original podcast, Digging Up The Past, debuting weekly this month.
The first of five episodes in this current series focuses on the famous 1979 Tournament and National Championship game that featured the Magic Johnson-led Michigan State Spartans facing Larry Bird and the Indiana State Sycamores, the first of many meetings between two of the greatest players of all time. The podcast can be heard now on the SiriusXM app.
To this day, the 1979 final remains the most-watched NCAA Tournament broadcast of all time and ushered in a new era of popularity for college basketball. Upcoming episodes will feature Russo and guests looking at the expansion of TV coverage on CBS to make it one of the biggest events on television, the success of the Big East Conference teams that helped increase the popularity of northeast basketball schools, and the many classic championship games of the 1980s and the great coaches who were on the sidelines for them.
Throughout the series, listeners will hear commentary from coaches and players including: Mike Krzyzewski (Duke), Jim Boeheim (Syracuse), Jim Calhoun (UConn), Larry Brown (Kansas), Steve Lappas (Villanova), PJ Carlesimo (Seton Hall), Keith Smart (Indiana), Danny Manning (Kansas), Dereck Whittenburg (NC State), Glen Rice (Michigan), Ed Pinckney (Villanova), Matt Doherty (North Carolina), Billy Thompson (Louisville), Terry Gannon (NC State), Darrell Griffith (Louisville); broadcasters Billy Packer and Bill Raftery; TV executives Ted Shaker, Kevin O’Malley and Bob Fishman; journalist Bob Ryan; NCAA executive Dan Gavitt and former Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese.
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