Ranking the Champions

[Big Papi]

The 1977 team is ranked #36 by ESPN.


http://espn.go.com/ncb/feature/video/_/page/Top75champions/ncaa-75-college-basketball

[Dawson Rental]

Just as importantly, ranked last at 74.... The 1941 Wisconsin team.

[Aughnanure]

Just as importantly, ranked last at 74.... The 1941 Wisconsin team.

My thoughts exactly. Great start to the slideshow.

[Groin_pull]

My thoughts exactly. Great start to the slideshow.

I can't tell the difference between their 1941 team picture and today's.

[RushmoreAcademy]

I can't tell the difference between their 1941 team picture and today's.

They'd have made Bruesewitz cut his hair. That's it.

[cheebs09]

Bo has just been trying to recreate the magic from '41. Granted, I think they play slower now.

[JD]

Check out the ranking the players..

I think wade was #63 and Butch was #57


Surprisingly, no Wisconsin players..

Why does anybody debate Wisconsin vs Marquette when it comes to hoops, there is no comparisons.

[JD]

65. Dwyane Wade, Marquette
Before Tom Crean became a Hoosier and Marquette joined the Big East, the Golden Eagles were coached by a guy known mostly as "a former Tom Izzo assistant." Fortunately for Crean, he had a star with a funny first name that writers kept misspelling: Dwyane Wade. Nothing about this team's run to the 2003 Final Four came easily, but the game that truly made Wade's legend (and may even have persuaded the NBA to abandon any last lingering doubts) was the epic triple-double he recorded against top seed Kentucky in Marquette's 83-69 regional final win: 29 points, 11 assists, and 11 rebounds. He's been "D-Wade" ever since.
-- John Gasaway


52. Butch Lee, Marquette
The floor general and driving force behind Marquette's 1977 national championship team -- the first and only title for head coach Al McGuire -- Lee's full-court inbounds pass was collected and scored by Jerome Whitehead in Marquette's Final Four win over Charlotte. He scored 19 points in the national championship game win over North Carolina and averaged 16.9 points per game in his NCAA tournament career. -- Conor Nevins

[JD]

and to add..

Top 75 moments in NCAA tournament history.

34. McGuire's final run
College basketball fans never knew what to expect from Marquette coach Al McGuire. He once took a player to the Milwaukee lakefront, where he had the undersized center throw a beach ball into the water, to refute a rival coach's claim that he "couldn't throw the ball into the ocean from the beach." So maybe fans shouldn't have been surprised that McGuire spent the final seconds of Marquette's 67-59 victory over North Carolina in the 1977 championship game at the end of the bench, with his head buried in his hands as he wept. Midway through the 1977 season, McGuire announced he was retiring at age 48, and he reached college basketball's pinnacle in his final game as a coach. -- Mark Schlabach