1979 National Championship game: Michigan State vs Indiana State (Full game)
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- Опубликовано: 19 янв 2019
- Relive the thrilling 1979 National Championship game in its entirety as Ervin "Magic" Johnson and the Michigan State edged out Larry Bird and Indiana State.
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This still stands as the most watched college basketball game ever 43 years later
Yeah isn’t that crazy, that a game in 79, when tech was primitive compared to today, is still the most watched ever.
@@jdaily2293 what do you mean millions were able to stream this game on their game and watch
I'd say UNLV vs Duke in 91 is up there too.
@@jdaily2293it’s not crazy. There were only 3-5 TV channels back then. Take late night TV. Carson had 30 million viewers, now 1 million is OK.
@@dsales2011how about in the turner cbs era
The game that featured the two stars that would change the NBA forever.Magic and Bird
Continued the last group that change the nba
NBA is a total SHAM
You're Absolutely Correct.
@@byronjones9299 Pro sports are basically the Roman Arena. Who knew?
@@fml5910 It's magic and that is that but, 1 man doesn't make a team
I can't believe I'm approaching 40 and am just now taking the time to watch this game. Magic, Bird, and Jordan were my childhood heroes!
I was a junior at Michigan State when this game occurred. Watched it at a local pub near the campus area. One of the great memories of my life. We partied until the cops came and closed the bars down at 3:30 am by force. Then we went out and partied some more in the streets. We did not burn any couches in those days. Love re watching this game.
Geez I thought I was old. Just kidding bro. 60 is the new 30
Too funny I was a senior at Florida State University back when Bowden was our fourth year football coach. I think Hugh Durham or Joe Williams was our basketball coach. I’m thinking it was the same up there college sports was so much fun tickets were free for a full-time student and a soft drink didn’t cost 10 bucks!
I go to MSU right now. Couldn’t image what the atmosphere was like. what bar did you go to? Wondering what was here back then
@@jms-wo7dm was at a place called Lums. It was at the sw corner of M. A. C. and Albert. It is The Riv now I think.
@@Don-n6o haha I was just at the riv watching us play in the second round. Too funny. Go green
This game did a lot for basketball as a whole, NBA and NCAA both.
A Game from 79 is more interessting as the NBA in 2021.
I remember listening to the game on the radio 3/25/79 and then got a call from my sister that our dad died just an hour before. Thanks for the memory of a win and my loss at a moment in time. I will never forget.
What a game !!! I can’t believe today is the 1st time I’ve seen it in its entirety !!! 😮
I saw it live. Just a great game and basketball fan experience, delivered by two all time basketball greats with terrific supporting casts and coaches.
@@ashenning9002 Live? Wow. Count yourself lucky!
@@ashenning9002 Saw it on tv;senior year of college,, and loved it.
Every college basketball fan needs to watch this at least once in their life
Such a great game. Awesome to see the beginnings of Bird and Magic. Also, wild to see how different the officiating was back then.
I was at this game. I was 13 years old at the time. It is great to be able to see this again knowing what Bird and Magic would become. At the time it was overwhelming, the arena was louder than a rock concert.
I was 13 too, in 8th grade! Grew up in east Lansing, but lived at the time in the Detroit area! I listened to ever state game on the radio that year!
Weird to see no three point line!
This was Basketball as it was meant to be. No shot clock of three-point line. Worked the ball in to get best percentage shot.@@LKaramazov
@@LKaramazovI WAS ALSO 13, BUT IN THE NINTH GRADE.
@altabird44 I’m doing a podcast about this game and need to find someone who was there. It’s (very) time sensitive. Would you be interested in talking about your experience?
BIRD AND MAGIC WENT ON TO BATTLE EACH OTHER IN THE NBA. two of the greatest ever.
What, they did? To think nobody knew ;)
@@oregonguy13 To be fair they were both pretty obscure and never amounted to much. Bird only played 6 games in the 88-89' season and magic didn't play at all from 91-95'
i must have missed that… a couple flash in the pan types
The best rival in sports
Yup and there's nothing fishy about that at all
RUclips is a time machine
Still a great game to watch in 2024
❤watching ervin magic johnson, 6 feet 8 inches point guard/ forward vs Larry bird
I remember watching this game as a teenager and saying, "best Ncaa championship game I ever seen. In 2022 it STILL IS THE BEST EVER.
I remember watching this game. MSU was dominant in that tournament & won their games by the biggest point margin at the time. And before the 3 point line. Now that's old school.
I’ve watched this game several times over the years. It never gets old.
I remember all the hype surrounding this game but most of the talk was about Bird. It sounded like most of the analysts thought Indiana was going to win. I kept thinking, wait a minute. This Magic dude and his team look like they should be favored. It’s what made me interested in watching. I remember thinking throughout the game that it was going pretty much the way I thought it would. Followed Magic’s progress to the NBA and wound up becoming a diehard Laker fan.
It was because to most of the country Bird wasn't as well known as Magic. Indiana State played in a smaller conference, and there games wasn't on national TV. Doing the early part of the season they went mostly unnoticed. While Bird was putting up big numbers, many felt they played weak competition. Meanwhile Michigan State had big battles every night playing in The Big Ten. However as the tournament came around, and Indiana State was still undefeated ( the only team in division one) the press became more interested in "The Bird" Who is this Bird? was a comment that was said a lot.
I remember watching this game on tv when I was 13. I was jumping up and down screaming for Magic and Bird. What folks don’t realize though is how good a player that Greg Kelcer was for Michigan State.
This was the first ncaa finals I saw. I was 11 and remember the excitement before the game and it lived up to the hype. Then Magic came to my Lakers
The fact that both of these guys went to Celtics and lakers respectively is kind blowing
Bird had already been drafted by the Celtics under an old NBA rule that made a 4th year player eligible when their class graduated(finished 4th year) and. The Lakers got Magic by holding the New Orleans Jazz(hadn’t moved yet) #1 draft pick as compensation for the Jazz signing Gail Goodridge as a free agent. The Lakers and Bulls had a coin flip(which is how the NBA determine the #1 pick before the lottery) and the Lakers won and in one of his few intrusions into player personnel Jerry Buss demanded the Lakers take Magic #1 overall as he felt Magic could help orchestrate an up tempo offense.
They had 2-3 guys on Bird the entire game. Interesting, but you can actually see Bird's original shooting form before he broke his finger playing softball. After that injury, he starting pulling the ball up to the side of his head in the NBA. He always said that he never had the same feel after the injury.
Look at this talent. I attended Michigan that year and got to see Magic play. That fast break was incredible! I remember Larry Bird being interviewed and it was apparent he wasn't recruited for his academics.
The highest rated game in College Basketball history after 40 years
As incredible as it sounds, it's even higher (24.1 Nielsen) than the NBA post-season record, 1998 Finals Bulls vs Jazz, game 6 (22.3), Michael Jordan's last game (at that time).
No shot clock no three point line
@@jimtoohey7242 The three point line was introduced in the ABA in the mid to late 60's
I didn’t hear about this matchup till 2021 (I’m from a NFL family), but am generally same age as Larry & Magic, and have come to enjoy BB.
What a fun game to watch! And the commentary, that’s priceless!!
Gonzaga vs ULCA today will go down in history also!
Then Magic and Larry would define their careers in the 80s in the NBA winning titles. And the rivalry between the Lakers and the Celtics would live on. Magic and Larry would then become Hall of Famers.
I remember I was in the hospital age 14 watching this game that's when I became big basketball fan!
Indiana St. totally outmanned but they had so much heart. Great stuff.
Larry Bird literally willed the team to this point, not unlike in a later era how Butler fell short two years in a row in the title game.
what a con job USA is
Pathetic
USA is the land of the Slaves
@@AEMoreira81 Butler had actual NBA talent. Hayward and Shelvin Mack. And guys who played professionally. Indiana State had Bird.
@@manuginobilisbaldspot424 I would go so far to say Nix there guard was the only other division 1 player. The rest were division 2 at best.
When Magic makes that rebound at 1:10 and drives back to make that layup +1 on the foul, then Bird a few plays later with that brilliant assist at 3:20 -- you just knew it was a classic-in-the-making.
Remember this like it was yesterday. I was 13 and just been getting into playing basketball and idolized Larry Bird so much I even developed my shot to look exactly like his. My nickname by my teammates “Birdie” but unfortunately I never had quite the talent of my idol. I remember the next day in school being so dejected by the loss it was hard to focus on my schoolwork. It’s so amazing how certain things you can remember from over 40 years ago but can’t remember what I did yesterday.
Have heard about this game many times but never watched until HBO's Winnning Time finally prompted me. Good stuff. The slight differences in the rules from then to now were interesting.
Me too! Winning time is what got me interested in seeing the game
There was so much anticipation going into this championship that it hung in the air even weeks after it was over, and all anybody talked about was Larry Bird despite the fact that his team lost. As good as Bird and Johnson were in the pros they never generated as much excitement among people as they did in this series. In fact, I don't think there's ever been a moment in sports that topped this when it comes to the excitement level.
I was 13-14 years old when I watched this Championship game. I and my friends had not seen a 6-9 player like Ervin Johnson playing a guard in college. At his size he did everything a 6-2 guard could do but better!! Then you had Larry Bird who was really known in the mid-West/East but in the west we had not heard to much about him but we knew he could shoot!! …and boy could he!! They both eventually changed the basketball world and the NBA!!
I went to MSU...11yrs after this. 8yo in 2nd grade this year in N Muskegon, MI but i remember it well.
My brothers kindergarten picture has a Michigan State 1979 NCAA Champions t-shirt...made w/ iron-on decals (ask someone over 45 bout those), awesome.
Don, I was in first grade in '78-'79! First championship game I watched happened to be Isiah blitzing the Tar Holes the day President Reagan got shot! But I've seen the Bird and Magic replay numerous times! I'm 48 and I wish there were more out there with the historical appreciation of what Magic and Bird meant to basketball as a whole! The game today (college and pro) doesn't have the level it's attained without those two guys! Their influence can't be understated and yet so many who lack or ignore sense don't give the credit where credit is justifiably due
It's funny, but I told a bunch of my friends after the 2009 NCAA final between the Tar Holes and Michigan St that had Magic's '79 Michigan St team been on the floor that night, they'd have been the only MSU squad that could have beaten Carolina in that game! Magic would have handled Ellington and Kelser would have been in Hansbrough's grill! And before tipoff Magic and Bird were at center court celebrating the 30th anniversary of their transcendent battle
Don, u won't believe this but I'd been searching in recent years for anything memorabilia wise connected with that MSU national championship because of my like to collect and I found the gray championship shirt with the green lettering on the front! It made my day! I've been watching college ball since '80-'81(it and college lacrosse my two favorite sports)!
I was a freshman at MSU when this game was played. It was great to watch again. Go Green!
No 3 point line, love it!
Excellent image ans outstanding footage. Grats!
BIRD VS MAGIC
BIRD VS MAGIC
That's all that needs said PERIOD! Larry Bird was one of my two idols growing up, along with Mike Schmidt! But what amazes me is when it comes to all the talk of who the greatest of all-time are - so many lack the historical knowledge of what Bird and Magic did not only for the NCAA tournament but for college and pro basketball in general! They rush to judge based on recent memory instead of taking the time to understand that if it wasn't for the arrivals of Bird and Magic, the guys those who judge to be the best wouldn't have their careers if not for the already existing platform and their predecessors preceding them! Kobe, MJ, Shaq, Ewing, Duncan - guys who themselves understand they wouldn't have had their NBA without Bird and Magic! How come so many don't realize or mention them and give them their always just due! LeBron included!
Jesus loves you all❤️, allow him into your hearts.
@@anandguruji83 Magic vs bird
@@timestamp7415
True. Bird was a collegiate athlete before Magic. Also, Bird was the top college basketball player in the 1978’79 season.
What's amazing is that Bird took a team with very limited talent and made it to the championship game.
Limited talent? Had Carl Nicks on team who shot 7 for 14 that night (while Bird shot 7 for 21 with 6 turnovers) and played for the Denver Nuggets
@@keithratajczyk5068 Yeah. Limited. Greg Kelser and Jay Vincent were NBA players, and very long. The other Spartans were very solid Big Ten players. Vincent won the Big Ten scoring championship two years in a row. Tough. For Larry to get these guys through the tournament, and past DePaul in the semi-final was Herculean.
Kelser played parts of 4 seasons and scored about 2000 pts - around 1k more than Nicks. And Vincent's career nearly as unremarkable as Kelser's. ISUs Alex Gilbert & Brad Miley played overseas for several years. Don't believe MSUs Terry Donnelly, Ron Charles, or Mike Brkovich did
Tournament only had 40 teams back then. Missouri Valley Conference not exactly loaded with All-Americans in 1978-79
Vincent had better NBA career than either Kelser or Nicks. However, in 79 championship game - as an underclassman -he only logged a few minutes of air time and scored 5 pts - not much of an impact
Rest In Peace Jud Heathcote
Enberg, Packer, and McGuire...doesn't get any better than this!!
A time where all the Hype, Bird vs Magic loved up to it!
Awesome game thanks again ☺️
Before Bird and Magic the NBA finals were on tape delay, let that sink in
Funny how Bird looked like a 50 year old man in college.
I WAS 18 YEARS OLD GETTING TO GRADUATE HIGH SCHOOL IN 1979 SOUTHEAST HIGH KANSAS CITY, MO. I WATCH THIS GAME & HAVE BEEN A MAGIC FAN EVER SINCE!!! HE IS THE REASON I STARTED WATCHING COLLEGE BASKETBALL 🏀!!! I WAS ALREADY WATCHING THE NBA 🏀 WITH MY FAVORITE AT THE TIME KAREEM A K.A LEW ALCINDOR WHO WAS PLAYING FOR THE LAKERS!!! THEN WHEN MAGIC GOT DRAFTED BY THE LAKERS I WAS STOKED!!! WINNING A NATIONAL TITLE 🏆 WITH MICHIGAN STATE IN 1979, THEN TO FOLLOW THAT UP WITH AN NBA 🏀 TITLE 🏆 IN 1980 PLUS ROOKIE OF THE YEAR!!! 🙌🏽💪🏽🏀🏆🔥💯😎 !!! I KNOW PEOPLE HAVE MICHAEL JORDAN AS THERE G.O.A.T 🐐 OR LEBRON!!! BUT FOR ME "MAGIC JOHNSON" IS MY G.O.A.T. 🐐🏀🔥💯😎
both college and nba have turned into a 3 pt shooting contest. game is a shell of what it used to be.
Yep. Takes a man to take it to the hoop.
@@bigcolt5256 and to name himself Big Colt
The NBA led by bitzes like Stephanie Curry and coach Rick Carlisle have turned NBA into garbage
Takes talent to thread a pass for an easy layup or dunk.
Did you see how many two point shots these guys missed? They can’t even hit free throws.
The court looks so different because of no three
The game was better without it
Basketball was so much better then.
@@terrencecoccoli524
No it wasn’t.
@@edlawn5481 no it wasn’t
The anniversary of this game passed last month 3-26-79 43 yrs.
VICTORY FOR MSU
This game might have been the most pivotal moment in the history of basketball, as far as the importance of the popularity of basketball domestically and later globally.
Much Gratitude
Thanks for sharing this I remember the game like it was yesterday and I think that Larry Bird has been retired from the NBA for 30 years now, ugh, I guess I’m old too. I think the younger magic played on another 4-5 seasons. It’s a testament to their greatness that both players stayed with their same NBA teams their entire career.
Now if I recall correctly they matched up once again in the NBA championships with magic leading the Lakers over the Boston Celtics, Which Larry Bird played for. Magic winning again
Spring of my Senior year in college. Watched every second of this game , and loved it. Was pulling for Michigan State, but was a fan of Bird's,, and Carl Nicks, too. Great game. Donnelly was the key. What he did , the Sycamores didn't expect.
They should also show the MSU/Notre Dame game from yhe same tournament. A masterpiece.
The defense on Bird was smothering.
What kind of idiot are you? Bird had a cast of bums he willed to the title game. You must be a pencil neck.
Both you and The person who was your first (rude) reply are correct: Without Bird that team would surely not be here in the playoff. And the defense on him WAS smothering-which proves the first point with embarrassing clarity-3 people guarding Bird much of the time and the rest of the team couldn’t manage to win?
MSU's 2nd best player was on the bench due to injury, Jay Vincent. They did not have a great team, save one.
This game is really good quality for 1979. So many of the old-school tapes are low quality.
RIP jud heathcote
Nothing compares to it today. Now its all Politics-As-Usual.
It shows the talent of players in the 70s 80,90,s are the classic ncaa too watch the classic
1 Awesome NCCA Championship Basketball Game both Magic and Bird went head to head with each other even still Michigan State Won and make Earvin Himself become a LA Laker and Bird going to Boston which later on these guys both met with each other later on
Perfect! And not a three-point line to be found! Pure basketball.
I knew the played each other in the NBA finals, but had no idea they met in the college Natty
This game was how the hula started
LETS GO INDIANA STATE.....LARRY YOU OWN MAGIC & YOU ARE 3 YEARS HIS ELDER!
We complain about officiating today-they have nothing on the ridiculously bad calls made in this game.
Magic Bird WoW
My final image of Larry Bird completely spent in the championship game. Wondering HOW his team was within 11 points of Magic Johnson and Michigan State final score. As a team Indiana State did not belong on the same court with Michigan State and Magic Johnson, but Birds expression wathat his team had just ran out of time. What a competitor.
This Change The Game Forever
classic, just a classic
This game is the Reason the NBA got out of financial trouble back in the early 80's
My mom had the honor of being at this game when she was attending ISU. Its weird to think she’s somewhere in the crowd in this video.
" That was the night everything.changed " - Shogun Assassin !
this game is so fun to watch ❤
A legendary game🫡🔥
I remember watching this game
Miss these games on college campuses.
*BIRD VS MAGIC ...The story begin...*
The legend begins!
Magic Johnson had an incredible supporting cast, several of whom joined him in the NBA. Larry Bird had a supporting cast of stiffs that he alone willed to the championship game, which I consider the greatest feat I have ever seen in college basketball. Indiana State was an obscure program before he arrived, and faded back into obscurity when he left. I believe ISU's only other player of note was Larry Bird's brother.
This is a myth. Magic did not have a great supporting cast. The only other player to make it to the NBA was Jay Vincent. He saw limited action because of a broken foot. These guys were 10 and 17 before Magic got there. MSU played a much, much tougher schedule than ISU so was well seasoned. Magic took over mid way that season and they played what would later be called Showtime and rolled everyone. It was all Magic.
@@bradleyholt9805 Greg Kelser also played in the NBA. The 10-17 record prior to Magic's arrival is correct, but Jay Vincent arrived along with Magic. Magic was a force, to be sure, but he had 2 future pros in Kelser and Vincent to support his greatness, while Bird had a bunch of absolute nobodies.
@@bradleyholt9805 1979 NBA draft: Magic was #1 pick. Gregory Kelser was #4 pick.
Lol why do y’all forget about Carl Nicks...him and Bird were pretty much the offense and the only other NBA player on that team.
@@ashenning9002 cuz of magic making him look good
It's weird seeing no 3-point line
The big difference in this game was Michigan State had two NBA prospect players compared to one on Indiana State. While he obviously did not have the same career as bird and magic, Greg kelser was a very good college player. He did play a few years in the pros definitely much better than anybody else on Indiana state
The 3 point line was born in 1979.
I was at this game. I was 20. I rode on the Amtrak train from Michigan out to Utah and back.
Wow nice, did you have good seats?
@@Mrd9960
It was a coach car so the view was pretty good on both sides. The train came out of Chicago so there were kids from all the Final Four schools of MSU, Indiana State, Penn and DePaul.
@@JStarStar00 Oh no, I meant at the game, sorry I should have clarified it a little better.
@@Mrd9960
Oh, hahah. I was in one of the front rows of the upper deck. The Utah arena held about 15,000 seats. I don't think a Final Four has been held in an arena that small in about 35 years.
@@JStarStar00 how was the overall atmosphere, and did you get to see magic cut the net at the end ?
Wow this is pretty epic
Back in the day's when college basketball 🏀 was college basketball
The space they give each other gives me anxiety 😂😂😂.
Bird struggled in this game. He got bounced around inside the MSU zone. He always said it was a great disappointment to him that he didn't play better. But the Spartans were a superior team while Larry had to carry the Sycamores. Somehow people remember it being a great battle of the superstars but it really wasn't. It was a fairly decisive win.
When the game was real. Glad I was able to watch these legends play for years
Kenny Loggins This is it ! is Magic's anthem for this classic .
A rivalry between Magic Johnson and Larry Bird was born.
It's very strange to see these guys dribble without carrying the basketball lol.
I wonder if they switched teams if Indiana St still makes the finals with Magic
The starting point of the greatest team ever...Dream Team 1992
That Mich St zone D was tough...
Crazy how they would not show the score on screen at all times.
🏀 This is Gold!!! 💰
Basketball was never the same after this
Those guys Bird and Magic have potential.
Victory for MSU kets make it happen again
I didn't know a 3pt line was missing at some point.
Thank god for the 3 pt line the courts just look so barren without that arc on the outside 😂
Yeah,.and were they using a :45 sec clock?,..Mich State just held the ball for so many possessions,.Glad they changed that as well
@@Paulmatthew22 That was the biggest thing, don't know why no one is mentioning that, and I don't even think there was a :45 clock. MSU was holding the ball FOREVER several times, and they never seemed to act as if it was about time to shoot it, the announcers never said anything about it, nor was a shot clock of any kind ever shown on the screen. CRAZY.
@@Paulmatthew22 Michigan State would have run them off the court had there been a shot clock. The lack of one kept this game this close.
This game may never have happened. Magic wanted to go to Indiana State, but Mom told him to stay close to home. So, he went to Michigan State.
Imagine Magic and Bird teaming up lol just sounds ridiculous and insane
Byrd want not ready for Magic he'd got schooled.
I'm mite bee Bias, and we know that kills
YOU ARE LYING. Indiana State was a nothing program until Bird dropped in their laps. If Earvin wanted to leave Lansing, he probably would have gone to U-M. Or another blue chip program. He had his pick, and it never involved the Sycamores.
Where did u hear that from?
@@daveconleyportfolio5192 What if Bird stayed at Indiana, and played for Coach Knight?