Search - 1981 NCAA Championship: Indiana vs. UNC on DVD

College Basketball the way it should be.

D. Darienzo | Louisville, KY United States | 12/10/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is an awesome dvd for any IU fan or for classic college basketball in general. No shot clock, no three point line and a jump ball means you jump for the ball. Now, that out of the way what can I say but how great a coach Bob Knight is. IU was down by 8 in the first half but wound up leading by 1 point at the end of the first half on a shot by Randy Whitman. IU would never relinquish the lead. They came out in the second half blazing and quickly got out to a 9 point lead which they would more or less hold or add on to for the rest of the game.

The video and audio are good except for a shot time from 5:00 to 2:00 in the second half where it is obvious this portion was cobbled from a fan at home who was lucky enough to have a VCR in 1981. You will see a stamp noting WFIE-14 Evansville Indiana and a flash of a commercial that was edited out. At 2:00 it goes back to the original master tape. Obviously NBC had some problems with the master at for this period which is no surprise with NBC if you have ever viewed any of their older sports presentations. They just did not think to make any copies or take care of their tapes. Still it looks much better than the 1975 World Series dvd I have which was also on NBC.

This dvd includes the pre-game and post-game shows and a few minutes of the end of the half-time show. A much better presentation than the chopped up 74 minute version of the 1987 dvd which is missing some actual footage of the game as well. It should also be noted that this game took place on March 30, 1981 which is the day President Reagan was shot and almost did not take place. There is a touching ceremeony before the game in which the pastor from UNC leads the teams and the crowd in a prayer. That would never fly these days. Commentators are Dick Enberg, Billy Packer (who didn't have any hair even way back then) and the classic Al McGuire. They do very nice job throughout the game although for the first minute or so there is no audio from their booth as there was apparently a technical glitch. It is kind of sad to hear them mention that Landon Turner will be back next year for his senior season at IU when as most fans know he was paralyzed in a horrible car crash about 4 months after this game and would never play again.
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