Illinois vs. North Carolina: NCAA' s latest 1-2 punch

ST. LOUIS -- It's been 30 years since the top two teams in The Associated Press poll met in college basketball's national championship game.\nNo matter what happens Monday night when top-ranked Illinois faces North Carolina, it won't affect the sport the way the last 1-2 title match-up did.\nNo. 1 UCLA beat Kentucky 92-85 that night in San Diego to give John Wooden his 10th national championship in his final game.\nThe man who created the dynasty that changed the sport had announced after the semifinals that the next game would be his last, win or lose. No one -- not his staff, players or family -- knew the stunning announcement was about to come.\nWooden has recounted that day many times.\n"We had just defeated Louisville and at that time I had no intentions of retiring," he said of the semifinal against a team coached by Denny Crum, his former assistant. "I met Denny, a dear friend, at the end of the floor and I knew I had to go and face the TV lights. I wasn't feeling well. I had had heart trouble, and my wife wasn't feeling well. I found myself suddenly dreading to face that, and I found myself walking off the floor alone and walked in the dressing room first to talk to my players and tell them how proud I was and regardless of how the Monday night game came out, 'I want you players to know I was never prouder of any team I ever coached than of this last team I'll ever coach.' Nobody moved.\n"Then I went to the press conference and I made much the same statement when someone asked me to compare this team with other teams that had won the national championship. My athletic director was stunned."\nRichard Washington had 28 points and 12 rebounds for UCLA in the title game and David Meyers added 24 points and 11 rebounds.\nNot far south of the campus he turned into the standard of excellence for all college programs, Wooden walked away from the game and no one has since come close to that level of success.\nThere have been five other 1-2 match-ups in the championship game, including two in as many years between the same two schools with the same result.\nSecond-ranked Cincinnati beat No. 1 Ohio State in 1961 and 1962 for the school's only national championships.\nThe Bearcats won 70-65 in overtime in 1961 and then prevailed 71-59 the next year. Ohio State had won the title in 1960 and had a roster that included Jerry Lucas, John Havlicek and a reserve who went on to win three championships of his own as coach at Indiana -- Bob Knight.