* The Omni, the site of the 1977 Final Four and the scene of Al McGuire's unlikely, triumphant and tearful farewell.

* The Hickory House, the barbecue joint where a sleepless McGuire and his coaching protege, a fat nerd named Rick Majerus, shared some chili the night before Marquette upset North Carolina 67-59 for Al's elusive national championship.

* And McGuire himself, one of the most unique, charismatic and quotable coaches college basketball has ever seen. On Jan. 26, 2001, Al McGuire died of leukemia. Gone at the age of 72.

But McGuire will be remembered this weekend when the Final Four returns to Atlanta for the third time.

McGuire grew up in Rockaway, N.Y., once a summer resort of sorts on a Queens peninsula in New York City. He grew up above the family tavern with three siblings, including his brother, Dick, a star point guard for St. John's and later the New York Knicks.

Al accepted his first head coaching job in 1957 -- at tiny Belmont Abbey College near Charlotte. His former coach at St. John's, Frank McGuire, who had just won the 1957 NCAA title with North Carolina, helped Al get the job. Frank (not related) eventually hired a young assistant named Dean Smith, who became a close -- if unlikely -- friend of Al's, and an integral part of his life.

"I think Dean and my father were both fair, honest, compassionate, and they each wanted all of their players to succeed," said Al's son Allie, who was recruited by Smith and received a letter of encouragement from Smith before each of his seasons at Marquette. "If you can do that and not be a phony baloney, you'll succeed."

McGuire moved on to take the Marquette job in 1964. Thirteen years later, he and Smith met one memorable night in the Omni. By then, McGuire had built his own dynasty at Marquette, albeit by recruiting on "cracked sidewalks." Tough city kids whose view from the living room window was a cracked sidewalk, not a manicured lawn.

Although Smith courted Carolina blue-chip All-Americas, and Chapel Hill's idyllic campus was light years from Milwaukee, Smith and McGuire were alike in many ways. Both were among the earliest coaches to encourage certain players to turn pro before their college eligibility expired, if it guaranteed the player financial security.

As McGuire said in advising Jim Chones, his All-America center, to leave after his junior year: "I looked in my refrigerator and it was full. I looked in Jim's and it was empty. Easy choice."

With most of his players, however, McGuire stressed the importance of an education. While he won 78.7 percent of his games (295-80) in 13 seasons at Marquette, more than 90 percent of his players graduated.

In December of 1976, Smith got this phone call from McGuire: "You won't believe how bad a team we have. I've gotta get out of the business."

That was the turning point.

"Everything was rosy till Al announced in December that he was going to retire at the end of the season," guard Butch Lee said. "Then all hell broke loose."

Marquette barely got into the NCAA Tournament after losing seven games, including three consecutive defeats at home. At halftime of a first-round NCAA game with Cincinnati, McGuire had a fight with forward Bernard Toone in the locker room. Marquette survived, edged Kansas State by a point, then eliminated Wake Forest to reach the Final Four.

Marquette edged Cedric "Cornbread" Maxwell and UNC-Charlotte 51-49 in the semifinals when center Jerome Whitehead scored to barely beat the final buzzer.

In the championship game, Marquette led by 12 at halftime but fell behind 45-43 before Toone tied it. Then Smith made a fateful decision to go to his Four Corners offense. Carolina held the ball for nearly three minutes before Bruce Buckley drove for an apparent layup. But Bo Ellis blocked it, Lee scored and Marquette never trailed again.

"I was disappointed, but I'd rather lose to Al than anybody else," said Smith, now 76, who would not win his first national championship until 1982. "I was happy for him."

In the final minute, Lee recalled, "Bo taps me on the shoulder and points at the bench." There, McGuire was crying, finally winning the national championship in his final game.

"Al was Peter Falk, the Columbo of basketball," Lee said. "He walks around with those wrinkled clothes and he acts like he doesn't know that much. But there's a genius under those wrinkled clothes.

"Al wasn't that old when he quit. He was just 48, younger than I am now," said Lee, 50, who owns a sign business in San Juan, Puerto Rico. "I can imagine that was a bittersweet moment. You work so hard all your career, and you're finally the top dog, and it's all over."

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